Music Review: By Biniam Tekle

September, 2005. A Great Musical Come back: Lifetime's Journey for an Eritrean Saxophonist A well seasoned Eritrean-American artist who has made the Washington D.C. area his home for the last three decades is embarking on a mission. Tesfamariam is one of the pioneer Eritrean saxophonists who had left a musical footprint in the sixties and early seventies at the advent of "modern" music in Asmara and Addis Ababa. Essentially Tesfamariam was amongst the number of Eritrean artists who were key contributors to the development of modern music in Ethiopia. A league of creative greats such as, Saxophonist/bass guitarist Fekaddu Andemeskel, lead guitarist Tekle Adhanom, lead guitarist/vocalist Tewolde Reda, composer Abubakar Ashaker ( Kbur Zebegna Band), Composer/Teacher Colonel Girmay Hadgu (Kbur Zebegna Band), and vocalist and percussionist Tekle Tesfazghi. And later, the Roha band that consisted of mostly Eritrean members was lead by the creative and entrepreneurial minded guitarist Selam Seyoum. Tesfamariam joined the Eritrean Police Band, which had its headquarters in Sembel, in the late fifties before the Kagnew Station, the American Military camp, started beaming American pop music to its Eritrean listeners. The Eritrean Police Band along with its sister marching band was the first of its kind in Eritrea. In the mid sixties, Tesfamariam moved to Ethiopia where he played with notable musicians of the time. From the mid sixties until 1974 Addis Ababa had seen its heydays of modern music. It was during this time that Tesfamariam honed his skill and became one of the most sought after saxophonists in the city. Tesfamariam played along many artists, including the Ethiopian musical icon Mulatu Astatké before he left Ethiopia for the United States in 1972. (Incidentally, Mulatu's music is featured in the soundtracks of the new movie Broken Flowers starring Bill Murray). Soon after his arrival in the US, Tesfamariam joined Berkeley Collage of Music in Massachusetts. With a degree of musical composition under his belt, Tesfamariam continued to play music with different groups consisting local and regional musicians. Finally, after several years of self imposed hiatus, Tesfamariam has put a long awaited CD together that chronicles his life in music aptly entitled My Life in Music. Tesfamariam's CD stands out in more ways than one. In fact one would be hard-pressed to find another Eritrean "instrumental" album to compare it with. Eritrean musicians produced music in the past daubed "instrumental", by and large nothing considered distinctive or groundbreaking. As far as I can tell none attempted to produce an original composition however mediocre it may have sounded. All were an instrumental version of older songs sang by one vocalist or another. Tesfamariam's CD, however, is a welcome respite from the familiar and routine mostly keyboard driven redundant arrangements we are accustomed to. Tesfamariam writes his own original compositions. Like a true jazz musician he makes musical statements and narrates a story. In the process he introduces jazz to Eritrea in its contemporary form, the type of jazz that is pleasantly listenable, concise, but not noisy and perplexing. He also mixes it up with Eritrean folk songs giving it more texture and depth. His CD is sure to be a benchmark for differentiating the real from the pretense. Conceivably, it may even inspire others to follow suit or even do better. Eritrean Music enthusiasts would find it difficult to find common ground between cool jazz and the monotonic sounds of Eritrean music. But Tesfamariam manages to blend the two and create a more engaging sound. This CD will be enjoyed by both Eritreans and non-Eritreans equally. To his American listeners Tesfamariam may have succeeded in bringing Eritrea closer, a country that once upon a time may have seemed so far away. I am of the opinion that jazz is one of the deepest mode of musical communications there are and Tesfamariam's CD may manage to make converts out of some Eritreans with a new appreciation for jazz. In order to produce My Life in Music Tesfamariam worked with accomplished recoding studio American musicians. These musicians, some of whom are music teachers, display an impeccable high standard command of their respectable instruments. The definite rapport between the well-chosen players such as Keyboardist Glenn Douglas, guitarist Earl Carter, Base Guitarist Walter Cosby, and drummer Jeff Neal is but apparent right from the first track. Give Peace a Chance, the opener track, with the universal message but an obvious reference to the situation between Eritrea and Ethiopia sets the momentum with a slightly up-tempo arrangement in which Tesfamariam's tenor sax leads the pack with a graceful melodic sound and right behind him Douglas's keyboard follows nudging him and at times overtaking the lead keeping the intensity stable. The first track gives the listener an unmistakable idea as to what is in store in the rest of the CD.

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