It's finally time to write something about our first 2 concerts in Addis.
We played the first one at the Goethe Institute on Friday, organised bu the German Alliance in Addis Ababa. The crowd was mostly students since the institue is very near the Addis University.
People started gathering as from our first few notes during soundcheck. By the time we were ready to play the concert, the outside venue was packed with students, sitting down on their stools, waiting eagerly for something to happen. It was freezing outside, but despite the hassle to keep the instruments in tune, the concert was unforgettable.
The best memory we have is the second song we played in the set: Ayalqem Tedengo. We have played this song a million times before but this first in Addis was something else. Everyone immediately recognised Alemayu Eshete's tune and started singing along. It's hard to explain the feeling and the rush this gave us! We were all crying all stage by the end of the song. I don't think this has ever happened to me during any concert before.
The feeling of playing music that is completely new to us and most Europeans, yet again is such a strong part of the Ethiopian culture, and having them join in to the song is hard to describe. It was a nod of acknowledgment from them to us, and is all it took to make us feel welcome and glad of bringing a tiny fraction of this music back to Ethiopia!
The second concert was in a club called Gurmaylé. This time round we sweated the concert away in front of a packed club of people constantly dancing, drinking and cheering. We were joined for a couple of songs by an Ethiopian percussion player whome we had met the night before at the Alizé club.
Our music was complemented brilliantly by 2 dj sets by Kidus and Andy Williams, who played some great funky stuff to which we danced till very late (very early rather).
---
Dire Daoua
Next up is our concert at Dire Daoua. We took a 12 hour bus to this other Ethiopian city right after the concert at 5am and will be playing tonight (Monday). The trip was a bit of a mental test for all of us. We were all dead tired from our concert at Gurmaylé and had no sleep. We managed to get up on the wrong bus so we had to wait an extra hour in the freezing cold for the next bus to D Daoua.
On the other hand we did get to see our first sunsrise in Addis. It was a Sunday morning and we could see a huge amount of people runing around, playing football and running all sorts of errands.
Once on the bus the trip was 12 hours of loud music, hooting in order not to run over goats and donkeys, and a constant battle with thee uncomfortable seats! We did get eventually at 5pm and though dead tired, we were all relieved to be on our feet again!
I am writing this at the venue in Dire Daoua which is a beautiful "village-town", well smaller than Addis but much more photogenic! We toook to opportunity to take a couple of photos in our suits around town!
It's a free gig organised by the Alliance Francaise at Dire Daoua so it's undoubtedly going to be another great concert!
More details and photos at my next internet stop!
(PS...it's proving hard to post photos to this blog so I'm putting them up on our facebook page...have a look at www.facebook.com/akalewube )
Monday, 29 November 2010
Lunch with Mulatu
Friday 26th November
This post's title speaks for itself. We had lunch with Mulatu Astatqe! And we had a lot to talk about. Besides being the living legend he actually is, Mulatu is an incredibly interesting and generous person with a lot of stories and anecdotes to tell. He also has very strong and frank opinions about music, which is a trait I personally admire.
We chatted about good and bad fusion in music, the development of ethio-jazz today, his meeting with Duke Ellington in Addis and a lot of stories involving the future staging of the opera he has written etc etc etc. I can barely remember the food I had in my plate but I'll definitely remember this lunch for a while!
He promised he'd listen to our album and give us his honest opinion, as well as a guided visit to his music school in Addis sometime next week, so looking forward to that.
Before we parted we took the obligatory photo together, and one with his car, a gorgeous old red Mazda he calls "Lucy": the personal ride of the father of Ethiopian jazz himself!
This post's title speaks for itself. We had lunch with Mulatu Astatqe! And we had a lot to talk about. Besides being the living legend he actually is, Mulatu is an incredibly interesting and generous person with a lot of stories and anecdotes to tell. He also has very strong and frank opinions about music, which is a trait I personally admire.
We chatted about good and bad fusion in music, the development of ethio-jazz today, his meeting with Duke Ellington in Addis and a lot of stories involving the future staging of the opera he has written etc etc etc. I can barely remember the food I had in my plate but I'll definitely remember this lunch for a while!
He promised he'd listen to our album and give us his honest opinion, as well as a guided visit to his music school in Addis sometime next week, so looking forward to that.
Before we parted we took the obligatory photo together, and one with his car, a gorgeous old red Mazda he calls "Lucy": the personal ride of the father of Ethiopian jazz himself!
Premier contact avec les musiciens éthiopiens
vendredi 26 novembre
Aujourd'hui c'est le deuxième jour pour moi en Ethiopie. Après un voyage de 15 heures via Nairob et Djibouti, Oliver, Pierre et moi avons atterri au milieu de la nuit à Addis Abbeba (On dit Abbaba, ici ).
Une courte fin de nuit à l'hotel, il est temps de filer à la répé. David, Paul et Etienne ont déniché deux chanteuses et un percussioniste qui vont jouer avec nous. Direction l'Alliance française. Nos amis arrivent, les filles sont magnifiques : la réputation des femmes éthiopiennes a fait le tour du monde à juste titre, et leur façon de danser et chanter ne laisse pas indifférent ! Rapidement, nous nous concentrons sur la musique et partageons nos répertoires. Des morceaux à eux, des compos à nous, des grands classiques du répertoire ethiopien...Ceraines choses fonctionnent, d'autre moins, c'est une véritable émotion d'entendre intepréter par eux des chansons que nous avons découvertes en disque et jouées de nombreuses fois.
La danse est aussi une dimension nouvelle qui apporte un élan à la musique. Une dans e très physique, toujours avec un grand sourire ; nous sommes sous le charme. Nous avons hâte de partager la scène avec nos invités samedi...
Aujourd'hui c'est le deuxième jour pour moi en Ethiopie. Après un voyage de 15 heures via Nairob et Djibouti, Oliver, Pierre et moi avons atterri au milieu de la nuit à Addis Abbeba (On dit Abbaba, ici ).
Une courte fin de nuit à l'hotel, il est temps de filer à la répé. David, Paul et Etienne ont déniché deux chanteuses et un percussioniste qui vont jouer avec nous. Direction l'Alliance française. Nos amis arrivent, les filles sont magnifiques : la réputation des femmes éthiopiennes a fait le tour du monde à juste titre, et leur façon de danser et chanter ne laisse pas indifférent ! Rapidement, nous nous concentrons sur la musique et partageons nos répertoires. Des morceaux à eux, des compos à nous, des grands classiques du répertoire ethiopien...Ceraines choses fonctionnent, d'autre moins, c'est une véritable émotion d'entendre intepréter par eux des chansons que nous avons découvertes en disque et jouées de nombreuses fois.
La danse est aussi une dimension nouvelle qui apporte un élan à la musique. Une dans e très physique, toujours avec un grand sourire ; nous sommes sous le charme. Nous avons hâte de partager la scène avec nos invités samedi...
Beers and Birrs*
Thursday 25th November 2010
Our first rehearsal with our Ethiopian friends was brilliant. We "exchanged" songs, tried out different instruments and singing on some Ethiopian standards and some of our own material. We plan to do this again throughout the next couple of days, and definitely try out some of these songs live during one of our concerts here in Addis.
---
It's quite impossible to describe in writing my first night out in Addis...Late afternoon, We were joined by Kidus, a great guy who's been living in Addis for the past few years, and who has a very cool blog about Ethiopian music( ) as well as a music shop in the Ethiopian capital. He proved to be a fantastic night-life guide, taking us to no less than 6 clubs and bars last night!
We started off at a restaurant which is popular in Addis for it's continuous live music and dancing. The food was exquisite though it was hard to tear your eyes from the stage with it's contiuously rotating teqa of singers, musicians and fantastic dancing! We were joined by Sophie Bernard at the restaurant, another French living in Addis, who is deeply involved in the music scene here. After dinner we went to a club nearby called Alize which hosted a band playing Ethiopian and African standards, well grooving their asses off.
The tour continued, and I tasted the local honey wine, and a variety of liquors whose names will be tough to remember. I won't go into details of bars and clubs we went in and out from but I have to mention the warmth and genuine welcoming feeling we felt all through the night by the people here in Addis. Everyone is up for a chat about anything, no matter the language or gesturing used! And music is omnipresent. People play and sing to celebrate, to give colour to their evening. Be it an accordeon play accompanied by a team of dancers, or a "masinco" / percussion duo singing away in a corner, occasionally joined by some locals who recognise the tune.
We ended the night at the Fendika, a club owned by Melaku, an amazing Ethiopian dancer whom we had met at one of our concerts in Paris. We will actually be playing later on next week at his club...seriously can't wait for that!
We got to our hotel at 4.30 am and could have stayed out longer! We even figured out the Ethiopian time system: midnight "normal" time is 6pm Ethiopian time and noon "normal" time is 6am Ethiopian time. So we technically went to sleep at 10.30pm, which definitely seems more logical, doesn't it?
* "Birr" is the local currency. No need to explain beer...
Our first rehearsal with our Ethiopian friends was brilliant. We "exchanged" songs, tried out different instruments and singing on some Ethiopian standards and some of our own material. We plan to do this again throughout the next couple of days, and definitely try out some of these songs live during one of our concerts here in Addis.
---
It's quite impossible to describe in writing my first night out in Addis...Late afternoon, We were joined by Kidus, a great guy who's been living in Addis for the past few years, and who has a very cool blog about Ethiopian music( ) as well as a music shop in the Ethiopian capital. He proved to be a fantastic night-life guide, taking us to no less than 6 clubs and bars last night!
We started off at a restaurant which is popular in Addis for it's continuous live music and dancing. The food was exquisite though it was hard to tear your eyes from the stage with it's contiuously rotating teqa of singers, musicians and fantastic dancing! We were joined by Sophie Bernard at the restaurant, another French living in Addis, who is deeply involved in the music scene here. After dinner we went to a club nearby called Alize which hosted a band playing Ethiopian and African standards, well grooving their asses off.
The tour continued, and I tasted the local honey wine, and a variety of liquors whose names will be tough to remember. I won't go into details of bars and clubs we went in and out from but I have to mention the warmth and genuine welcoming feeling we felt all through the night by the people here in Addis. Everyone is up for a chat about anything, no matter the language or gesturing used! And music is omnipresent. People play and sing to celebrate, to give colour to their evening. Be it an accordeon play accompanied by a team of dancers, or a "masinco" / percussion duo singing away in a corner, occasionally joined by some locals who recognise the tune.
We ended the night at the Fendika, a club owned by Melaku, an amazing Ethiopian dancer whom we had met at one of our concerts in Paris. We will actually be playing later on next week at his club...seriously can't wait for that!
We got to our hotel at 4.30 am and could have stayed out longer! We even figured out the Ethiopian time system: midnight "normal" time is 6pm Ethiopian time and noon "normal" time is 6am Ethiopian time. So we technically went to sleep at 10.30pm, which definitely seems more logical, doesn't it?
* "Birr" is the local currency. No need to explain beer...
Thursday, 25 November 2010
The Tour Dates
Day 1
After a gruelling 15 hour, 3 flight marathon we are finally in Addis! The atmosphere is warm and exciting (even though we were welcomed by an exceptional freak storm), the taxis are as blue and charming as expected and the people are as welcoming as ever!
We've thrown ourselves straight into the music and have our first rehearsal today with an Ethiopian singer, dancer and percussion player. We also have a lot of other concerts planned besides the original 3 dates. Some include collaborations with some great locally based dj's and groups. We will be uploading the new poster with all the details.
A very special thanks to the guys at the Alliance Francaise in Addis who are always more than glad to help out with technical and logistical issues!
Monday, 22 November 2010
Saturday, 20 November 2010
Flight on Schedule
All of us at Akalé Wubé have been waiting long for this moment. We're off to Ethiopia!
Half of us leave tonight, the other half next Wednesday. We have a lot of exciting things planned: 3 gigs (and hopefully more to come), a few workshops, a couple of jam sessions and a lot of encounters and things to talk about!
So we're going to try and keep a journal of our activities. This blog will be updated daily (wi-fi permitting) in English and French. We'll be posting stories, photos, videos and anything else worth sharing!
So make sure you come back and check our journal regularly!
Oliver
Akalé Wubé
Half of us leave tonight, the other half next Wednesday. We have a lot of exciting things planned: 3 gigs (and hopefully more to come), a few workshops, a couple of jam sessions and a lot of encounters and things to talk about!
So we're going to try and keep a journal of our activities. This blog will be updated daily (wi-fi permitting) in English and French. We'll be posting stories, photos, videos and anything else worth sharing!
So make sure you come back and check our journal regularly!
Oliver
Akalé Wubé
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)