Éthiopiques: sounds of Ethiopia the generals could not crush (Times Online)

It wasn’t always this way. In the late 1960s, Ethiopia was home to some of the funkiest big bands on the continent, long before the country was pegged as a drought-stricken hell by Band Aid. Forty years on, a concert at the Barbican in London on June 27 brings together for the first time the era’s greatest stars: the singers Mahmoud Ahmed and Alè-mayèhu Eshèté, the saxophonist Gétatchèw Mèkurya and pianist Mulatu Astatqé. Musically and emotionally, it promises to be among the gigs of the year. The following night they headline at Glastonbury, an inspired alternative to Jay-Z....more..