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BUDA
MUSIQUE RELEASES ETHIOPIQUES VOLUME #20: EITHER/ORCHESTRA
LIVE IN ADDIS WITH SPECIAL GUESTS GETACHEW MEKURYA, BAHTA
GEBRE-HEYWET, MULATU ASTATKE, TSEDENIA GEBRE-MARKOS &
MICHAEL BELAYNEH
Record release performances featuring The Either/Orchestra
+ Mulatu Astatke scheduled October 13 at Joe’s Pub
in NYC + October 21 at Lizard Lounge in Cambridge MA
New York, NY: In the rich, varied and bizarre history
of African music, the tragedy of the Ethiopian pop recording
industry stands alone. Today, Buda Musique brings us the
éthiopiques series, showcasing the immense scope
of the golden age of Ethiopian music – lovingly
assembled, re-mastered and fully annotated. The éthiopiques
series has received gushing accolades from an endless
list of magazines, newspapers and radio stations –
and numbers everyone from Elvis Costello and John Zorn
to Rocket From The Crypt among its fans.
Series curator Francis Falceto writes in the program notes
to éthiopiques 20, “One of the most gratifying
phenomena linked to the publication of éthiopiques
is the sort of second life that vintage Ethiopian music
is enjoying, not only among music lovers in search of
inspired sounds, but also among many non-Ethiopian musicians,
on nearly all continents...the originality, fidelity and
enthusiasm of their interest is a pleasure to behold.”
Live in Addis represents this trend, if it can be so called,
as it is the first entry in the series with a primarily
non-Ethiopian group.
The Either/Orchestra is among the longest running and
highly respected large ensembles in jazz. Since 1985,
under the direction of leader & saxophonist/composer
Russ Gershon, the ten-piece has traversed the length and
breadth of jazz to make unexpected connections between
styles and approaches to music, including Ethiopian music
and jazz. In 1994, Gershon heard the first of Falceto’s
compilations, Ethiopian Groove (reissued as éthiopiques
13). Within a couple of years, Gershon, a Grammy-nominated
arranger, began adding Ethiopian songs to the ten-piece
ensemble’s already eclectic repertoire. This material
became the hit of the E/O’s set and led to contact
with Falceto. In 2004, Falceto arranged for an invitation
to the E/O to perform at the Ethiopian Music Festival
in Addis Ababa – this would be the first U.S. big
band performance in Ethiopia since Duke Ellington in 1973.
In Addis, the Either Orchestra invited locals Mulatu Astatke
(éthiopiques 4), Getachew Mekurya (éthiopiques
14), Bahta Gebre-Heywet (éthiopiques 8) to join
them on stage at the Ethiopian Music Festival. E/O wowed
music fans with their contemporary interpretations of
familiar, popular tunes. In September 2005, Buda Musique
will release éthiopiques 20, a double CD set containing
the music performed at that memorable concert.
Mulatu Astatke studied in London, Boston and New York
in the late 1950s and returned home to invent ethio-jazz,
which stands with various South African and Nigerian styles
as the most successful fusion of jazz and African music.
Upon his return to Ethiopia in the late sixties he was
hailed as "the first-Ethiopian-musician-educated-abroad"
and as an arranger/bandleader he was unequalled. On piano,
organ, vibes and percussion, with his arrangements and
compositions, and as an agent provocateur, he became a
pivotal figure in a great era of Ethiopian pop and jazz.
To this day, he remains a ubiquitous presence in the Ethiopian
music scene, as club owner, music school founder, radio
DJ, composer, arranger and instrumentalist. In his concept
of bringing together the many different traditional musics
of Ethiopia with music from America, he was pioneer of
the kind of international mixing which has become an important
current in modern music.
Mulatu Astatke & the Either/Orchestra will perform
together at Joe’s Pub in New York City on Thursday,
October 13 – One Show Only from 7-9 pm, $20, and
The Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, MA on Friday, October
21 at 10pm and 11:30pm, $14. Do not miss your chance to
see this beautiful collaboration.
Mulatu Astatke's classic early recordings, reissued on
éthiopiques volume #4, can currently be heard in
the Jim Jarmusch independent film, Broken Flowers featuring
Bill Murray, Jessica Lange and Sharon Stone. The movie
took the Grand Prix award at Cannes and made its debut
in the U.S. in July 2005.
Buda Musique and the éthiopiques series are distributed
in North America by Allegro Corporation. Founded in 1982,
Allegro Corporation’s catalogue has grown to cover
a broad range of music and entertainment products, which
includes rock, alternative, classical, pop, world, jazz,
new age and blues. For more information about Allegro
products or Buda Musique please visit www.allegro-music.com
or www.budamusique.com. For more information about the
Either/Orchestra please visit Accurate Records at www.accuraterecords.com
or www.either-orchestra.org
Joe's Pub at The Public Theater debuted in October 1998,
and quickly became one of New York City’s most celebrated
and in-demand showcase venues for live music and performance.
The Public Theater is located at 425 Lafayette Street
(between East 4th Street & Astor Place). Tickets to
events can be purchased at The Public Theater box office
Tues-Sat from 1-7:30pm, Sun & Mon from 1-6pm, or via
Telecharge at 212.239.6200 or www.telecharge.com. Reservations
strongly recommended: please call 212.539.8778 (a ticket
does not guarantee a table); and for further show information
please call 212.539.8770.
Tickets for the Lizard Lounge are available from virtuous.com.
The Lizard Lounge is located at 1667 Massachusetts avenue;
T: Red Line to Harvard Square. Tel: 617.547.0759 |
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