Big Blog 2

 For starters I wanted to begin this blog, speaking on how I have enjoyed learning the music of different cultures in this class. I have gained a new appreciation and love for music I never would have guessed I’d be listening to, especially not in a music class in college. For my 2nd big blog I chose Ethio-Jazz. I choose Ethio-jazz, as I have a very wide variety in music, and have always gravitated towards and had a love for Jazz music and the two are very similar. I have been wanting to find new jazz music to listen to ever since our discussions in class, and had no idea that there were other genres such as Ethio-jazz that existed in the world. The moment I heard the Ethio-jazz music, I immediately fell in love and felt a feeling of calmness touch my spirit. While we have already discussed a little of jazz and blues music in class, hearing this distinction was when I knew that it was what I wanted to discuss. 

Ethio-Jazz is a genre of music very similar to regular jazz, but with a twist of  Ethiopian traditional music to it. While those are the two main influences of this type of music, there are also traces of Afro funk, soul and Latin style music. To give a bit of geographical background,  Ethiopia is a country located in the Horn of Africa, that has a population of about 113.5 million people. While many people look at Ethiopia as one group of people, but is actually very diverse with over 80 ethnic groups.

This music was first introduced in the 1950’s, when local artist, Nerses Nalbandian was asked to create a musical piece for the Ethiopian National Theatre, and began looking for new styles of music to perform and impress. While Nalabndian was the one to introduce this music, it was brought popular by another local artist, known as Mulatu Astatke. When creating this music they used instruments such as the saxophone, vibraphone, drums and bass. Astatke is now considered the ‘Father of Ethio-jazz” as he presented it to new crowds, and helped it gain its popularity. Astake had always had a passion and interest in jazz music, and decided to study it at the Berklee College of Music. The Berklee College of Music, was the only Jazz school in the country and he was the only African kid, specifically Ethiopian at the school. Attending this school, and learning the true beauty of jazz music inspired him to combine his home country's music with western jazz music. This eventually led to the combination of the 12-note harmonies of the Ethiopian Scale and the instrumentation of western music, into what we now call Epiothian Jazz. 

In 1974 a man named Mengistu Haile-Mariam gained power in Ethiopia and began to change Ethiopia's musical life, almost ending Ethio-jazz, because of its heavy Western influence. Because this style of music was mainly popular in Ethiopia, this caused many artists to lay low, and many kids to grow up not knowing of the beauty that was Ethio-jazz for a while. This dictatorship also caused two distinct eras of ethio-jazz. The belle époque and the modern, which were considered to be separated by the dictatorship interruption, which lasted about 20 years. The belle époque was the first era, and it began in the late 1960s and continued until the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974, that closed down Addis Ababa’s music scene.  The 2nd era began and Ethio-Jazz recovered about 10 or so years after the fall of the dictatorship in 1987. The modern era, as they call it, began in the late 1990s, as a new generation of ethio-jazz musicians stepped forward and veterans of the belle époque, as previously mentioned, returned to music making. This style of music made its 1990 return when  Francis Falceto, a French music producer came across the music and decided to put out a series of Ethio-jazz music, as he had recently discovered it and fell in love instantly. In doing so, he brought this style of music back into the world, allowing it to reach larger audiences than ever. It reached an even larger crowd in 2005 when Jim Jarmusch decided to use Stakes music in his Broken Flowers Album, raising more awareness to the ethio-jazz style of music. This has allowed for this music to remain popular, and inspired many to keep the tradition going. We now see many artists such as Hailu Mergia, Woima collective, Getatchew Mekurya,  Mahmoud Ahmed, and Tlahoun Gessesse performing this style of music.

In today's age we still see many new Ethio-Jazz artist forms, such as Badume, Tigre des Pantanes, and Budos Band. Astatke has even begun a school known as African Jazz Village, where he works with bands and students to help create the next generation of Ethio-Jazz artists. This school is located in Addis Ababa Harar city, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This School allows for new and upcoming artists to get the attention they crave and deserve, as they have advertised live performances. (https://www.facebook.com/africanjazzvillage/  )

Words Cited 

Diarra, Lilian. “Ethio-Jazz: The Amazing Story behind Ethiopian Jazz.” Culture Trip, The Culture Trip, 21 Mar. 2014, https://theculturetrip.com/africa/ethiopia/articles/ethio-jazz-the-amazing-story-of-ethiopian-jazz-from-london-to-addis/. 

“Ethio-Jazz.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Sept. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethio-jazz. 

“Ethiopia.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 Dec. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia. 

“Top Ethio-Jazz Artists.” Last.fm, https://www.last.fm/tag/ethio-jazz/artists.