Perhaps some of you remember your first encounter with Ethiopian jazz – for example through Jim Jarmusch’s movie Broken Flowers. Magical moments that reappear here with the first notes: The flowing melodies, elegant textures and specific melancholy that permeate Mulatu Astatke’s classics can also be found on the Ibex Band‘s 1976 album Stereo Instrumental Music.
The Ibex Band, from which the Roha Band emerged in the late 1970s, was not only the backing band for great voices like Aster Aweke, Mahmoud Ahmed and Tilahun Gessesse – Mulatu Astatke also worked with them. They are said to have recorded over 250 albums in the 70s and 80s, many of which are now lost. Stereo Instrumental Music stands on its own – as a musical blueprint between tradition and modernity, between African rhythms and Western harmonies. At the same time, it marks a historical turning point: Only a short time later, the conditions for musicians deteriorated drastically due to the military coup and its restrictions. The four-track recorder used to record this album, like so much else, simply disappeared.
