For 30 years, George Lowe has been a fan of (some might say "obsessed with") Ethiopia's Golden Age of Music: the 1960s and 70s, the last years of the Haile Selassie monarchy and the time when "Ethio-jazz" was invented. George's band, the Afro-Zen Allstars, feature a large number of his arrangements of Ethio-jazz classics, and the band has been recognized as among the foremost interpreters of this style of music in the USA.
The audience for Ethio-jazz in America is admittedly a niche market, but in Ethiopia it's a little different story. And all of a sudden last week, George and Afro-Zen became household names in Ethiopia. The photo above is a screenshot from the Zoom interview George did with Seifu Fantahun, who hosts the most popular show on Ethiopian broadcast TV. That episode has been viewed over 350,000 time on YouTube, which is certainly not the main way the show is watched.
How did this happen? When George explained it all to me, my comment was "This whole story reads like the plot summary of a particularly implausible movie." I'm not going to give you any spoilers here -- I've invited George to join me this week on Global A Go-Go so you can hear the whole story direct from the horse's mouth. And we'll play some of the music in question, by Afro-Zen and by the original artists, as well.
Also this week (Sunday December 1, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, and any old time at my podcast site): Songhoy Blues and the music of Mali's Songhai people, The Bongo Hop's Afro-Latin groove and new samba-funk from João Selva.
Podcast: radio4all.net/program/119194
All the podcasts: radio4all.net/series/Global%20A%20Go-Go
Artist | Country | Song | Recording | Label | Year
Oliver Lake | USA | Separation | Matador Of 1st & 1st | Passin' Thru | 1997
Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros | England UK | Global A Go-Go | Global A Go-Go | Hellcat | 2001
Ali Farka Touré | Mali | Mahini Me | The Source | World Circuit | 1992
Songhoy Blues | Mali | Gara | Gara - Single | Studio Mali / Transgressive | 2024
Afel Bocoum | Mali | Penda Djiga | Linde | World Circuit | 2020
Guy One | Ghana-Germany | Everything You Do, You Do For Yourself | #1 | Philophon | 2018
Hamad Kalkaba Et Le Grand Orchestre De La Garde Republicaine Du Cameroun | Cameroon | Tchakoulaté | Fouh Sei Allah / Tchakoulaté - Single | Sonafric | 1974
The Bongo Hop | France-Colombia-Cameroon | Ah! Kumana (feat. Jean Tchoumi) | La Pata Coja | Underdog | 2024
Tim Maia | Brazil | O Caminho Do Bem | Racional Vol. 2 | Seroma | 1975
João Selva | Brazil-France | Banho De Mar | Banho De Mar - Single | Underdog | 2024
Jorge Ben | Brazil | Xica Da Silva | Africa Brasil | Philips | 1976
Márcio Local | Brazil | Suingue Dominou | Says Don Day Do Dree Don Don | Luaka Bop | 2009
Mahmoud Ahmed | Ethiopia | Sedètègnash Nègn / Samerayé / Endénèsh Gèdawo | Erè Mèla Mèla | Kaifa | 1975
Afro-Zen Allstars | USA | Erè Mèla Mèla | live at Mahmoud Ahmed's retirement celebration, 2024 Nov 29 | unreleased | 2024
Mahmoud Ahmed | Ethiopia | Antchi Enén Wedèdjign | Mahmoud Ahmed | Amha | 1974
Afro-Zen Allstars | USA | Bèmen Sèbèb Letlash | Greatest Hits | AZA Music | 2017
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