# Help me identify this Ethiopian jazz?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-ethiopian-jazz/712528>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 13, 2015, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-ethiopian-jazz/712528 "2015-02-13T01:44:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-ethiopian-jazz/712528/1 "2015-02-13T01:44:17Z")

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Hello! My favorite Ethiopian restaurant \* plays a unique style of music that I have never heard before.

It feels like jazz, but it’s completely unlike any Western jazz. Typically, it will feature keyboards, drums, saxophone and possibly bass or keyboard bass. The rhythm section will groove on a very hypnotic and compelling snatch of melody for a long, long time, with what sounds like electric organ and then saxophone taking turns doing long trippy leads.

It’s utterly ravishing, but I can’t seem to identify it so I can listen and buy at home. I asked the restaurant’s excellent proprietor once to please write down the name of the artist he was playing at the time, but it produced no good results on YouTube. Then I lost the name.

Does anyone know what I’m talking about? What is this style called? Who are its principal perpetrators?

Thanks!

- (Bole, in Oakland)

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**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-ethiopian-jazz/712528/2 "2015-02-13T02:28:21Z")

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There is a LOT of Ethiopian jazz. It’s extremely popular in Ethiopia.

Look up YouTube videos with “Jazzamba”, which is (or was…I think it recently was damaged in a fire) Addis’s premier jazz club. There are a number of different genres within Ethiopian jazz, so there is a lot to explore.

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**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-ethiopian-jazz/712528/3 "2015-02-13T02:58:35Z")

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As stated, there’s tons of Ethiopian artists and sub-genres to choose from.

Check out [Mahmoud Ahmed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmed), a favourite of mine and my personal introduction to Ethiopian music.

[Mahmoud Ahmed - Era Mela Mela](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl7vCGI_-4Q)

[Mahmoud Ahmed with the Roha Band (1986)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o-kDk-O1H8)