Ahadu, by Esy Tadesse

Ahadu

by Esy Tadesse

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Pre-order of Ahadu. You get 1 track now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.

Purchasable with gift card

releases May 31, 2024

$7 USD or more

1.	Hope
2.	Egzio
3.	Admas
4.	Lideta
5.	Shinbra
6.	Buna 02:49	info	buy track
7.	Ahadu
8.	Ere Manew
9.	Bati
10.	Selam

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

releases 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

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:

Twin Rocks
by Berke Can Özcan featuring Arve Henriksen & Jonah Parzen-Johnson

Istanbul-born performer and instrument-builder Berke Can Özcan returns with an album of kaleidoscopic compositions. Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 19, 2023
go to album
I Survived, It's Over
by Rich Ruth

An absorbing Americana album with rich ambient textures. Bandcamp Album of the Day Aug 10, 2022
go to album
EP1
by Brandon Locher

featured on Bandcamp Radio Jan 23, 2018
go to album
Anthropocosmic Nest
by The Messthetics

Raging drums and hypnotic guitar strings take center stage on the latest album by the punk instrumental trio. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 20, 2019
go to album
To Know Without Knowing
by Mulatu Astatke & Black Jesus Experience

The second pairing of the father of Ethio-jazz and the Australian group is another winner. Bandcamp Album of the Day Jul 2, 2020
go to album
MULATU ASTATKE - ETHIO JAZZ
by MULATU ASTATKE

featured on Bandcamp Radio Jun 23, 2020
go to album
Asnake Gebreyes - Ahadu
by Asnake Gebreyes

An overlooked Ethio jazz classic; originally released on cassette in 1988, the album has not been available out of the country until now. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 5, 2018
go to album