Gig: Ethio T.O.

Ethio T.O. (feat. Canaille feat. Isla Craig / Ethio Fidel)

The Music Gallery. Friday, March 25, 2011.

Billed as "a celebration of Ethiopian & Eritrean music in Toronto", this entry in the Music Gallery's "New World" series did an admirable job in bringing together a really interesting mix under one roof. The full-house was certainly not just the usual MG crowd, and there was a sense of energy in the room as the night began. Starting things up were jazz titans Canaille — or "Can-Isla" as guest curator David Dacks dubbed them, owing to the presence of vocalist Isla Craig on most of the songs. Jeremy Strachan's six-piece started in their usual instrumental mode with "Watusa", a Sun Ra jam they've been playing for awhile. It had a couple ragged spots, but that gave them a chance to get their bearings for the meat of the set. Launching into a new song — one that I recall seeing the band play on the day Strachan had written it — Craig joined the band, weaving her pure tones alongside the horn lines, making this feel elegant and sophisticated.

Although Ethio-groove music has long been one of the defining elements in Strachan's compositional approach for this band, it was intriguing to hear them go full-on, tackling "Yekondowotch Mender", a Hirut Bekele song. I have no way to know if Craig — singing low in her register, but still not down as far as Bekele — was mangling the Amharic, but she sounded great doing it.¹ And by that measure, there's praise due for all the musicians in negotiating this material, staying true to the sound without being slavish copyists. It seemed pretty effortless for the horn line (Strachan plus Jay Hay and Nick Bulligan) and Mike Smith's bass work was super funky. Dan Gaucher, an excellent improvising percussionist, seemed to be playing a bit more by "feel" than we'd hear in the next set. And Jesse Levine — who's knocked my socks off every time I've heard him play with Canaille — was again excellent here with his sonic function of simultaneously tying everything together while adding an unpredictable edge.

The band brought the Bekele song home in three minutes, which is a blink of the eye compared to most Ethiopian bands. After that, though, they settled in for some solid grooves. Most of the material here was reworked versions of the songs that would later show up on the band's excellent Practical Men album — best of all might have been an extended run through "Angeer", the prelude giving Levine a chance to show his stuff before another vocal turn from Craig, the whole thing stretching out past ten minutes. And then, in a version of "Practical Men", Strachan's flute was almost like a duet partner with the vocal.

The set closed with a slowly simmering Tilahun Gessesse song ("Ewedish Nebere") and a reworking of older tune "Francophonie". Really great stuff — a well-built bridge between Toronto and Addis.

Listen to a track from this set here.

That set a high standard for headliners Ethio Fidel, but this band of crafty vets have held their own in sharing the stage with plenty of big names before. The first thing to draw the eye was singer Fantahun Mekonnen, carrying a krar and wearing a cape somewhere on the Elvis/Liberace spectrum. His lute-like instrument drove the first number, which built up into a robust nine-minute jam. (As mentioned above, Ethiopian bands are rarely in a hurry to get to the next song.)

Opposite of Mekonnen in the front line on stage was bandleader Girma Wolde Michael, a true star in the local Ethiopian music scene. He's the guy that touring superstars (like Mahmoud Ahmed) call to play sax when they come to town. They were backed by a rhythm section of Gezahegn Mamo (keybs) and Andargachew Abebe (bass) behind them. And holding down the drum chair was Daniel Barnes, a veteran of the local jazz scene who has schooled himself in the tricky terrain of ethio rhythms to the point that he's also a "go to" guy when someone needs to get a band together.²

For the second song, Mekonnen put down the krar for what would turn out to be a slo-jam, complete with with Mamo's tinkly 80's keys and Abebe's nimble five-string bass runs. Given the recent coolness of such 80's soft-rock sounds, this sounded downright contemporary — the backing track could have come off, say, the latest THOMAS album. Pushing even further than that limpid lite-rock sound, some of the material pushed towards what registered to my ears as smooth jazz. Though a kickin' beat kept it mostly interesting, I wasn't as much of a fan of that part of the band's repertoire.

But there was a whole lot of goodness after that. A real mix, too, with sentimental tizita-style ballads chased with more upbeat songs that got the crowd up and dancing. I'm sure a lot of these were classics from the "golden age", given that a few were familiar even to a neophyte like me. Mekonnen worked his frontman mojo throughout, returning to stage at one point in a different, bright-striped outfit — a strong presence even if it wasn't too chatty with the crowd. After a quiet duo for krar and sax, the set — more than an hour long — ended with the scorching "Behilem".

The crowd called the band back for one more which tore it up even more with another of those classics, Mekonnen hitting an ecstatic series of moaning high notes to appreciative whoops from the crowd.

A lot of great stuff here. I'd originally posted a recording here, but I've added a couple more here so you can appreciate this band's versatility.

On the whole, a very successful night, and a deft bit of programming for the Music Gallery. It's worth noting that the night was guest-curated by David Dacks, who has just taken over as the MG's Artistic Director. That should be seen as a very promising sign for the institution's continued vitality, and hopefully he'll keep mixing things up with more shows like this.³

Also continuing the community-building vibe, the friendly folks at St. George the Martyr — the Music Gallery's landlords — invited the crowd up to the rectory to sit together and share a free meal. A warm way to close out a most-pleasing night.

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¹ Although I suspect Craig did fairly well with the Amharic — she gave special thanks to musician Daniel Nebiat (as well as a couple cab drivers!) for helping her with her enunciation.

² His prominence is probably also a result of the fact that most contemporary Ethiopian bands — whether out of fashion or mere convenience — eschew the drummer and usually get by with programmed beats from the keyboard player.

³ Also worth noting is that Batuki Music, this show's co-presenters, are putting together a must-see special event, called Ethiopia: A Musical Perspective (Saturday, February 11, 2012 at Glenn Gould Studio) which will carry forward the spirit of Ethio T.O.