Aural Fixation- Gavin B.'s Music Blog

Gavin B. · 07-27-2009, 03:25 PM

Song of the Day

Yekermo Sew- Mulatu Astatke In the late Sixties and early Seventies, hypnotic grooves of Astake and his Epiothique Orchestra had a big influence on American jazz players like John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Pharoah Saunders. Post-bop jazz was moving away from the traditional blues and ballad structure of bee-bop jazz and began to experiment the avant garde, modal music, afrocentric jazz and fusion.

Old school jazz players like Wynton Marsalis has agrued that those African influenced musicians like Miles and Trane, were no longer playing jazz, and in strict sense of jazz theory, Marsalis was correct. Traditional jazz had it's roots in the blues but that doesn't mean that modern jazz isn't capable of absorbing influences outside of uniquely American musical forms like blues, ragtime and swing.

The translation of the title from Astatke's native Ethiopian is A Man of Wisdom and Experience.

The densely layered sound, the Eastern atonality of the main theme and the loosely structured riddims lend an aura of seductive mystery to the song. The wacked out, acid drenched guitar solo which begins around 2:44 has the kind of fuzztone distortion you'd expect to hear from a garage band like the Seeds, the Wipers or the Electric Prunes. All of which adds up to a magnificent if not slightly strange musical offering.

The Ethiopiques broke up in the mid-Seventies but the 66 year old Astake continues to tour the world as both a soloist and with jazz ensembles. The inclusion of Yekermo Sew in the soundtrack to the Bill Muarry movie Dead Flowers, awakened an interest in Mulatu Astake's music in the United States.

Engine · 07-27-2009, 08:01 PM

More great music, Gavin. The song in the video does remind me of Pharoah Saunders or Yusef Lateef - a great way to spend 10 minutes. Thanks.

07-27-2009, 03:25 PM	#1 (permalink)
Gavin B. Model Worker Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,248	Song of the Day Yekermo Sew- Mulatu Astatke In the late Sixties and early Seventies, hypnotic grooves of Astake and his Epiothique Orchestra had a big influence on American jazz players like John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Pharoah Saunders. Post-bop jazz was moving away from the traditional blues and ballad structure of bee-bop jazz and began to experiment the avant garde, modal music, afrocentric jazz and fusion. Old school jazz players like Wynton Marsalis has agrued that those African influenced musicians like Miles and Trane, were no longer playing jazz, and in strict sense of jazz theory, Marsalis was correct. Traditional jazz had it's roots in the blues but that doesn't mean that modern jazz isn't capable of absorbing influences outside of uniquely American musical forms like blues, ragtime and swing. The translation of the title from Astatke's native Ethiopian is A Man of Wisdom and Experience. The densely layered sound, the Eastern atonality of the main theme and the loosely structured riddims lend an aura of seductive mystery to the song. The wacked out, acid drenched guitar solo which begins around 2:44 has the kind of fuzztone distortion you'd expect to hear from a garage band like the Seeds, the Wipers or the Electric Prunes. All of which adds up to a magnificent if not slightly strange musical offering. The Ethiopiques broke up in the mid-Seventies but the 66 year old Astake continues to tour the world as both a soloist and with jazz ensembles. The inclusion of Yekermo Sew in the soundtrack to the Bill Muarry movie Dead Flowers, awakened an interest in Mulatu Astake's music in the United States. __________________ There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff. Townes Van Zandt Last edited by Gavin B.; 07-27-2009 at 07:27 PM.

07-27-2009, 08:01 PM	#2 (permalink)
Engine air quote Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: pollen & mold Posts: 3,108	More great music, Gavin. The song in the video does remind me of Pharoah Saunders or Yusef Lateef - a great way to spend 10 minutes. Thanks.