Sweet Africa

The Ethiopiques compilations—featuring Ethiopian pop from the '60 and '70s—have offered an embarrassment of musical riches over the last decade. Not only as an archival exercise, but also a valuable corrective to Western pop conventions, especially with singers. Notwithstanding the Joanna Newsoms of the pop map, it's really amazing how narrow our ears are in terms of vocals. We're awfully conservative in what we consider tonally pleasing. And we're even less tolerant of melodies that color outside the bar lines. A lot of Ethiopian stars would be considered novelty acts in America.

Here's a track from more recent times, involving Ethiopian and European musicians together—a little smoother and whole lot clearer than the older jams. I like it because the singers are doing pretty things that unsettle at the same time—a piercing lead melody that charts like a sine wave and a response that trills and grunts. It takes a minute to sound natural, but when it does, it's a breeze of new and friendly air, as lilting as the music behind it. Oh and also I appreciate any soprano saxophone that doesn't make me want to set myself on fire.

Yèshimèbèt - Medo Hane