Customer Reviews

Ethiopiques 10

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This is a perfect five star CD - for anyone who does not own volumes 1 and 4 of the Ethiopiques series.
Five songs on this volume appear also on Ethiopiques 1 - the ones by Seifu Yohannes, Getachew Kassa and Muluken Melesse, and Tasfa Mariam Kidane. Two instrumentals come from Ethiopiques 4.
So to people like me who have bought the entire series so far - it has been somewhat disappointing that there are only five new songs here, by Frew Hailu, Mahmud Ahmad, and Alemayehu Eshete (3 songs).

Having said this - this is a magnificent CD of slow Ethiopian vocal and instrumental music. Esehete's slow songs are great, Hailu's song is so good - just vocal, accordion and Ethiopian drum (kebero). Mahmud's Tizita is the longest version I know of - and it stands out for its wonderful saxophone solos and general haunting mood.
If you have not bought volumes one and four - I is a big dilema since they all contain indispensible music. The bottom line is that the music here is great and recommended - while the reapperance of 7 tunes from the previous volumes should be considered.

A fun cd. Having read Cutting For Stone and being the presenter for our local book group I wanted to hear the national anthem that was mentioned so prominently in the book. It's played in several different versions here and the music is absolutely contagious. Wish I would order more ethiopian music.