“[W]e’re trying to take that whole Ethio-jazz concept and move it forward into this century,” trombonist Ben Hall says about the album. “We’re trying to put a spin on the older dance styles that we love, and still have it danceable but with our own twist to it.”

Most of the compositions are instrumentals that were penned by Feedel’s keyboardist and leader, Araya Woldemichael, with two songs from other members. Some have a relaxed feel more appropriate for listening than dancing — “Behelme,” for example, starts off smooth before transforming into a more straight-ahead jazz number.

Other cuts are more vibrant: The title track starts off with a guest playing the Ethiopian masenqo, a one-string violin, and then a rough-edged male voice comes in, using the pentatonic scale identified with Ethiopian church music. Eventually, the song adds psychedelic horn riffs. Album closer “Araya’s Mood” has a repeating James Brown-in-Addis modal structure along with fuzzy, psychedelic guitar lines and clever keyboard fingerwork.

Hall says the six-year-old Feedel Band has wanted to do an album since the beginning but “we weren’t able to finance it till now.” They self-financed the release and Hall says they have bought Facebook ads that have spurred interest in Ethiopia. The band recorded Ethiopian Ocean from May through August at Cue Recording Studios in Falls Church, Virginia, with engineer Blaine Misner, and then sent it to veteran mastering engineer Charlie Pilzer, who put together the finished product at Airshow Mastering in Takoma Park, Maryland.

Friday, the band is scheduled to perform with veteran Ethiopian pianist Girma Beyene at D.C.’s Atlas Performing Arts Center. Beyene — who worked as a gas station attendant in D.C. before moving back to Ethiopia — is best known for his rhythmic jazz standard “Muziqawi Silt,” and playing with legendary group the Walias Band.

“The project with Girma Beyene is to recreate his songs with a Feedel Band sound,” Hall says. “We’ve been transcribing the recordings and rehearsing them to put forward the best product for Girma.”

Feedel Band and Girma Beyene perform Oct. 14 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center.

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

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

When I interviewed Mergia last year, he told me hadn’t performed in public since 1992 or 1993. He spent six days a week driving a cab to and from Dulles airport. Not long after the reissue, the resident of Fort Washington, Maryland, was touring around the world and fetching reviews in the New York Times.

Mergia’s second wind is still blowing strong: On Oct. 14, Awesome Tapes From Africa plans to reissue Tche Belew, a 1977 instrumental LP by Mergia’s old group, Walias, otherwise known as Walias Band. Even casual followers of 1960s and 1970s Ethiopian music have probably heard one song from that album: the funky, hard-driving “Musicawi Silt,” one of the group’s most beloved tunes ever.

Today, Awesome Tapes From Africa released “Eti Gual Blenai,” a lesser-known cut from Tche Belew. With Mergia’s keys leading the charge, the band surges forward in spurts, then falls back into a simmering jam. It’s a time capsule from a fruitful period in Ethiopian music, one that was cut short by a new dictatorship that sent artists like Mergia fleeing to safer shores.

Listen to “Eti Gual Blenai” below.

Hailu Mergia plays the Atlas Performing Arts Center with Low Mentality Nov. 22.