Another side of Alemayehu
nadav haber | jerusalem Israel | 08/14/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Alemayhu Eshete was known in Ethiopia in the early 70's as "the Ethiopian James Brown". While the comparison to me is unfounded, Eshete's style was always closer to American R&B than any other famous Ethiopian singer. His style as a young man - shouting, full of energy - is not what you will find on this CD. The music here is as close to jazz fusion as any Ethiopian music ever got. Behind Eshete's unusually soft vocals we hear the best work so far done by one of the leading figures in Ethiopian music today - Abegasu Shiota. Using Jazz oriented horn players together with his own keyboard and Fasil Wehab's bass - Abegasu created a totally new sound - modern, jazzy, yet fully Ethiopian. I liked ALL tracks on this CD - something which happens rarely...The music here is recommanded in so many ways - just try it."
The Worst
Alejandra Vernon | 10/24/2002
(1 out of 5 stars)
"This dribble does not deserve the name of the admas band. It is boring and dull, not the usual Alemayehu I'm used to."
An Ethiopian legendary singer
Alejandra Vernon | Long Beach, California | 03/02/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Alemayehu Eshete is a legend in his native Ethiopia, and on this CD, which was recorded in New York in 1998, he gives us a good mix to celebrate his talent, from the jazzy track # 2, "Temar Lije" (Eshete), to the blander pop sound of # 9, "Mishitu Demeke" (Berhane), and track # 7, "Tikur Gissila", another of the many songs written by Eshete, oddly reminds me of Japanese rock/pop !
"Habeshia" (# 8) is a traditional Sudanese song that will sound familiar to anyone who has heard music from that region of Africa.
The number that really captures my interest is # 6, "Filiklike" (Eshete), which has a more traditional melodic and rhythmic pattern, and shares a musical kinship with the work of Eshete's fellow Ethiopian, the great Mahmoud Ahmed. The instrumentation on this and many other songs is fabulous, and the backbone is producer/arranger Abegasu Kibrework Shiota, who provides the keyboards and rhythmic programming for all the tracks, and on 9 of the 10 tracks there is the marvelous bass of Fasil Wuhib.
Others terrific musicians are Kenneth Henry Rampton on trumpet, Donald McCaslin on Saxophone, and on 4 numbers, Tosso Hettinger on guitar.
Eshete's voice is mellow with a smooth smokiness to it, and he has been singing and recording for decades, receiving much international acclaim; this is an excellent addition to any world music CD collection, the sound is good and total time is 57'27.
"
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1