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JUNE 2012
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HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
PHOTOGRAPH BY JIRO OSE (SALPI + VARTEK NALBANDIAN)
of jazz ambassador
to a country he’d long
adored from afar. As
for actually playing in
Ethiopia, it was more
than intense, he recalls:
It was full-on immer-
sionusinga language in
which he felt he’d only
just gained fluency.
Falceto, too, felt the
heat. “Right before the
concert, Iwasextremely
anxious, having no idea
what the reactionof the
95-percent-Ethiopian
audience would be,”
he says. “But a er five
bars ofmusic, thewhole
audience rose as one
and began to shout,
clap, stomp. Some were
even crying. Whenever
Imention thismoment,
I have goose bumps. It
was amilestone inmod-
ern Ethiopian music
history.” (A erward, one
fanwould tell Gershon
that he’d clearly been
speaking Amharic, the
local tongue, through
his sax; the musician says it’s the greatest
compliment he’s ever go en.)
Gershon’s next breakthrough came as
he was walking off the stage after that
inaugural concert andwasapproachedbya
tiny, gray-hairedwomanwithbright brown
eyes. “I amSalpi Nalbandian, the daughter
of Nerses Nalbandian,” she said in perfect
English. She explained that her father had
been the composer for the National The-
atre under former Emperor Haile Selassie,
making him the godfather of the music
Gershonhad grown to love. Gershonknew
something ofNersesNalbandian’smassive
influence, buthe’dalwaysfiguredthemusic
was lost. No one had played it in 30 years.
Salpi saw his eyes light up. “We have all
his charts,” she said. “Every single one. You
and your band
must
perform his music.”
But first, she said, Gershon had to come
over for dinner.
THE NALBANDIAN HOUSE
sits in what
was once a neighborhood along a dusty
road that climbs out of Addis Ababa into
the western hills. Nerses built it more
than 60 years ago,
BEAT BOX
Russ Gershon offers a
beginner’s guide to Ethiojazz
MAHMOUD
AHMED:
ERE
MELAMELA
“The quintes-
sential expression
of Ethiopian soul through the
Western band format, featuring
Ethiopia’s most beloved singer at a
creative high-water mark.”
VARIOUS
ARTISTS:
ETHIO-
PIAN GROOVE
“Francis Falceto’s
brilliant compila-
tion of 45s from the ’60s and ’70s.
Every song is a killer.”
MULUQEN
MELLESSE:
ETHIOPIQUES 30
“Muluqen was a
teen star—a multi-
instrumentalist and singer—when
the Derg dictatorship closed down
the recording industry in 1976. One
of the last LPs released before the
blackout was a brilliant Muluqen
album, which Francis is preparing
for reissue this fall or next spring.”
MULATU
ASTATKE:
ETHIOPIQUES 4
“Mulatu’s pioneer-
ing early ’60s and
’70s instrumental B-sides put
Ethiojazz on today’s music map.”
SETEGN
ATANAW:
ZEFEN
DURO KERE
“This Washington,
D.C.–based
masinko
virtuoso’s album
title means ‘the
old songs are
best.’ It’s done
in a traditional
azmari
style
with a post-
modern touch
on the title
track.”
and Washington, D.C. Gershon invited
themto joinhis bandwhenever they could,
and picked up more music and culture
as he went.
Meanwhile, Falceto, who had risked his
life to sneak vintage recordings out ofwar-
torn Addis in the ’80s, was itching to bring
music back into Ethiopia, to show the new
generation what it was missing. Sensing
anopportunity, he suggested thatGershon
(whom he had signed to record on his
Ethiopiques label) bring Either/Orchestra
to the 2004 Ethiopian Music Festival.
Although the countrywas by then emerg-
ing from its dark days, its music scene
remained thinat best. Anyonewhohad the
wherewithal to leave had done so, includ-
ing many top musicians. By playing the
festival, Gershon’s group would not only
help bring back the Ethiojazz sound, but
alsoperformas thefirstAmericanbigband
in Ethiopia since Duke Ellington came to
the Hilton Addis Ababa hotel in 1973.
Thrilled at the prospect, Gershon
raised funds to get his band to Addis
(an effort sponsored in large part by the
U.S. embassy) and stepped into the role
A FAMILY AFFAIR
Vartek
and Salpi Nalbandian
show off their father’s
instruments; inset, Nerses
Nalbandian as a young man
CONTINUED ON PAGE 148
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