We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Ahadu

by Esy Tadesse

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card
    Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.

      $7 USD  or more

     

1.
Hope 01:19
2.
Egzio 03:10
Hear us Oh God, have mercy on us.
3.
Admas 04:50
4.
Lideta 02:58
5.
Shinbra 02:47
6.
Buna 02:49
7.
Ahadu 00:58
8.
Ere Manew 03:49
Who is compassionate towards me? Who is the one who is there for me? Who loved me Who died for me Who snatched my soul from evil and gave me rest
9.
Bati 03:02
10.
Selam 00:49

about

Guitarist and composer Etsegenet Mekonnen's practice embodies a passion for the epic scope of Ethiopian music: its scales, rhythms, history, and most of all its mercurial, corporeal, enigmatic living spirit. A decade and a half into her musical career, the Los Angeles-based, Addis Ababa-born artist has begun her next chapter by unveiling a new identity: Esy Tadesse. Marking this occasion is her debut release for FPE Records, the golden-toned, intimate EP Ahadu.

Everything about Ahadu suggests a turn towards solitude and contemplation. Exquisite guitar melodies emerge from Tadesse's fingertips like delicate flowers discovered on an early morning hike; flute, organ and Esy's silken vocals flow through the relaxed soundscape like a gentle breeze across a meadow. "Ahadu" sets the tone, its synth and guitar lines twining up like vines adorning a gilded frame; "Egzio" melts into focus with a melody of infinite longing; krar comes to the surface in "Ere Manew", its bubbly, rough-hewn voice the axis around which everything revolves.

Ahadu was produced by Grammy-winning producer Kibrom Birhane, whose own work as a musician explores the fusion of traditional Ethiopian music with Western jazz. His expertise with tonality and timbre are the soil and water nurturing Esy's magical garden. Their collaboration on these pieces feels essential, almost spiritual, a shared work to uncover hidden truths in musical form. Structured as a journey through Ethiopian musical scales, or qignits, the ten pieces comprising the EP feel like pictures at an exhibition, to be experienced together or separately, at a steady pace, to spur reflection and to be revisited in new lights and contexts.

Esy will be available in digital format from FPE Records May 31, 2024.

credits

released May 31, 2024

All songs written and performed by Esy Tadesse

Musicians:
Buna & Ere Manew - Kibrom Birhane (Krar)
Admas - Kibrom Birhane (keys) Warren Huang (flute)
Lideta - Kibrom Birhane (keys)
Bati - Kibrom Birhane (keys)

Recording/Mixing : Kibrom Birhane
Mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk, Stereophonic Mastering

Photography: Farah Sosa

This is FPE Records #64, 2024.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

FPE Records Oak Park, Illinois

FPE Records is an eclectic independent label based in Oak Park, IL, USA

contact / help

Contact FPE Records

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Ahadu, you may also like: