FETSUM: A PAN-AFRICAN REVELATION
There really are no borders now. It’s a concept that has been talked about for a long time but with the advent of the internet and the widespread access of smartphones all over the world, virtually everyone on the planet is at least potentially in touch. Virtually the entire history of recorded music is available and most of it is accessible on YouTube to anyone with an internet connection. So people are absorbing sounds, melodies and rhythms as never before, and being influenced by them. All of which makes someone like Fetsum—an Ethiopian making music in Germany with German musicians, singing mostly in English and drawing on the musical range of the whole African diaspora as well as other musics.
I have to thank Tom Schnabel for turning me to Fetsum. Tom was the originator of Morning Becomes Eclectic on bellwether non-commercial radio station KCRW-FM and he has been a champion of great world music artists for all of the 30 years I’ve known him. He still does a world music show on KCRW—which streams on the internet. You really should check out www.tomschnabel.com if you’re at all interested in world music.
Anyway, thanks to Tom posting a link to a video of Fetsum performing (Fetsum did a couple showcase performances in the States), I ordered his CD, which is released by Sonar Kollektiv, a small German label.
Here’s a live performance clip of Fetsum, doing a sung not on the album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3IFPZlIUY4
The first thing that strikes you about Fetsum is the quality of his voice….it is rich, warm and sweet and though he doesn’t sound like Bob Marley his phrasing reminds me of Bob, among others. The opening song on the album feels like a classic Southern soul song but it is rendered in a way that let’s you know that it is of a different time and sung by someone who is not from the American south.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6HoDO5zySk Say Who You Are
The album moves from soul to Afro-Caribbean pop to reggae to atmosphericballadry with entrancing electric guitars reminiscent of the Sahel and electronicwashes of sound….”Letters From Damascus” is essentially desert blues reminiscentof Ali Farka Toure. Fetsum sings of love but also spiritual concerns. Interesting that he chooses to roam musically across the pan-African musical universe rather than settling in one genre. If he chose, he could be the next pan-African reggae phenomenon, as evidenced by this straight-up reggae cut.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDSEY4tY3QU Emotional Android
The only thing a bit off-putting about Fetsum is he seems to sing in several different accents—not languages—but accents, in English, depending on the music he’s playing. But that’s a minor quibble. We can only wait with anticipation the day he comes to perform in our locale. I know I will make my reservation early!
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