Beirut-born Vinyl junkie and DJ collective Ernesto Chahoud is heavily into Ethiopian jazz. He has dedicated many years to unearthing old Ethiopian sounds and had always dreamt about sharing this passion on a larger scale. But without either the money nor the contacts to go to Addis Ababa, Ernesto Chahoud instead set about compiling his very own mix of old Arabic music which consisted of forgotten records from the flea markets of Beirut and Cairo.
At the time of its release in 2010 this compilation received little response despite its circulation around various different labels and it wasn’t until five years later that Ernesto Chahoud’s mix of Disco-Belly dance and Arabic funk was discovered and voted among the Guardian’s 2015 best Middle Eastern playlists.
Three days ago via London’s BBE Music Ernesto Chahoud released Taitu, a 24-track compilation of soul-fuelled stompers straight from the dancefloors of 1970’s Addis Ababa. The mix explores the unique Ethio sounds of that time and is the result of Ernesto Chahoud’s decade-long affair with the ‘golden age’ of Ethiopian music.
Gizew Honeshyna is a featured track by Alemayehu Eshete, an Ethiopian jazz singer who has been performing since the early 1960’s. Releasing his first hit single Seul in 1961, Eshete is considered as the golden voice of Ethiopia and the father figure of this soulful stream of Ethiopian music; he has even been nicknamed the “Ethiopian Elvis!” If you are enjoying today’s song, you’re in luck because there’s not just one but three tracks by Alemayehu Eshete on this great mix!! Listen to the great Gizew Honeshyna above and listen, read about and order your copy of the whole album from here.
