The Ibex Band, with Giovanni Rico and Selam Woldemariam at the creative helm, provided the musical backbone for legends like Aster Aweke, Girma Beyene, Tilahun Gessesse, Mulatu Astatke, and Mahmoud Ahmed, including the iconic album Ere Mela Mela, shaping modern Ethiopian music as we know it today. This 1976 album (Ge’ez Year 1968) played a pivotal role in that legacy and has now resurfaced to set the record straight.

There’s a tendency to talk about the seventies as a golden age of Ethiopian music. There are good reasons for that, and just as good reasons against it. However, the notion of a golden past privileges the role of Western explorers and suggests that the pinnacle of Ethiopia’s musical culture is something only a foreigner can appreciate and unearth. It downplays the complexities of Ethiopia’s culture and history, creating an artificial divide between then and now. And it underestimates the constantly evolving sound that has followed.

The legendary musical outfit The Ibex Band, later metamorphosed into The Roha Band, has played a central role in defining the sound of many of the greatest stars on the music scene of Ethiopia from the mid-seventies onwards–but their golden output has never really waned. The story of the origins of the band that provided the musical backbone for greats such as Aster Aweke, Girma Beyene, Tilahun Gessesse, backing the solo career of group member Mahmoud Ahmed as well as backing Mulatu Astatke and many others has yet to be properly told.

Two misconceptions plague the image of Ethiopian music, one is that the music is pure because it is, by some notion, unexploited, the other is that it is all traditional. To begin with, a combination of political changes between the late sixties and the mid-nineties created an environment where only the most dedicated and skilled musicians struggled on and pursued a musical career against fierce odds. The whole Ibex Band, with Giovanni Rico and Selam “Selamino” Seyoum Woldermarian at the creative helm, are arguably the origo of the vibrant scene in the mid-seventies, and the said pair are foremost responsible for not only navigating the band through troubled times, but also modernizing the 6/8 chickchicka rhythm to a contemporary form. Giovanni laid the rhythmic foundation with heavy looped basslines that reinvented traditional melodies as dance music, and with Selamino’s innovative guitar work they influenced scores of musicians from Abegaz Kibrework Shiota to Henock Temesgen. Even Giovanni’s Fender bass and Selamino’s Gibson guitar inspired younger musicians in their choice of instruments. Not only in choice of instruments but also in sound–even as the digital revolution hit Ethiopian music, a lot of popular music still took its cue from the masters from Ibex and Roha.

Ibex emerged out of the ashes of the sixties group the Soul Echos band, adding Giovanni and Selamino to their ranks and taking their cues from a slew of influences, such as Motown and The Beatles, fused with traditional music. A tighter-knit unit than most bands at the time – Ibex has remained six to seven members throughout their whole career, compared to many bands that were as large as fifteen or sixteen men strong when Ibex set out. Their playing has been viciously focused, economical yet heavy. Just a year before the recording sessions of the album in your hands, Giovanni and Selamino made a contribution to the popular musical lexicon of Ethiopia that was simply defining the popular sound: their arrangement and recording of bandmate Mahmoud Ahmed’s solo effort and real commercial breakthrough tune and eponymous album, Ere Mela Mela, from 1975.

Selamino has never limited himself to being an adroit lead guitarist, but has always been a scholar of history, and as such he has probably contributed as much to modern Ethiopian music with his guitar playing and compositions as with a deepened understanding of modern or contemporary – Zemenawi – Ethiopian music. Selamino’s contributions serve as a metaphor for those of the whole band, at one and the same time creating and defining a new, danceable and updated sound anchored in Giovanni’s bass, whilst also elevating the broader scene through their support for others on the scene and on top of that, increasing the understanding of the music.

There is an understandable desire to romanticize the musical heyday Ibex and Roha were at the forefront of, because so much of the output is sorrowfully hard to come by. Ibex creativity was nothing short of ridiculously fierce compared to many of their Western contemporaries. Based on their sheer recorded output alone they could have usurped the title “hardest working in show business” from James Brown, recording more than 250 albums or 2500 songs in the seventies and eighties. Some only surface as cassettes today, others were never given full LP release, and some are simply impossible to find today. In the light of that, it’s nothing short of a miracle that the recording Stereo Instrumental Music from 1976 (Ge’ez Year 1968) has resurfaced. Unearthed in perfect condition on a chrome cassette, this is musical history comes alive–to set the future straight. Stereo Instrumental Music was recorded in collaboration with Karl-Gustav Lundgren, a Swedish national working for the Radio Voice of the Gospel. It took two sessions at the Ras Hotel ballroom in Addis Ababa. The Ibex Band was the first band in Ethiopia to employ a four-track recorder for their recording (the first available in the country, lent by Karl-Gustav). Later the same week, Giovanni and Selamino realized that, lengthwise, the recorded material fell short of what they wished for, so they recorded four more tracks in one more session on a single-track recorder. The Ras Hotel and Ghion Hotel, where the Ibex Band held musical residencies were to Ethiopia in general and Addis Ababa in particular what Motown was to the USA and Detroit a few years earlier – a hotbed of musical creativity and showmanship.

The most astonishing thing about Ethiopian music of the last half century is how tradition and modernity are intertwined. Because of this feature, it’s kind of hard to tell when there ever was or when we are in a “golden age”. So much of music from the past has been criminally neglected, but because of the hardships in the past, it would be an oversimplification to say that said past was a golden age. Probably, the golden age is what we are approaching, because for the first time both the past and future are accessible, and the monumental contributions from before can lay a firm foundation for a thriving music scene today. The Ibex Band stands firmly in the past, present and the future. That, if anything, is golden.

The detailed history of Stereo Instrumental Music is in many ways unique. To begin with, it couldn’t have been recorded earlier (there were no four-track recorders available) and it really couldn’t have been recorded afterwards either, at least not in the years directly following, because of the toll the musical scene took from the unfavorable political climate that followed when the nascent Derg regime and rival groups tried to assert themselves, the musical equipment lent from The Voice of Gospel Radio simply disappeared from Ethiopia when the radio station folded in 1977. Karl-Gustav Lundgren,
the Swedish foreign national who assisted during the recording, worked with the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus at the time, recalls how they only had about fifteen minutes to get the microphones in place for the recording as to not alert neither the management at Ras Hotel nor the authorities and most importantly, to complete the recording before the curfew came into effect at midnight. In leaping to the opportunity to use previously unavailable equipment to push their sound forward and improvising to meet the logistical challenges, the Ibex Band displayed the very avant-gardism and adaptability that explains their longevity as a band through the years. The recording of Stereo Instrumental Music is from a given time in history, but it sounds as beyond time.
Much of the energy that burst out of the scene that Stereo Instrumental Music came out of dissipated or got sidetracked during the societal changes Ethiopia went through in the 1970s and 80s. Whilst leaders might have professed to be revolutionary, the work ethic of the Ibex Band can truly be described as that. They never called it quits, but adapted, toured extensively abroad in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, and found ways to work even in the face of the curfew that curtailed a lot of musical life. They even played major arenas in the nineteen eighties, despite said curfew and restrictions. The whole extent of their legacy has never been told, but their music speaks louder than words, so therefore… tune in to the Ibex Band’s Stereo Instrumental Music.

A1 - Kemd’layey
A2 - Meleyayet Mot Naw
B1 - Zerafewa
B2 - Shemonmuanaye
B3 - Yezemed Yebada
C1 - Hakim Zemose
C2 - Yene F’qr
C3 - Skaysi Y’ke’al’yu
C4 - Turumbule
D1 - Ay w’bet
D2 - Asa’belashalehu
D3 - Yenuro Meten’sh’n

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Ethiopia’s music company Muzikawi reissue the self-titled solo instrumental album of Ethio-jazz composer Dawit Yifru, which offers an exceptional occasion to rediscover one of the most important eras in Ethiopia’s music history.

This 11-track album features a compilation of songs that were restored and remastered from cassettes released throughout the 1970s. With Ethiopian Chickchika music, Twist, Congolese Rumba, and Waltz music styles converging, the songs reflect the dynamic musical crossroads that were present at the time. However, it is the inclusion of the violin, which was uncommon at the time, that presents Dawit Yifru as a visionary composer amongst his contemporaries.

“These elements have come together to create Ethio-jazz music at its most bold, spiritual and syncretic,” Remarks Muzikawi founder Teshome Wondimu. “With this compilation, Dawit Yifru offers a bright window into the past of Ethiopia’s music scene which is so rich, deep and sophisticated, with a gentle, beautiful story to tell – and we see ourselves as the messengers who are bringing the world this story and sound.”
This compilation is the first release of the Muzikawi’s Archive & Research project, which seeks to re-record and re-issue some of Ethiopia’s most celebrated music that never made it outside the country, in the process bringing recognition to musicians whose music never made it to the international market.

“Every country has its stars, its loved singers, but there are of course titans of their era and Dawit Yifru is one of the few, ” Wondimu said. “The reason many will be experiencing his works for the first time is because in the 1970s, the Ethiopian music ‘industry’ thrived only at the capital Addis Ababa with little recording infrastructure in comparison to its neighbours like Kenya and Uganda, where cult record labels and producers captured the countries’ sound and made the recordings available internationally and for the masses.” “Therefore, our Archive & Research project is a guaranteed way to keep these great works of music alive and circulating. Overall, this compilation is an absolutely brilliant and must-own recording from one of the most original sounding Ethiopian composers you’ll ever hear. Hopefully this release will open the door for the world to discover more incredible music and culture from Ethiopia.”
Dawit Yifru remains a household name in Ethiopia due to his commitment to collaborating with a diverse range of musicians and sharing his musical skills not just with his peers, but with the new generation of musicians.

A1 - Lebe Leb Yelewem
A2 - Etalem Seriw Betshen
A3 - Yene Alem
A4 - Jemeregn
B1 - Lebo Neyi
B2 - Meche Lagignesh
B3 - Lela Menem Yelegn
B4 - Wubit


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25 killer library music cuts by the German film music maestro on audiophile pressing in deluxe 2x10" set. Uberrare and never released before material from 1968-1976, sourced from Peter Thomas' personal reel-to-reel tape archive. Limited edition of 500 pieces. From brassy big band funk, space jazz, krauty synth experiments to proto-hiphop, cosmic schlagers, heavy easy listening, soulful soundtrack moods and absurdly dreamy LSD ballads, this compilation encompasses the composer's most obscure and yet most transcendent work. Peter Thomas is widely acknowledged as Germany's most inventive film music composer of the 1960s and 1970, best known for his iconic soundtrack work. He scored over 600 films and episodes, from the crime blockbusters of Jerry Cotton and Edgar Wallace to indie arthouse films like Playgirl, Bruce Lee's The Big Boss and the extraterrestrial Space Patrol and Chariot of the Gods. dHis recordings for music libraries often provided an even more leftfield approach. Their visionary 'dope beats' appeal provoked a keen interest from vinyl aficionados, beatmakers and rare groove DJs alike. Unavailable for the public, the original "for professional usage only" albums are now sought-after collector's items that fetch astronomic prices on the 2ndhand market. This double 10" album is the definite selection of Thomas' best library cues from the Golden Ring Records, KPM and DeWolfe catalogues, many of them available publicly for the first time - plus four recently unearthed "lost" tracks from Warner Chappell's CPM Archive series that have never been released on vinyl before. All music was carefully transferred from Peter Thomas' private master tapes and cut in full dynamics, housed in a beautiful fold-out cover with liner notes and private pictures. The compilation was realised in cooperation with Peter Thomas' son Philip who takes care of the Peter Thomas Sound Orchester catalogue after his father's death in 2020.

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It was quite unexpected to see the very prolific and talended Pieter Kock featuring on Macadam Mambo - which is usualy used to new-comers - as he has released a lot in the past 2 years on very nice labels like RIO, Meakusma or Moonwalk X. But, the demos that he sent were so good that there was no question about doing something. And with a lot of possibilities, to prepare a double album that is now composed of 15 quality tracks for 1h20 of music... What vibes are in here! It’s heavy, loudy, loopy, mental, smokey, and always surprising. Pieter has is very own universe, and is without doubt one of the most interesting electronic musician at the moment.

Should we ask you to give chance to this opus, and tell you you won’t regret it ? We don’t think we need to do so... J

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Creole poetry, folk mysticism and heavy-grooving cosmic synths combine on this unprecedented survey of spiritual Martinique polymath Gratien Midonet’s first four albums.

“I always broke free from the rules, from codes being too narrow,” says poet, musician and sonic shaman Gratien Midonet. “I have always had this sense of peaceful knowledge that there is no separation between genres, beings and universal things.”

For Midonet, pushing musical boundaries was less a choice than an extension of his spirit. A self-taught guitarist and composer, drawing on his childhood memories of bélé and beguine rhythms, Midonet’s musical life developed in parallel to his academic and spiritual pursuits. Studying philosophy and psychopedagogy in France, it was his fascination with pan-Africanism and animism which fuelled the transcendent energy of his music.

Although Midonet honed his sound in France, the four albums he released during the late ‘70s and ‘80s were heavily inspired by diasporic nostalgia, or what he describes as the “smells and colours… subliminal noises… fruity notes, the memories of funeral wakes, the bombastic organ of the cathedral and the gasps of the drums” of his childhood home on the Caribbean island of Martinique.

Fittingly, it’s there that Midonet achieved cult status for the title track of his 1979 debut, Van An Lévè, which became a protest anthem for the island’s independence movement, and was briefly censored by the French authorities. Look no further than ‘Mari Rhont Ouve La Pot’, which opens this collection, to hear the propulsive mix of cosmic synths, acoustic folk, and Creole lyricism that became the essence of Midonet’s sound.

Released on Martinique label Touloulou, Van An Lévè was followed in 1980 by L’inité, whose tropical acid folk (‘M’en ka Monté Mon’) and majestic, violin-led melodies (‘Kannaval Sakré Pou Tout Z’Heb Poussé’) confirmed Midonet’s unique and intuitive approach to composition.

Not content to skip effortlessly between genres and influences, Midonet also began pushing the boundaries of the album form itself. His third album, Bourg La Folie, released in 1984, was a soundtrack for a lost film about the mysticisms of carnival, while his fourth, Fô Ou Tchimbé, took the form of a ‘conte musical’ (a narrated story accompanied by music) presented at the Pompidou Centre, and spoke to Midonet’s literary prowess as a fierce proponent of the Creole language.

Like Fô Ou Tchimbé’s iridescent ‘Antille Ô Cristal’, with its sparse synth stabs and rubbery bassline, Midonet’s music has found a new home on psychedelic dance floors like Beauty and The Beat, where resident Pol Valls first brought Midonet to curator Cedric Lassonde’s attention.

As Lassonde writes in the liner notes: “Midonet’s musical world is cosmic, mystical and he has created his own idiosyncratic style around it: not plain folk, not bélé, chouval bwa, beguine or gwoka, but rather a transcendental fusion of all these and a true reflection of his personality.”

Now based on the South Pacific island of New Caledonia, Midonet and his message of musical unity are ready to resonate once more.
crédits

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Repress!

"Where to place YIN YIN on the map ? Maybe somewhere between Netherlands and South-East Asia, on an imaginary tropical island. That’s where they brew a strange cocktail made of discogrooves, powerful “thaï beat” tunes and experimental tropi-synths. After two remarkable singles on Les Disques Bongo Joe, they’re back with « The Rabbit That Hunts Tigers ». Made of groovy tunes and dance killers, this album could be the crazy soundtrack of a 60s hippie village on the South China Sea.

Yin Yin passed last months burning scenes and make people dance around Europe. But they found just enough time to record this first tape in a ballet school in a remote village near the Alpaca Mountain. Kees Berkers and Yves Lennertz were the puppet masters of this in-studio experience. The result is a landscape where rabbits chase after tigers, an upside-down world were you'll definitely dance for ever."



It’s one of the coolest things to emerge from the Dutch Deep South in quite a while: the debut album by Yin Yin (not counting last year’s cassette only ‘Pingpxng’). The Maastricht outfit pairs a deep appreciation of South East Asian sixties and seventies instrumental music with a slick modern funk and disco groove, tied together by a solid understanding of timeless cinematic sounds, as exemplified perfectly by the opening track, a laidback Thai funk groove that ends in psychedelic turmoil. ‘One Inch Punch’ (released as a single earlier this year) is one of the many standout tracks here - a luscious Asian space disco affair that sounds like the soundtrack of a Shaw Brothers movie that never happened. Yin Yin show off their instrumental skills on the freeflowing ‘Alpaca Mountain’ and go straight for the dancefloor with the infectious disco stomper ‘Sui Ye’. Their all-encompassing open-mindedness is perhaps best illustrated by the title track - a strange concoction of spaghetti western sounds, cheeky disco and Thai funk. ‘The Rabbit that Hunts Tigers’ is another winner for Bongo Joe and mandatory listening for fans of Khruangbin, Altin Gün and Jungle by Night. (Ro)

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The debut record by a new duo, Amkarahoi.

Uncle Reed In The Purple Mine conjures ghosts of 90s chill out tents, aqueous ambient, exploratory turn of the century IDM and echoes of jammy dub. Amkarahoi is named for a remote region of Eastern Siberia an intimidating car and boat journey from the nearest city - several songs are named after rivers - and the record was borne from a largely improvised show in Saint Petersburg, later overdubbed and mixed down in the studio. The combination of heady, melancholic synthscapes, unexpected samples and the loose, spontaneous nature of it’s genesis make for a unique, compelling proposition.

Kirenga alternately swells and submerges ravey pads and shifting kicks, coming up midway for air before plunging again, and Cutima peppers the stereo field with foreboding stabs, collapsing drums and faintly nightmarish ambience before emerging from the darkness with gently plucked erhu. Handa’s simple four note piano loop and cuckoo vocal sample lament blooms into an engulfing E rush, before Mogoul threatens serotonin syndrome with it’s loved up lead and stuttering morning after nostalgia. Chininga ekes out a gentle groove over which is laid a hazy, head nodding shimmer, and on Djegda they finally submit and throw down a speedy breakbeat for some more classically vintage fire twirling shapes.

Amkarahoi is Nikita Chepurnoi and Sergey Dmitriev. Chepurnoi has released records as Minereed on his own Echotourist imprint, and as part of The Patience and Copacabana on Hair Del. Dmitriev has made music as Purple Uncle for Echotourist, Hair Del and Nazlo

Uncle Reed In The Purple Mine was written, produced and mixed by Nikita Chepurnoy & Sergey Dmitriev. Mastered by Rashad Becker. Art by Susumu Mukai.

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This self-titled LP marks the fifth release of Scottish artist Murray Collier’s Dip Friso project, his longest running alias and the solitary vanguard of his own Real Landscape imprint. Across the six tracks he delivers another collection of warped percussive loops, heavily manipulated guitar work and psychedelic sound experiments that drift between popular music forms ('I’ll Get to Hiding') and whittled down takes on electric blues and shoegaze ('Another Country’). The former features the instantly recognisable croon of Still House Plants vocalist Jess HK embellishing a backdrop of tape loop alchemy, an inspired pairing given the shared history of Glasgow dwelling. ‘Thin Ayrshire’ (written with Hannan Jones) treads a similar path with Collier’s own beyond-unrecognisable voice featuring, broken suddenly by a brief flash of 12th Isle’s Loris S. Sarid & Innis Chonnel’s ‘Spalted Water Portal’ thanks to a recycled tape spool. ‘A Sorry Business’ takes on avant-jazz inspired puddle skronk, a stunted casio bleep propelling forward guitar dirge and cymbal crashes, whilst Australian minimal wave heroes The Systematics are paid homage via a farewell cover of their track ‘Midnight on Balancing Day’ (here ‘Midnight’).

All in, the album sees the project incorporating more instrumentation and a full use of vocalists, leaning less heavily on gauzy sample collage styles and providing a more introspective look at the hazy, dubwise world Collier has been building for the past half a decade.

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Transversales Disques proudly presents Thelonious Monk / Live in Paris (1966).
LOST ORTF RECORDINGS. A unique pianist and composer, Thelonious Monk (1917-1982) is one of the greatest jazz legends of all time. Thelonious is surrounded by his legendary quartet featuring Charlie Rouse (saxophone ténor), Larry Gales (bass),and Ben Riley (drum).
First ever official release of this lost ORTF recording performed live in Paris at Studio 104, Maison de la Radio.Release with the full permission and cooperation of the National Audiovisual Institute (INA).
Deluxe Tip-On Jacket / Exclusive Liner notes

A1 - I Love You (Sweetheart Of All My Dreams)
A2 - Lulu's Back In Town
A3 - Just a Gigolo
B1 - I'm Getting Sentimental Over You
B2 - Crepuscule With Nellie
B3 - Epistrophy

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With output on Ubiquity, Wonderwheel and Razor-N-Tape, London’s Tigerbalm has truly come into her own production voice recently, bringing forth a colorful vision of tropical influences filtered through modern club sounds. With the Profunda Alma EP, the Tiger focusses her attention on Brazil, coaxing out two gorgeous original songs that pay homage to the sizable impact the country has had on her musical sensibilities. Profunda Alma features the vocalist Joy Tyson (who appeared on Tigerbalm’s earlier Nina EP), and creates an atmosphere of deep emotional mystique through driving percussion, an insistent bassline and dramatic guitar stabs. Vem Ca goes for a more bouncey retro samba vibe and features the incredible vocals of Joao Selva, who delivers a hook that feels almost canonical, as if we’ve known it forever. Ever consistent French producer Yuksek takes Vem Ca straight to the club with his remix, and London upstarts Make-A-Dance deliver two trippy dancefloor takes on the title track to make this record a powerful 5-tracker!

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