Comments on: ethiopiques, live in nyc

By: beta

beta — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:13:17 +0000

joe, we felt similarly inclined to leave right after Mahmoud Ahmed, but thank god we stayed. the Ex/ Getatchew Mekurya collab was incredible. Those beguiling scales of Ethiopian music shockingly mixed well with the raw punk guitars of the Ex. Even the slower stuff was spot-on, with lots of edges still being flashed by the horns and Mekurya himself straddles this Coltrane/ Pharoah Sanders tone that is beyond belief. It made me pine for horns sections mixing with punk’s raw energy that doesn’t necessarily just mean “ska.”

By: Tom Hilton

Tom Hilton — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:43:27 +0000

That does sound great. Daniel, Esq.--I'm with you on the greatness of vol. 4, but that's all Mulatu Astatqe (no Mahmoud Ahmed on there, as I understand it). Who, if Wikipedia is to be trusted, is still alive and performing. I would love to see him play live.

By: porieux

porieux — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:51:17 +0000

Sounds great, thanks for the report.

By: qwynwyn

qwynwyn — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:47:36 +0000

I’m also very jealous! I wish I could’ve been there to experience it all.

By: NankerPhledge

NankerPhledge — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:20:34 +0000

Oooh. Jealous!

By: joe

joe — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:58:21 +0000

I’ll have you know, Alex, that the name of that dance is actually “the limber handshake.” It’s from a book. I’m, like, a professional dancer.

By: Daniel, Esq.

Daniel, Esq. — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:52:55 +0000

Ahmed’s all over the Ethiopiques series, I think (link below). That series is one of the best multi-volume works on eMusic. Check out, especially, Vol. 4 (spooky, smokey Ethiopian jazz, some of which was used in the Bill Murray film, Broken Flowers).

http://www.emusic.com/artist/Mahmoud-Ahmed-MP3-Download/10564788.html

By: alex

alex — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:27:54 +0000

Additional thrill: Joe doing his “arms in the air like you just don’t care” dance.