Getatchew Mekuria, The Ex & Friends

Y'Anbessaw Tezeta [2 CDs]

Label: Terp Records Country: Netherlands

"Quite unexpectedly, last year, while here in Europe for several summerfestivals, Getatchew Mekuria at the age of 76, expressed an urge to make one more recording. With The Ex. Probably the last one in his life. A great responsability! We recorded in December, in Wormerveer and Addis Abeba. The result is stunning. Deep, old, classic melodies. Very different from the last one. Instrumental, more senti- tive and fragile, deeper. Amazing hornriffs and solo's. But also dancable, with up-tempo war-chants. Many things. He called it: "Y'Anbessa Tezeta". 'In memory of the Lion'. Memories on 65 years of playing music! But also always new and forward.

But there is more. We wanted to make something special. We added an extra CD, with some historical recordings, including Getatchew and the Instant Composers Pool, Haile Selassie 1 Theatre Orchestra (1960!) and a live performance with the Ex in Montreal. Plus a 40-page booklet. With great photos by many photographers. Matias Corral specially came to Addis to shoot some Getatchew portraits in addition to his already striking black & white live photos. We decided to make this a benefit CD for Getatchew. Everyone contributed for free. After almost 65 years of playing music, we thought this amazing person deserves some kind of pension!

The first time we met Getatchew was early 2004. We were intrigued by his music, we knew from an old cassette. What an orinigal sound! We went to Addis to find him. Getatchew agreed right away to come to Holland. To our 25th anniversary party in Am- sterdam, November 2004. He played with the ICP, the Instant Composers Pool and he loved it. But he was also intrigued by The Ex and wanted to play and record with us. We invited some great hornplayers and things have never stopped since. We recorded the Moa Anbessa CD and in some eight years we've done almost a hundred concerts in 15 countries.Jazz-, worldmusic- and rock festivals and venues all over the world. Lincoln Centre Out of Doors in New York, the French 8 'o clock news with 8 million viewers, Rio Loco in Toulouse to 20.000 people and broadcasted on TV in Ethiopia."-Terp Records