Grammy

Ethiopian artist Gili Yalo – joins forces with Grammy nominated music producers Niles City Sound – on new EP ‘Made In Amharica’

Check out this poignant and touching video that promotes Gili Yalo’s new Made In Amharica EP – a mix of Ethiopian desert psych meets Texan blues rock.

The screenplay of the video is built on a real history of Gili Yalo’s cousin, who got sick after moving to Israel from Ethiopia. The family decided that someone had put a spell on him and the only way to cure him was to go back to Ethiopia and find his shirt that was stolen.

The story reflects the thread of losing identity and being disconnected from your roots – and only by getting back to your culture, and exploring your own heritage, can you get back to your balance. The film is directed by Nadav Direktor, on location in Negev Desert, Israel.The Made in Ahmerica EP is available now digitally and will get a vinyl release in May. It compliments the announcement of Gili Yalo’s WOMAD 2019 performance this coming July. For the EP, the Ethiopian born and Israeli based musician collaborated with Niles City Sound – the Grammy nominated musicians and studio based in Fort Worth Texas, where the producers and musicians helped Leon Bridges hone his particular slant and sound.

Gili Yalo’s love of singing came about through hardship. As a five-year-old, he escaped the Ethiopian famine on foot as part of an exodus of Jewish people, often known as Operation Moses. Music made the journey more bearable. Eventually settling in Tel Aviv, Yalo surrounded himself with funk, soul and dub. On his debut album in 2017, all those sounds come together with a large helping of Ethiopian groove.

“The title is a word play,” Gili says. “Amharic is a language of Ethiopian people. I wrote this song in English and sent to a friend of mine in Ethiopia to have it translated. I wanted to create a song about the concept of living without borders. That is the thing that occupies my mind.”

The music is released through Dead Sea Recordings.

Do not miss: World Circuit provide welcome reissue from Cuban maestro Rubén González

Rubén González Fontanills recorded this LP – Introducing…Rubén González – in two days following the completion of the seminal Buena Vista Social Club album in 1997. The Buena Vista pianist uses the same techniques that gave the group’s album that remarkable sound, as well as selected musicians from the project.

When the Cuban pianist recorded his first solo album in Havana in 1996 he was 77-years-old. When World Circuit released the album the following year, along with the Buena Vista Social Club’s Grammy-winning LP and the Grammy-nominated Afro Cuban All Stars (with Rubén playing on both) it led to a late flourishing of the musical careers of those involved and a focus on the country’s music. Rubén passed in 2003, his status as a legend of music finally assured.

The reissue coincides with a world-wide summer theatre release of  Buena Vista Social Club: Adios, a feature length documentary. Rubén’s story is featured extensively. He was invited out of retirement by Ry Cooder in 1996 following his heyday in 1940s and 1950s Cuba.

Highlights on Introducing…Rubén González include the jazz dancers Cumbanchero and bonus album track Descarga Rubén Y Cachaíto, although the beauty of Rubén’s playing and the calibre of his fellow musician’s is explicit throughout.

For more information go to World Circuit.