Label: Linic Major Production
Artist: Livy Ekemezie
Album: Friday Night
Grade: Sealed copy. Flat!
What a record.. Rare as & unopened. Be the one to crack the seal on this incredible slice of afro boogie wonder.
Still relatively unknown & an absolutely top notch dance-floor album.
Label: Kaifa Records – LPKF 39
Artist: Muluken Melesse
Album: Muluken Sings Shewalul
Grade: Ex (Clean/Shop stock) with scratch audible in latter part of B2, into B3.
Blazing talent out of the Gojam region of Ethiopia backed by the amazing Equators Band.
Muluken Melesse is one of the most revered singers of all time in Ethiopia, being so highly acclaimed for his vocal tone and original delivery.
Wicked grooves with extended solos throughout, including some wild antics on conga & vibraphone by none other than Mulatu Astatke!
Label: Parlophone – VDL. 106
Voix De L’Orient Series
Artist: Nour El Houda
Side A/B: Ala Oum El Manadilla
Grade: Vg+ (shop stock)
78 RPM.
Exquisite Egyptian Shellac with the main theme running across both sides of the disc.
Beautiful acapella vocal meets hypnotic groove in the Egyptian orchestral style.
Side A: Part 1
Side B:Label: Amin – Amin 002
Artist: Tilahun Gessesse
A/B Side: Tewat Mata Tekazie / Besak Befegegeta
Grade: EX (shop stock)
Nice tunes with Lo-fi wah wah guitar and mandolin giving the main flavour.
Side A: Tewat Mata Tekazie
Side B: Besak BefegegetaLabel: Philips - PH 265
Artist: Abebe Tessema (backed by the Rainbow Orchestra)
Side A/B: Yimama / Yam Loga
Grade: EX (shop stock)
Hypnotic cultural music which was no doubt played in the Ethiopian National Theatre at some time.
Both sides featuring a nice 3/4 feel over some deep organ & horn sounds, with backing vocal chorus.
Side A: Yimama
Side B: Yam Loga
Label: Philips - PH 237
Artist: Getatchew Kassa (with The Walias Band)
Side A/B: Yene Alem / Wededkuh Maletish Layker
Grade: Vg to Vg+ (some clicks on a side otherwise clean sound)
Beautiful sounding record, featuring the Walias Band in their prime.
Getatchew is in great voice, pleading out to the ladies ‘Yene Alem!’ ‘My World!’
Side A: Yene Alem
Side B: Wededkuh Maletish Layker
Label: Kaifa Records - LPKF 20
Artist: Mahmoud Ahmed (with Ibex Band)
Album: Ere Mela Mela
Grade: Vg- to Vg (some clicks)
Seldom dug up classic from much loved Ethiopian Tenor Mahmoud Ahmed.
Hypnotic sounds all round, and featuring the track ‘Mela Mela’, which has a deeper, more subdued mood than the Amha 45 cut.
Check the Seifu Yohannes 45 of ‘Mela Mela’, also listed.
Label: Duomo – DSL 0088
Artist: Mike Umoh
Album: Getting On, Getting Down
Grade: Side 1: VG- / Side 2: VG / Sleeve: G
Superb Afro Funk Disco..
Get way down to Shake your Body on this Nigerian Synth Excursion.
Check the sample for a cross section of tracks
Label: Kothari - K 1
Artist: Wendyifraw Weretta
Side A/B: Sean Aya / Fikri Hesum
Grade: NM (shop stock)
Wicked and deep 5/8 Eritrean double sider. Strictly for the connoisseurs.
Killer lick back reverb on the snare and claps. Also some low-end bass to be found in the b side ‘Fikri Hesum’, if you are able to dial it up!
Side A: Sean Aya
Side B: Fekri Husum
Label: AMHA - AE 270
Artist: Seifu Yohannes
A/B Side: Mela Mela / Tezeta
Grade: Vg- to Vg
Killer 6/8 banger on the A side
B side Tezeta (a nostalgic memory) is purest Ethiopian, nowhere else on the continent can pull this kind of sound!
Check the Mahmoud Ahmed version of ‘Mela Mela’, also listed.
A Side: Mela Mela
B Side: TezetaLabel: AMHA - AE 570
Artist: Hirut Bekele
Side A/B: Almokerkum Nebere / Esu Naw Meselegne
Grade: Vg- to Vg (Green & red marbled vinyl) slight surface hiss due to coloured vinyl.
Funking a side from one of the best female singers, from ‘the golden era’ of Ethiopian music.
Check the mid song jam, funky highland guitar meets slamming drums.
Side A: Almokerkum Nebere
Side B: Esu Naw MeselegneLabel: Philips - Ph 108
Artist: Menelik Wossenatchew / Telela Kebede
A/B Side: Aderetch Arada / Kelemewa
Grade: EX (shop stock)
2 sides cut by Haile Selassie's Imperial Bodyguard Band.
Menelik Wossenatchew's operatic vocal prowess is clear on Adarech Arada. It's about a hip little area in Addis where active young ladies would gather and what they got up to when their mothers weren't watching..gulp!
The b side is a great theatrical piece with backing chorus.
A Side: Aderetch Arada
B Side: KelemewaLabel: Philips - Ph 214
Artist:Belaynesh Wubante & Assegedetch Kassa (with Mulatu Astatke)
Side A/B: Alemiye / Gubiliye
Grade: G+ to Vg
Track titles: Alemiye / Gubiliye
Deep double sider from a couple of young ladies who used to sing together in an Addis Ababa bar. Mulatu heard them and said 'why don't we try something...'
One of 2 x 45s that they cut on consecutive Philips releases.
Some psyche sounds in there plus extended solos in the mid section of each track. Deeep!
Side A: Alemiye
Side B: GubiliyeLabel: Philips - PH 101
Artist: Tilahun Gessesse / Mulatu Astatke
Side A/B: Tiz Alegn Yetintu / Emnete
Grade: G+ to Vg
Needs little intro...
The great Tilahun Gessesse, Ethiopia’s most celebrated singer of all time, laying it down over a 6/4 groove.
B side is Mulatu doings his thing! Emnete means ‘My thoughts.’
Label is rough but the record better.
A play out copy, clicks near the beginnings but still drops!
Side A: Tiz Alegn Yetintu
Side B: Emnete
