This set introduces the series’ central subject, Addis in 70s, with 17 of the 250 songs released by Amha Records before Amha’s exile in 1975.  Muluqèn Mèllèssè kicks off with her high, quavering, vocal timbre.  Then we meet one of the most important Ethiopian singers, Mahmoud Ahmed, a man with a voice for the ages, full of robust, burly romanticism.  The modes are dark; the rhythms a churning, mysterious blend of 4/4 and 6/8 time.  Hints of brass band marches, R&B and soul, and bossa nova emerge.  Two of the only six tracks vocalist Seyfu Yohannès—the James Brown on —offer rowdy reinventions of heavily ornamented Abyssinian melodies.  Four tracks by crooner Tèsomè Meteku introduce the spectacularly original, jazz informed arranging of Mulatu Astatqè, a key architect of the Addis sound.  The set ends with Gétachèw Kassa’s fast and slow renditions of the melancholy standard “Tezeta,” a song interpreted in many versions throughout the series. 

Contributed by: Banning Eyre