Raising the standards
nadav haber | jerusalem Israel | 03/27/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Gigi's long awaited new album has not failed its promise. This new cd follows the same general lines of her previous album, with less jazz-fusion touches and more traditional Ethiopian sound. To this album Gigi brought several different Ethiopian rhythms. There is a song with a touch of Guragegnya (Embe Asheferegne), and an Agaw song (Monew Natana). Other than that, Gig sticks to Amhara based music, with the two catchiest Ethiopian scales (Bati and Tizita). There are, of course, touches of funk that probably come from Bill Laswell.It is interesting to compare this music, aimed at world music market, with music that is being aimed at Ethiopians more exclusively. While Gigi's music is very rhythmic, it is not dance music, while practically all music that is produced for the Ethiopian market is dance music. Gigi's great contribution is that her work offers the highest standards of production - in sound, arrangement and instrumentation. She thus opens the way for Ethiopian musicians to the broader world market, and brings the Ethiopian sounds to many fresh, non-Ethiopian ears.Gigi has an average voice in the traditional Ethiopian sense, but her voice is perfect for the setting that the album offers. It is sensual and reflective, and allows the general "world" mood that is required. The playing of the other musicians on this cd is amazing, from the traditional Kirar and washint to the more modern saxophone. The tenor sax is played by Moges Habte, who is, in my opinion, the leading Ethiopian sax player today, and deserves greater exposure.My favorite track is the last, "Ethiopia", that features a beautiful, haunting loop behind Gigi's best singing. This cd is essential for anyone interested in Ethiopian music, world music, or just good music that feels great."
Classy world music at its best
BlackTropic | Athens, Ohio United States | 02/16/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is really Bill Lasswell at the top of his game. Of course the stars of the album are Gigi and the wonderful musicians. This is truly beautiful music, intriguingly presented , heavy on traditional acoustic instruments. Gigi's voice is truly superb as others have noted; she manages to instill these songs (a collection of traditional and Gigi-composed tunes) with an amazing interplay of inspirational religiosity, atmospheric exoticism, and certainly, sentient eroticism as well. At the same time, it's manifestly Ethiopian and African. What more could you want? Gigi is an amazing performer (I've seen her live) and this album effectively captures her ethereal and cretive artistry and musicianship. Defiinitely a very appealing album for hard core African music fans; the haunting saxophones and accordion are great as are the rhythms and beats. Meaningful lyrics to boot (summaries provided)."
Gorgeous album, more rootsy than Gigi's earlier records
Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 01/23/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"What with the album title and all, you'd be forgiven for thinking this was a reggae album, but back in Ethiopia, they actually take that whole Land of Zion thing pretty literally. But no, this isn't another rasta lovefest -- rather, it's a quite lovely, subtly textured and dreamalicious Bill Laswell-produced project which picks up where Ethiopian pop pioneers such as Mahmoud Ahmed left off. Singer Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw has a lovely voice, and her smooth style stands in welcome contrast to the normal shrillness of much of the older, classic Ethiopian pop and traditional recordings. The soundscape here is spacy, hypnotic and amorphous, akin to Sheila Chandra or Natacha Atlas in their mellower moments; although lushly produced, the album doesn't lapse into outright trip-hop -- unlike previous Gigi/Laswell collaaborations, this disc always retains a distinctively local sound. Fans of the fabled "ETHIOPIQUES" series will definitely want to check this disc out to get a sense of where that style has gone, and anyone looking for some relaxing yet substantive world music will like this as well."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1