Catl haunts Tijuana Bibles' Halloween party @ The Garrison, Friday

Catl's Jamie & Sarah have been moulting mummies & psychedelic skeletons so anything's possible for Friday's show at 8 pm sharp.

Sarah and Jamie decided to go full-on Rat-mone (complete with tails!) as depicted in their now familiar Catl logo.

Happy Halloween from Ktschy Mama's Retro Obscuro

Here's a selection of spooky oddities to haunt your Halloween party from Kitschy Mama – check it out right here.

Sound Library Gems: Musica Ed Elettronica by Gino Marinuzzi Jr.

Gino Marinuzzi Jr – behind the creepy electronic score for Planet of the Vampires – continued in a similar vein on this Italian sound library classic.

Here's the scoop...

Gino Marinuzzi Jr. was a pivotal pioneer of the early Italian Electronic music scene, founding the first Electronic music laboratory in Rome in 1956.

His work is strictly linked to cinema and TV, with credits for directors like Mario Bava and Jean Renoir. His most famous score remains the legendary sci-fi film "Terrore Nello Spazio" (1965), a.k.a. Planet of the Vampires. This work is a classic in the Early Electronic Sci-Fi Soundtrack canon (alongside The Day The Earth Stood Still & Forbidden Planet), featuring amazing Synket work by the instrument’s namesake, Paolo Ketoff. Marinuzzi Jr., along with Ketoff and Paolo Strini, was the inventor of the 'Fonosynth,' the very first centralized system for electronic sound production and processing built in Europe.

In 1971, he released the Library album "Musica Ed Elettronica" for the Sermi label. It cleanly breaks from the late-'60s Italian Moog-discovery lineage of Umiliani & Boneschi et al., adding stronger abstract and musique concrète elements. Have a listen below. 

Check out Gino Marinuzzi Jr's Musica Ed Elettronica via Spotify (if you must) right here.

Papalote bring Cuban son heat to Drom Taberna, Thursday

Toronto multi-instrumentalist Neil Gardiner and crew dig deep into the rootsy sound of Arsenio Rodriguez starting at 8:30 pm.

Happy Birthday James Williamson!

Celebrating James Williamson's birthday with a recording of Iggy Pop's "Tight Pants" – an early version of "Shake Appeal"

Watch Jack DeJohnette with Charles Lloyd & Keith Jarrett in Prague, 1967

Remembering Jack DeJohnette with some rare footage featuring Charles Lloyd, Keith Jarrett & Ron McClure from 1967.

Writes Charles Lloyd about Jack DeJohnette...

"Out of the blue sometime in 1965, Jack called me... "I want to play with you, man." I had not heard him play yet and was told he was "from the street" and would be too loud. Eventually, we met up and early in 1966 the quartet with Keith, Jack, and Cecil coalesced with a concert at the Left Bank Jazz Society in Baltimore - a spectacular galaxy opened up. Our first recording "Dream Weaver" came out in 1966. Jack DeJohnette was a natural, intuitive musician and a great, great drummer. I'll take the street he comes from any day of the year. Jack brought the street and his own inner, very personal, purposeful vision to every sound he made. Always for the greater good of the Universe. He was a Master. My condolences to Lydia and his family. Barche Lamsel dear friend. Om shanti shanti shantihi"

Midweek Mixdown: Lux & Ivy's Favorites – Halloween Edition

Just in time for Halloween, Kogar the Swinging Ape compiled a special creepy cool edition of his Lux & Ivy tribute series. 

Here's the scoop from Kogar the Swinging Ape...

I’ve resisted doing this for years, but here is a “best of” volume of Lux and Ivy’s Favorites for Halloween. Who doesn’t need something good to focus on these days?

Here are 40 tracks taken from LAIF volumes 1-20 of songs with a “creepy” bent to them. I made a playlist of them for myself, but then said “what the hell,” let’s make it so other folks don’t have to go through the hassle of making their own playlists.

I reached out to JR Willaims, who did a cover for one of the other volumes of LAIF, and he agreed and we teamed up for this cool cover from one of my favorite (non EC) pre-code horror comics called WEIRD MYSTERIES. I thought it would be perfect because Here Lies My Love by the Undertakers is among the set of songs. Thanks JR!

Happy Halloween everyone! - Kogar tSA

Listen right here. Check the track listing below. 

Lux & Ivy's Favourites – Halloween Edition

01 Anton LaVey - Satan Takes a Holiday

02 Ken Nordine - Strollin' Spooks

03 Jan Davis - Watusi Zombie

04 The Symbols - Do the Zombie

05 The Del-Airs - Zombie Stomp

06 Ralph Neilson and the Chancellors – Scream

07 Jackie Morningstar - Rockin' In The Graveyard

08 Joe Wallace - Leopard Man

09 Lee Ross - The Mummy's Bracelet

10 Kip Tyler - She's My Witch

11 Zacherle - Dinner With Drac

12 The Electro-Tones - Ghost Train

13 Bill Carter -  Baby Brother

14 The Five Blobs - The Blob

15 The Ran-dells - Martian Hop

16 The Invasion - The Invasion is Coming

17 Roy Brown - Butcher Pete part one

18 Roy Brown - Butcher Pete part two

19 Mr Undertaker - Here Lies Love

20 Revels - Dead Man's Stroll

21 Lord Luther & The Kingsmen Teenage Creature

22 Kay Starr - The Headless Horseman

23 The Five Jones Boys -  Mr Ghost Goes To Town

24 Bob and Jerry - Ghost Satellite

25 Deadly Ones - Monster Surfing Time

26 Hugh Barret and the Victors - There Was a Fungus Among Us

27 Richard Delvy - Green Slime Theme

28 Albert Elias - King Kong

29 The Gravestone Four - Rigor Mortis

30 Sickidz - Night of the Living Dead

31 Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put A Spell On You

32 Social Outcasts – Mad

33 The Deadly Ones - The Mad Drummer [pt. 1]

34 Cab Calloway - The Ghost of Smokey Joe

35 Jim Wolfe and the T-Towners – Innersanctum

36 The Ventures - The Bat

37 Jack Hammer and the Pacers - Black Widow Spider Woman

38 The Regal-aires -  It

39 Vampires' Sound Incorporation - The Lions and the Cucumber

40 Ghoulardi Surf

Just in time for Halloween, Eleni Mandell shares creepy "Crow's Nest"

Singer/songwriter Eleni Mandell chimes in with a timely tale of suburban horror delivered with a wonderfully witchy cackle! 

Here's the scoop from Eleni...
"A tale of suburban horror!  Crows are watching & waiting to exact their revenge, so you must beware! Please, listen & share!! Produced by @waterfoot_dandy mixed @paulfigmusic mastered by @burrill.justin on @schoolkidsrecords thanks to @alexlillyland who gave me the assignment!" Watch Eleni introduce "Crows Nest" on FB right here: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19iFmHcEx1/

Listen to "Crow's Nest" via Spotify here or check it out below... 

Remembering Jamaican legend Bob Andy on his birthday

Raising a glass to singer/songwriter Bob Andy with a few interviews and his Song Book album for Studio One.

LINKS
Bob Andy's Trojan Records Playlist

B-Side Wins Again: Archibald

New Orleans piano great Leon T. Gross aka "Archibald" deserves much greater recognition. Check out "Crescent City Bounce"

LINKS
From The Vaults Archibald

R.I.P. jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette, 1942-2025

Sadly, versatile jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette has died of congestive heart failure at 83. He'll be greatly missed.

Hear Deja Voodoo's final European show in Belgium back in 1989

Have a listen to a fan's tape of Deja Voodoo's rippin' second set at The Pits club in Kortrijk, Belgium on November 5, 1989.

 

Writes Gerard: 

"Here's something fun: audio from our last European show ever, in a small pub in a small town in Belgium in late 1989. We did 7 gigs in 4 countries in 6 days, sleeping on the train some nights. The songs got faster and faster..."

Check out Gerard Van Herk and Tony Dewald tearing it up at The Pits in Kortrijk on Nov 5, 1989 below. 

Watch Reigning Sound live in Birmingham!

Here's Greg Cartwright's Reigning Sound gettin' busy in Birmingham along with an interview. 

Blue Jays dismantle Dodgers 11-4 after Snell plonks Varsho in 6th inning

Addison Barger went bam-bam on Banda for the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history! Watch the whole 6th inning. 

Remembering saxophonist/bandleader Jimmy Heath on his birthday

Remembering jazz great Jimmy Heath with his spiritual jazz classic The Gap Sealer cut for Cobblestone in 1972. 

Happy 40th Birthday Katy Perry!

Since we don't have any actual yacht footage of Katy and Justin, this sketch from This Hour Has 22 Minutes will have to do. 

Horace Silver's Silver In Seattle: Live at the Penthouse issued by Blue Note

Blue Note is releasing a rippin' Horace Silver live recording with Joe Henderson and Woody Shaw in Seattle back in 1965. 

Here's the scoop...

The great jazz pianist, composer, and Blue Note legend Horace Silver only released one live album during his lifetime, but his quintets were always among the most reliably thrilling working bands in jazz, delivering high-energy, crowd-pleasing performances of Silver’s indelible compositions to fans around the world. In August 1965, Silver brought a powerhouse line-up to The Penthouse in Seattle with Woody Shaw on trumpet, Joe Henderson on tenor saxophone, Teddy Smith on bass, and Roger Humphries on drums. A newly discovered recording of those performances gets its first-ever release with Silver In Seattle: Live at the Penthouse featuring the band delivering uninhibited renditions of Silver classics including “Song For My Father,” “The Cape Verdean Blues,” “The Kicker,” and more. 

Kinda makes you wonder what other amazing, historically important recordings have been collecting dust for decades in the Blue Note vaults. In any case, you can get a copy of Horace Silver's Silver In Seattle via Blue Note directly right here. Check out "The Kicker" and "No Smokin'" below. 

Horace Silver – Silver In Seattle: Live at The Penthouse

Side A:

1. The Kicker

2. Song For My Father

3. The Cape Verdean Blues

Side B:

1. Sayonara Blues

2. Band Introductions

3. No Smokin'

Blue Jays' Joe Carter and Wanda's World Series winning Coconut Cream Pie

Here's the story of how Wanda's coconut cream pie – Joe Carter's fave – helped the Toronto Blue Jays win the World Series in '93.

Perhaps Vladdy or Kirk should swing by Wanda's Pie In The Sky in Kensington Market for a coconut cream pie boost.  

Happy Birthday Bettye Swann!

Raising a glass to Shreveport soul diva Bettye Swann on her birthday with a couple of performances and a few timeless gems. 

One For The Weekend: Gordon Heavyfoot

Check out the video for Gordon Heavyfoot's update of "The Way I Feel"... and see 'em live near you!

R.I.P. Dave Ball of Soft Cell, The Grid, 1959-2025

Sadly, Soft Cell keyboardist Dave Ball has passed away at the age of 66 after a lengthy illness. He'll be greatly missed.

Kire Paputts new film "Junkie Run" screens @ Hamilton Film Fest, Sunday

"Junkie Run" – feat. the music of Teenage Head & Chris Houston – premieres at Hamilton's Playhouse Cinema on Sunday at 1 pm.

Kire Paputts' micro-budget Steeltown epic Junkie Run – being called "The most 'Hamilton' film you'll ever see" – will be screening at the Playhouse Cinema (177 Sherman Ave. North) on Sunday (October 26) at 1 pm as part of the Hamilton Film Festival. Junkie Run was shot entirely in Hamilton with a cast of local talent. The cast and crew will participate in a Q&A after the screening.

Junkie Run is a dark comedy caper film centred around a community of misfits at a local dive bar. When the regulars get word that Foggy, a local junkie, is on the run with a bag full of money from a botched drug deal, they each scheme, backstab and claw at one another to be the first person to find Foggy and take the money.

Says filmmaker Kire Paputts "About half the roles in Junkie Run were written for specific people. Many of these actors I’ve worked with in the past. For some it’s our first collaboration. I’ve spent years building a roster of characters. Consisting of friends, family, and muses. And I’m constantly adding to my Rolodex. Always looking for new talent. The idea of building a community is very much inspired by John Waters Dreamlanders and the trailer park community of Giuseppe Andrews films. I’ve slowly been gravitating towards that idea for the last 10+ years."

The soundtrack and a soundtrack featuring songs by Teenage Head and Chris Houston. Sez Chris "Some of the movie was shot in my house... Mickey Skin did a scene in my bed which she thought was going to collapse!"

"Junkie Run is packed with music," continues Paputts. "Both original score and licensed recordings. All original songs were written and produced by Devon Goldgerg. Performed by Morricone Youth. Our third collaboration.  We ended up licensing 16 songs. This allowed me to showcase some of my favourite local artists, either from the Hammer or Toronto. Working on The Last Pogo Jumps Again with Colin Brunton was a great education in Southern Ontario punk/new wave.

"When it came time to find songs for Junkie Run I had a pretty good selection of artists to pick from. We didn’t have a lot of money so I’m grateful to all the artists who helped us out: Teenage Head, The Ugly, Chris Houston, John Borra, Handsome Ned, Jelly ToofLy, Chris Haight, Screamin’ Sam, Man Crush, Dildoniks, ACR, Kimbo Red Splizz and Wayne Larabee (The East End Sensation).

"I really wanted to get an early Forgotten Rebels song in the film but the individual who controls the master recordings wasn’t very helpful. I also had a particular song for the opening credits, but it was gonna cost me as much as all the other songs combined. But I’m thankful. I stumbled across another song which works a million times better. Sometimes the universe does that.

"A special thank you to John Borra for producing and wrangling some great musicians for “Last Man In The Bar.” A song that was written by John Hamlton and my father in the 70’s, but was never properly recorded until now.  Maybe we’ll release a soundtrack in the new year. Until then you’ll be able to toe tap along to these great artists at the upcoming Junkie Run screening."

Advance tickets are $12 available right here. Watch a snippet here.

The first 20 people who show up for the Junkie Run screening at the Playhouse get a swank t-shirt like Liz Worth is wearing. 

Danse Macabre! w/ Night Chill, Wasagas, Flashbangs @ The Bovine, Friday

Grab a copy of Night Chill's new Chris Houston-produced single "Pestilence" b/w "7 Witches" at the Danse Macabre! show Friday.

Check out a Night Chill preview clip right here. They haunt the Weirdsville Weekend on Oct 25th at 6 pm right here.

Remembering zydeco great Boozoo Chavis on his birthday

Raising a glass to Boozoo, that's who! Here are a couple of his classic zydeco stomps to go with your hamburgers & popcorn. 

B-Side Wins Again: The Screamers

Straight outta Sioux City, Iowa – it's The Screamers (aka The Velaires) with "I Dig" on the Kay Bank label from '59. 

Happy 60th Birthday Wesley Stace!

Cheers to Wes on his 60th! Here are a couple of performances – including one with The Boss and another with Rhett Miller.  

Catch Wesley Stace on tour in Chicago on Oct. 30 and at NYC's City Winery on Nov. 2. Anywhere but Toronto. Get tickets here.

Live recording by The Lyres from 1985 being issued as On Fyre at The Rusty Nail

On Fyre at The Rusty Nail, 1985 features Jeff "Monoman" Conolly's classic Lyres line-up circa "She Pays The Rent" EP 

Here's the scoop...

The Rusty Nail was a throwback to an earlier time, a wayward roadhouse/live music venue in the wilds of Western Massachusetts, located 15 minutes up the road from the University of Massachusetts, in the woodsy hill town of Sunderland, population 3400. The wood hewn hole in the wall featured an eclectic variety of touring acts, who would bypass the bigger college towns in favor of playing at the Nail. I saw James Brown and the Buzzcocks there, to name a couple. However, for my money, the greatest show ever staged at the Rusty Nail was Lyres’ performance on March 29, 1985.

The band was road-tested and on top of their game, having toured the US and Europe relentlesslyin the months prior, in support of their 1984 album On Fyre. They tore through a fast and furious set, an hour and change of non-stop rock 'n' roll, pausing only for Jeff "Monoman" Conolly to tell the audience, "This is a one o'clock club, which means you have to drink twice as fast."

As Lyres closed the show with "What a Girl Can't Do," the audience was left awestruck, buzzing, and sweaty.

Exactly four months after this show was recorded, the Rusty Nail burned to the ground.

Some said the fire was caused by faulty wiring, while others alleged an insurance bust-out scheme. My favorite theory is that it was burned down by local residents who were sick and tired of Rusty Nail patrons parking, pissing, and/or puking on their lawns.

I consider this album to be the finest Lyres live recording in existence. It has been pitch-corrected, remixed, and remastered from the original two track soundboard recording. On Fyre at the Rusty Nail 1985 – out December 25 via Teen Sound Records/Misty Lane Music – is a testament to Lyres as not just one of the greatest bands from Boston, but one of the greatest bands from anywhere. – Mal Thursday 

You can pre-order Lyres – On Fyre at the Rusty Nail 1985 via Bandcamp right here.  The vinyl pressing is limited to 300 copies. Check the tracklist and production notes below. 

The Lyres – On Fyre at the Rusty Nail

1. Don't Give It Up Now 

2. Hi-Heel Sneakers

3. Diddy Wha Diddy

4. Someone Who'll Treat You Right Now

5. Stop And Take A Look at Me

6. Help You Ann

7. I Really Want You Right Now

8. I'm Telling You Girl

9. Love Me Till The Sun Shines

10. Medley: How Can I Make Her Mine/Money/Nobody But Me

11. Gettin' Plenty Lovin'

12. I Can Tell

13. What A Girl Can't Do

The Lyres:

Jeff Conolly: Vocals, Organ

Rick Coraccio: Bass, Vocals

Danny McCormack: Guitar

Paul Murphy: Drums

Production credits:

Executive production, graphics & layout: Massimo del Pozzo & Mal Thursday

Recordings duly licensed to Misty Lane Music / Teen Sound Records. Licensed from Chunk Archives Recordings

Recorded 29 March 1985 at the Rusty Nail, Sunderland, Massachusetts

Pitch correction and mixdown by Matt Parmenter at Ice Cream Factory Studio, Austin, Texas

Mastered by Pete Weiss at Panoramic House, West Marin County, California

Take a trip back to Egypt in the swingin' 60s with Zamaan Ya Sukkar

The excellent Zamaan Ya Sukkar archival compilation of Egyptian gems was released by Radio Martiko in 2018... have a listen.

Various Artists - Zamaan Ya Sukkar (Radio Martiko)

A1 Salim El Baroudi – Fatouma   00:00

A2 Sayed Salamah – Mambo Ard El Marrah   03:16

A3 Abd Al Fattah Mansi – Leyla   06:06

A4 Soad Mohamed – Ahallefak Washkeek Lellah   09:40

B1 Al Thoulathy Al Mareh – Asmar Ya Sokkar   15:43

B2 Taha Al-Ugayl – Musiqaa Nahr El Hob   18:45

B3 Mohamed Fawzy – Musiqaa Dhahab Ellayl   20:40

B4 Magda Ali – Nafourak Ya Ghazal   24:17

B5 Sayed Salamah – Bolero Zahrat El Hob   27:06

For more hard-to-find compilations, visit the website : https://www.sunnyboy66.com/ 

Bandcamp : https://sunnyboy66records.bandcamp.com/

Check our official Sunnyboy66 Records page : https://sunnyboy66records.com/

Merchandise : https://sunnyboy66.creator-spring.com/

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/sunnyboy66/

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/sunnyboy.66/

Remembering Lux Interior on his birthday

Raising a glass to Lux Interior of The Cramps on his birthday with two brilliant performances you may have missed. 

John Borra launches Last Dance at the E-Room @ The Horseshoe, Wednesday

John Borra will be joined by Steve Koch, Cleave Anderson and pals. Check out the new video for "Magnolia Bloom" and more.

Get a copy of John Borra's latest album "Last Dance at The E-Room" – out now – right here.

Velour Undergroud @ The Baby G, Wednesday

Playing Lou Reed tunes with his Velour Underground pals seems like the perfect way for Greg Jarvis to celebrate his birthday.

Rare Ethio-groove record by Muluken Mellesse from 1976 being reissued

Mulukèn Mellèssè's rare Ethio-groove album recorded with the Dahlak Band in 1976 is being recirculated by Heavenly Sweetness.

Here's the scoop from Heavenly Sweetness...

The vinyl LP at the heart of Muluken Mellesse's LP – Ethiopiques 31 [tracks 2 to 11] – was one of the very last vinyl records ever released in Ethiopia. But above all it represents, we felt, the absolute masterpiece of the Ethiopian Groove – the Swan Song of Swinging Addis. The album leaves a clear idea for posterity of the level of sophistication and mastery that modern Ethiopian music had achieved, before being crushed under the military heel of the Derg – as the bloody revolution that was unfolding came to be called.

Ethiopia 1976

The Revolution that broke out in February 1974 rolled on in a ruthless march. The whole of Ethiopian society was utterly stunned. The bouquets of flowers handed joyfully to the first tanks of the coup d'état were to wilt very rapidly. From September 1976 to February 1978, 18 months of Red Terror (the name given by the junta itself) spilled blood throughout the country. This fratricidal conflict took its heaviest toll among students and youth. The shift from feudalism to a cruel and primitive Stalinism left the country's citizens deeply traumatised, and snuffed out any pretence of activism, whatever the sector of society. This ice age was to last for seventeen long years.

ሙሉቀን፡መለሰ Mulukèn Mellèssè Muluqän Mälläsä

It was three tracks by Muluken that served as the opener for éthiopiques-1 more than 25 years ago. Seven more tracks appeared on éthiopiques-3 and 13, all accompanied by The Equators, which was soon to become the Dahlak Band.

The first track, Hédètch alu, also the very first piece that Muluken ever recorded, left audiences both unsettled and amazed. Reflecting the singer's extremely young age (he was just 17 at the time), this angelic voice mystified many, who thought they were in fact listening to a feminine voice. He was not yet 22 when he released his last vinyl record in 1976 with Kaifa Records (KF 39LP), one of the very last to be issued in Ethiopia, before the cassette tape became the dominant medium for music distribution – and before the new revolutionary regime put a stop to all independent musical life, via an unspeakable barrage of prohibitions and other persecutions.

Mulu qèn, literally, “A well filled day”. This tender maternal intention wasn't enough to ward off the cruelty of fate. His mother's premature death drove Muluken to leave his native Godjam, in northeast Ethiopia, to live with an uncle in Addis Ababa. Born Muluken Tamer, he took his uncle's last name – Mèllèssè.

The spelling Muluken appeared in his administrative records. Transcription of Amharic to the Latin alphabet, both in Ethiopia and for scholars, gives rise to controversies and quibbles that can never be neatly settled. French allows for a closer approximation of the original pronunciation, thanks to its battery of accent marks, confusing as they may be to anglophones.

Between rather accommodating administrative record-keepers and the various versions that pop up in interviews given by the artist, Muluken's year of birth oscillates between 1953 and 1955…1954? One thing is certain: the artist's talent made itself known very early indeed, because he got his start in 1966-67, at the age of 13 or 14. Photos from the period attest to his extreme youth. It's a strange sort of initiation for a very young teenager to become a sensation in the heart of Addis's nightlife at the time, Woubé Bèrèha – the Wilds of Woubé. And what's more, in the club of the Queen of the Night, the Godjamé Assègèdètch Alamrèw herself, the very same that was portrayed by Sebhat Guèbrè-Egziabhér in his novel-memoir Les Nuits d’Addis Abeba2… The legendary female club owner who is remembered to this day by the capital's ageing boomers.

Muluken first tried his hand at the drums, before he grabbed the microphone. He emigrated briefly to the Zula Club, across the street from the old Addis Post Office, one of the ground-breaking bars of the burgeoning musical scene, before joining the Second Police Band in 1968, for around three years. He spent a few months with the short-lived Blue Nile Band founded by saxophonist Besrat Tammènè. As the musical scene grew increasingly successful, and pulled slowly but decisively away from its institutional ties, Muluken released his first 45rpm single in February 1972 (Amha Records AE 440). It was included in two LP Ethiopian Hit Parade compilation albums in September of the same year. All in all, Muluken released eight two-track 45s and the same number of original cassette tapes between February 1972 and 1984, the year that he departed for permanent exile in the USA. After converting to Pentecostalism in 1980, Muluken gradually abandoned all secular musical activity. In 1985, at the end of a concert in Philadelphia, he decided to quit concerts and recording for good. Mèlakè Gèbré, the historic bass player from the Walias band who was playing with him that night, recalls that everything appeared so irredeemably diabolical in Muluken's eyes, that it was to be the end of his contribution to Ethiopian Groove.

The end of the story, the beginning of a legend.

Dahlak Band

Aside from his personal history and vocal talents, it must be remembered that Muluken Mèllèssè was one of the biggest names in the musical innovations that marked the end of the imperial period. These éthiopiques aim to convince those who are just discovering this hidden gem... As for Ethiopians themselves, they are to this day captivated by this singular and atypical figure in the Abyssinian pop landscape – even though he withdrew from public life some 40 years ago. Incorrigible devotees of poetic twists, of more or less hidden meanings, Ethiopians appreciate above all the care Muluken took in choosing his lyrics and the writers who penned them, such as Feqerte Haylou, Alemtsehay Wodajo and, here, Shewalul Mengistu (1944-1977). Love songs, written by women, a far cry from the conventional drivel that pleases sappy sentimentalists.

Muluken is equally acclaimed for his perfectionism when it came to music, the opposite of the overly casual approach that is all too common. He remained a faithful partner of musicians who came from a lineage that borrowed from several inventive and pioneering bands (Venus, Equators, Dahlak). Amongst them were certain artists who began their musical lives with Nersès Nalbandian at the Haile Sellassie Theatre and who come of age in around 1973 – at just the wrong time, you might say. Among them were the pillars Shimèlis Bèyènè (trumpet), Dawit Yifru (keyboards) and Tilayé Gèbrè (sax & flute). Most notably Tilayé Gèbrè, certainly one of the most important musicians, composers and arrangers of his generation, of the end of the imperial era, and of the early years of the Derg.

It was only in 1981 that a miraculous opportunity arose for Tilayé to escape the Stalinist paradise of the dictator Menguistou Haylè-Maryam. Once again it was Amha Eshèté (1946-2021) who provided a solution. The spirited and courageous producer, who had been in exile in Washington since 1975, succeeded, thanks to his incredible perseverence, in bringing the Walias Band to the USA. It was, in fact an extended Walias Band comprising ten musicians3, six of whom chose to slip away after a few concerts and the recording of an LP (The Best of Walias, WRS 100). Tilayé Gèbrè was one of these. He has been living in the USA ever since. There he joined the then-nascent Ethiopian diaspora, which lived largely unto itself, and was making only very modest headway in the American musical market. It seems unfair that Tilayé Gèbrè and the Dahlak Band were not able to benefit earlier from the public recognition that they do deserve.

A similar draining away of the top-rate talents would lead to the reorganization of the major groups of the “Derg Time”. The remaining artists spread themselves around between Ibex Band (renamed Roha Band), Ethio Star Band and a remodeled Walias Band. That spelled the end of the Dahlak Band.

With this record, produced by the essential Ali Abdella Kaifa a.k.a. Ali Tango, we can appreciate everything that the Derg not only destroyed, but also prevented from flourishing. This gem of Ethiopian-style afrobeat came out in 1976 (and, by way of a parenthesis, before the FESTAC 1977 in Lagos, which was attended by an impressive delegation of Ethiopian musicians — although Fela was already personna non grata in his own country). Despite everything that might distinguish this ethio-groove from Fela’s music – no colonial axe to grind, no question of political confrontation with the authorities, no claims to negritude or Africanism for the Ethiopian musicians, and less extrovertion! –, this LP fits beautifully into the saga of intense and electrified soul of the new “African” groove that Fela and Manu Dibango embodied so well from that point onwards.

In restoring this record to its place in the afrobeat epic, it can be seen that, if nothing else, the timeline bestows a legitimate pedigree and a historical primacy to works that had no international impact when they were originally released. 

Get a reissue copy of Muluken Mellesse's 1976 album with the Dahlak Band via Bandcamp right here. Listen to three songs below.