Ethiopiques 27 Centennial of the First Ethiopian Music Recordings

• Ethiopiques 27 – Médina
• Ethiopiques 27 – Tekas
• Ethiopiques 27 – Mesgana
• Ethiopiques 27 – Zèlèsègna
• Ethiopiques 27 – Yèdjanhoy Mesgana

• 1. Médina
• 2. Tekas
• 3. Mesgana
• 4. Zèlèsègna
• 5. Yèdjanhoy Mesgana
• 6. Yèras Woldè Giyorgis
• 7. Yèras Mèkonnen
• 8. Yèligaba
• 9. Yèetégué
• 10. Yèalèm Mesgana
• 11. Yèmot Mastawèsha
• 12. Yènè Gadras
• 13. Yèzèwditou
• 14. Ato Yoséf
• 15. Dèdjatch Baltcha
• 16. Yètekazé
• 17. Yèras Mikaél
• 18. Dèdjatch Abatè
• 19. Yènègadras
• 20. Dèdjatch Woubé
• 21. Lènosh Hamèru
• 22. Ado Wèchèba
• 23. Yèfeqer
• 24. Aya Wèchèbayé
• 25. Albosajitmaslèk
• 26. Melkiadom
• 27. Dèma Dèma
• 28. Mèkonnené
• 29. Yèteqassé
• 30. Sema
• 31. Esèy Na?na?
• 32. Bwalt
• 33. Interview Of Yidnèkatchèw Tèssèma 1984 (french)
• 34. Interview Of Yidnèkatchèw Tèssèma 1984-1985 (amharic)

Beautifully presented double CD with a fully illustrated booklet!

Here is a remarkable archive -- the first commercial recording of Ethiopian music, indeed one of the earliest surviving examples of recorded African music. Though the tracks have been carefully restored from 78s reissued in the mid 1920s they originated in around 1908 in a recording studio in Berlin where Tessema Eshete had been sent by the Emperor Menelik to study car mechanics. Tessema never sang on record again though as a poet, sculptor and visionary innovator he became a major figure in Ethiopian artistic life despite, in later years, making an enemy of Haile Selassie.

In comparison to the popular Ethiopian music of a much later period these recordings of course will sound quite primitive but anyone who has been captivated by the Ethiopiques series will find this release an indispensable prologue.