''Moa Anbessa'' is an album by

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

Getatchew Mekuria with Dutch

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

band The Ex and guests, released in 2006 on The Ex's subsidiary label Terp.

Background

The project came together on the heels of The Ex's previous studio album '' Turn'', which incorporated elements of

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

n and Congolese music alongside a tribute to the Ethio-Jazz anthems of Getatchew Mekuria. The Ex had toured Ethiopia twice and then invited Getatchew to perform at their 25th anniversary show in Amsterdam where he proposed that The Ex be the

backup band A backup band or backing band is a musical ensemble that typically accompanies a single artist who is the featured performer. The situation may be a live performance or in a recording session, and the group may or may not have its own name, such ...

for his next album. In addition to ''Moa Anbessa'', the collaboration yielded tours of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

as well as an official live

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

released by Buda Musique, producers of the influential '' Ethiopiques'' series of ethiojazz compilations.

Live performances

In addition to Mekuria and The Ex's core two-guitar/drums/vocals line up, ''Moa Anbessa'' and the tours surrounding it featured additional brass and reed work from

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

alto sax The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E, smaller th ...

player Brodie West, French

clarinetist The clarinet is a single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. The clarinet family is the largest woodw ...

Xavier Charles, and Dutch trombonist Joost Buis who had previously played with the band in their Ex Orkest project. The Ex also reunited with Scottish bass player Colin McLean with whom they had toured and co-released records in the late 1980s when both McLean and Andy Moor were members of the Dog Faced Hermans.

Album title

The name "Moa Anbessa",

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

for "The Conquering Lion", refers to a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

made up of Ethiopians who support a

constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited monarchy, parliamentary monarchy or democratic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions. ...

. The party was created by exiled titular emperor Amha Selassie I to operate as the political wing of the crown. As an album title, it makes note both of Getatchew's support of the royal family, as well as his own "return to the throne" of Ethiopian jazz.

Reception

Steve Holtje of '' The Big Takeover'' ranked ''Moa Anbessa'' the best album of the year, writing: "the idea of a bunch of left-wing punks ..acting as Mekurya’s band had seemed an odd fit, and fraught with potential for disappointment and disaster. But then here came their new album together ..and it is a magnificent melding of cultures. ..''Moa Anbessa'' is a great introduction to Mekurya for rock fans. The Ex doesn’t cut their intensity a bit – heck, they need it all to keep up with Mekurya, still going strong in his seventies. This is a powerful, rocking record that will thrill even listeners who’ve never bought a “

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

” album in their lives." Jason Cherkis of ''

Washington City Paper The ''Washington City Paper'' is a U.S. alternative weekly newspaper serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area since 1981. The ''City Paper'' is distributed on Thursdays; its average circulation in 2006 was 85,588. The paper's editorial ...

'' called the album "thrilling." Peter Margasak hailed the album as "Ethio-Dutch brilliance".

Track listing

# "Ethiopia Hagere" – 6:31 # "Sethed Seketelat" – 4:31 # "Eywat Setenafegagn" – 5:05 # "Che Belew Shellela" – 4:50 # "Aynamaye Nesh" – 5:55 # "Aynotche Terabu/Shemonmwanaye" – 8:15 # "Musicawi Silt" – 4:23 # "Tezeta" – 4:17 # "Almaz Yeharerwa" – 5:35 # "Tezalegn Yetentu" – 6:03 # "Aha Begena" – 6:30

Personnel

* Getatchew Mekuria (tenor saxophone) * G.W. Sok (vocals) * Katherina Bornefeld (drums) *Terrie Hessels (guitar) * Andy Moor (guitar) *Colin McLean (bass) *Xavier Charles (clarinet) *Joost Buis (trombone) * Brodie West (alto saxophone) *Cor Fuhler (organ on tracks 6, 9 and 10)

References

{{Authority control The Ex (band) albums 2006 collaborative albums Getatchew Mekurya albums