The Ibex Band, led by guitarist Selam »Selamino« Seyoum Woldermarian and bassist Giovanni Rico, was one of Ethiopia’s most influential bands. In the 1970s and 1980s, they worked on more than 200 albums and recorded around 2,500 songs. Much of this got lost. They were the musical backbone for Mulatu Astatke and Mahmoud Ahmed, for Aster Aweke, Girma Beyene and Tilahun Gessesse. They established the 6/8 chickchicka rhythm and those heavy, incredibly groovy bass loops. They reinvented traditional Ethiopian melodies as dance music. For decades, other musicians in the country copied their style or even their instruments, picking up the Fender bass because Giovanni Rico played it, and the Gibson guitar of Selamino. This is where the sound of Ethiopian jazz originated.
Between Addis Ababa and Sweden
Miraculously, the recording of »Stereo Instrumental Music«, the Ibex Band’s 1976 album, has now resurfaced, very well preserved on a chrome cassette. The 12 tracks were recorded in the ballroom of the Ras Hotel in Addis Ababa on a four-track recorder, the first time this had ever been done in Ethiopia, hence the »stereo« in the title, made possible by the Swede Karl-Gustav Lundgren, who at the time was working for the Christian radio station The Radio Voice of the Gospel. Now, on 11 April 2024, the Ibex Band’s »Stereo Instrumental Music« will be reissued on the Muzikawi label, which operates between Addis Ababa and Stockholm. For the first time on vinyl.
