Hermon Mehari - Asmara

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 185, March 2023.

Hermon Mehari
Asmara
Kosmos (35 mins)

Jazz trumpeter Hermon Mehari is a Kansas City native based in Paris, but his third album is a reflection of his father’s land of Eritrea. Mehari has only visited the country once when he was five years old, but the memories of that time, and the music and culture of his childhood home, infuse this personal and touching work.

The overwhelming vibe of Asmara is one of freshness. It has something of a spring morning to it. Mehari’s trumpet has such an airy tone that I wouldn’t be surprised if it was actually a flugelhorn, and his ensemble specialises in beautifully light washes of sound without forfeiting any passion or musicality – piano and vibraphone player Peter Schlamb gives a particularly superlative performance.

The Eritrean influences can be felt throughout, but they’re subtle, like hazy memories conjured from a pentatonic passage within a flowing solo or a slightly staggered Red Sea rhythm guiding a composition. It’s only during the two guest turns by Eritrean singer Faytinga that those vapours coalesce into sweet raindrops of nostalgia. Don’t be mistaken, Asmara is a jazz record to its core, and a very solid one at that: a thoughtful exploration of roots and diaspora identity.

Ten Ethiopian Musicians You Need to Listen to Right Now

First published by Selamta, the Ethiopian Airlines online magazine.



If you’ve never listened to Ethiopian music before, you’re in for a treat! Ethiopia has a huge musical culture, with styles spanning traditional music, song and dance from the country’s 80-plus culture groups; achingly beautiful liturgical song of the Orthodox Church dating back to the 6th century; and popular music from retro jazz grooves to the cheesiest pop singers and the hippest underground scenes. But what sets them apart is a unique musical system – a set of distinctive pentatonic (five-note) scales that makes Ethiopian music absolutely unmistakable. Here are ten must-hear artists to kick-start your journey into the wonderful world of Ethiopian music.

…and to read the full list, including Mahmoud Ahmed (pictured above), head over to the original article at the Selamta website.


Photo: Mahmoud Ahmed performing with Badume´s Band at TFF.Rudolstadt 2010, by Schorle. Used under licence CC BY-SA 2.0.

Debashish Bhattacharya - The Sound of the Soul

First published on The Quietus.

Debashish Bhattacharya
The Sound of the Soul
Abstract Logix (76 mins)

Debashish Bhattacharya was not the first to bring Hindustani classical music to the slide guitar, but he has certainly brought the field its most recent international recognition – helped by successful collaborations with musicians such as John McLaughlin. The Sound of the Soul is Bhattacharya’s first solo release since his 2017 tribute to Hawaiian guitar master Tau Moe; this time he moves back to the classical frame to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of his gurus, sarod pioneer Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. Here, Bhattacharya plays the chaturangui, an instrument of his own design that looks as beautiful as it sounds. A sort-of mix between a hollow-neck lap steel guitar and a hollow-body Gibson, it has a bunch of sympathetic strings that makes it distinctively Indian in its appearance and in the way each note rings out into the ether.

Read the full review over at The Quietus.