On Monday, October 13, 2003, at 01:29 PM, William W. Schonbein wrote:
First, a while back there was some talk about the 'ethiopiques' series on Buda Musique out of france. I unfortunately ignored it at the time, but now, having discovered the series - wow! Excellent music (from ethiopia, mostly from a period of artistic flourishing from the late 1960s - early 1970s). I recently picked up volume 13, 'ethiopian groove', and am enjoying it quite a bit. So, a belated thanks to the list, and a recommendation to those who haven't experienced it yet (My current favorites are volumes 4, 9, and 13; I also have volume 8, 'swinging addis', but it doesn't engage me as much).
Volume 9 is one of the best as it is an all-Alemayehu Eshete compilation. This guy is unbelievably great. Good picks are also volumes 6 and 7 which feature Mahmoud Ahmed (if Alemayehu Eshete is Ethiopa's Elvis, then Mahmoud Ahmed is James Brown). Volumes 1 and 3 are compilations like volume 8 and 13; I think volume 3 is one of the very best of the series, even better than the excellent volume 13. And let's not forget volume 10, which is dedicated to Tezeta, the Ethiopian blues (once again Eshete shines on this one). Julien -- Julien Quint http://ui.universinternational.org/univers.html