FAR EXP – Get On Your Grind [Ardamus, RNL, Fleetwood – prod. by Decompoze]
The Stick Mob – Sugarcane Road
Wild Flag – Racehorse
Iritis – Monster
We Were Pirates – Into Thin Air
Hailu Mergia – Ambasel
Be Still, Cody – Wrong Right
Philip Lassiter – Set You Free
Dirdy Redzz – Beat ya Feet
K-Murdock – Heartache
Sun Machines – Doom Street
Moss Of Aura – Wheels
Xamin – Humidity ft. Alex Leipold, Rebecca Schrader
AndrewN – Night Falls
Dark Narrows – This Altar
Wytold – Do You Know?
Wes Swing – Blood Branches
Broto Roy – Never Enough Cake
Lo-Fang – Silver
Dan Deacon – Wham City

Kino Musica – Yèkèrmo Sèw
David King – Exmemory
Ace Cosgrove – Reality (Prod. by Dirty Chocolate)
Daniel Bachman – Levee
Jacob Gemmell – The Battle
Higher Hands – U-Turn
The Soul Searchers – If It Ain’t Funky
Projekt Eins – Sentient Sedition
Rumpole – Cool Day
Demetrius Zozul – Island
Jason Ward – sorry i cant come home
John W. Warren – Nana da Lua
Abu Jibran – My Triangle
Stephen Robey – Charlotte’s Song
Hailu Mergia – Shilela
Joey and the Waitress – Mother May I
Seth Kibel – Your Mileage May Vary
Aquarium – Credits
Martyn – Fashion Skater
The Torches – Wish You Well

Bossalingo – Les Feuilles Mortes
Drop Electric – Higgs Boson
Hailu Mergia and the Walias – Eti Gual Blenai
East Ghost – Tobacco Teeth
Golden Looks – Chisenbop
Anchor 3 – Hunter
Cigarbox Planetarium – Tiny Dream Car
Suzanne Brindamour – In the Sky
The Kings of Crownsville – Lies
Fall Seattle – Boyhood
Andrew Grossman – Where Did It Go Wrong?
G-Flux – Champagne Instrumental
Rootbug – Close Call
Baby Bry Bry – What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Nasar Abadey and Supernova – Eternal Surrender
Dawit Eklund – Litchi Juice
Cigarette – Crown
Iritis – Caravan
Echo Broke Alone – All That’s Left Is Broken
Animal Collective – The Softest Voice

Elijah Jamal Balbed – Butch Warren
Sneaks – X.T.Y
Astronaut Jones – Farther
FAR EXP – Get On Your Grind
Golden Looks – Hey Say
East Ghost – Jericho
Bossalingo – Round Midnight
Carni Klirs – A Respite Amongst the Palms
Five State Drive – Dry Clean Express
Soundtrack to Sleep – All We Do Is Talk
Sleeves Off a Vest – Number 9
Medications – Kilometers and Smiles
Hailu Mergia and the Walias – Muziqawi Silt
Philip Lassiter – Liquid in Love
Cigarbox Planetarium – Memory Loop
June Gloom – Dealer
Sri Rama – Refreshing
Lifted – Medicated Yoga
The Dwindlers – Pale Blue Dress
Aerialist – Proteus

Jonathan Parker – Colin’s Song
Troy and Paula Haag – Maybe It Was Me
Lands – Polyonymous
We Were Pirates – Transmorgified
Birds and Buildings – East Is Fort Orthodox
Elijah Jamal Balbed – Lament For Booker
Justin Jones – So Much You’ll Never Know (make me the moon pt. 2)
Le Loup – To the Stars! To the Night!
Wytold – Folk Song of the Steel People
Three Man Soul Machine – Golden Thread
Akua Allrich – I Can’t Stand the Rain
Thievery Corporation – Indra
Marvin Gaye – Right On
Ephemeral Sun – Prism
Greenland – East of Eden Center
Bobby Thompson – Be Your Love
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray – Election Year Blues
Beautiful Swimmers – Swimmers Groove
Hailu Mergia – Shilela
Annette Wasilik and the Wonder Band – You Are Free

Chopteeth – Weigh Your Blessings
Koshari – Into Shreds
Sligo Creek Stompers – Cuckoo’s Nest
Brian Whitmer – Kelly’s Lament
Peals – Belle Air
Young Rapids – Ugly
Five State Drive – Dry Clean Express
Teen Mom – Kitchen
Diamond District – Streets Won’t Let Me Chill
M.H. & His Orchestra – Cobblestone
Hailu Mergia and the Walias – Muziqawi Silt
The Caribbean – Echopraxia
Sara Curtin – A Little Again
Louis Weeks – Calder
GroundScore – Here We Are
Drop Electric – What Now, of Paradise?
Jonathan Parker – Sundown
Domingues & Kane – No. 5
Lo Fang – Invention No. 11
AXB – Quantum Chill
Wale – Love Hate Thing (Tone P Instrumental)
Elikeh – The Conversation
The Sweater Set – Lost At Sea
Warren Wolf – 427 Mass Ave

Original post:

The Washington region is home to one of the most robust Ethiopian music scenes in the world — possibly second only to Addis Ababa itself — and D.C. Ethio-jazz ensemble Feedel Band includes some of its top players.

Feedel saxophonist Moges Habte and bassist Alemseged Kebede are well-known for their work with Walias Band, a group that thrived during the height of the Addis jazz scene in the 1970s. (Also in Walias was Hailu Mergia, a D.C.-area cab driver whose music career found its second wind in 2013.) Both Kebede and keyboardist/bandleader Araya Woldemichael have performed with huge acts including vocalist Aster Aweke, who’s been called “Ethiopia’s Aretha Franklin.”

But it’s easy to catch Feedel Band (“feedel” means “alphabet” or “letters”) playing a casual gig around town. The group performs on the first Thursday of each month — sometimes with cameos from notable Ethiopian artists — at Bossa Bar and Lounge in Adams Morgan.

When the band stopped by WAMU in November to play two songs for Bandwidth, it was one of the most hectic sessions we’ve produced yet. Band members and instruments were everywhere. It felt chilly outside but balmy in the studio, with 10 musicians, three videographers, one photographer and two engineers sharing the cramped space under hot lights for hours. But in the end, the chaos felt worth it.

Feedel recorded two Woldemichael-penned songs in the studio that night: “Girl From Ethiopia” (with guest vocals from the bandleader’s nephew, Dibekulu Tafesse of Jano Band) and “Ethiopian Ocean.” I asked Woldemichael how both compositions came together.

The simmering “Girl From Ethiopia” is a love song. “I wrote [it] for my beautiful wife,” Woldemichael emails. “We all must show our love for the wives in our lives, and I’m lucky enough to combine two of my favorite things in the world: love and music.”

Meanwhile, “Ethiopian Ocean” is more of a history lesson. It stemmed from Woldemichael’s discovery that the body of water now called the South Atlantic was once called the Ethiopian Ocean.

“You can clearly see the name Ethiopian Ocean that was used for thousands of years,” Woldemichael writes. “I said to myself, ‘This doesn’t make any sense… I have to do something about it.’ A lot of my people didn’t know about this great history. History is extremely important. Imagine if someone [took] from you … everything you knew about life up to last week, and just erased it. Where would you be? You would be lost.”

It’s tempting to get lost in the two songs Feedel recorded for us — but if you pay attention, you’ll notice the band is a carefully calibrated machine. Study that rhythm section. It’s locked in. And don’t forget to bend your ear toward the two traditional players in the room: Minale Bezu on krar and Setegn Atenaw on mesenko.

Above, listen to Feedel Band play “Girl From Ethiopia” live at WAMU. (Things get really wicked around 1:39, so your patience is worthwhile.) Then immerse yourself in “Ethiopian Ocean,” below.

But the best way to experience Feedel Band is to catch the ensemble live. Their next monthly gig at Bossa arrives on June 4.

Want to follow Bandwidth’s newest videos? Subscribe to our channel on YouTube. Special thanks to Brendan Canty for mixing both “Girl From Ethiopia” and “Ethiopian Ocean.”

Photos by Rhiannon Newman for WAMU