Dereb Desalegn and Nicky Bomba
Drums and Lions
Transmitter


Ethiopian musician Dereb Desalegn sings traditional songs in Amharic accompanying himself on the masenko or spike-fiddle. When busy Melbourne roots musician Nicky Bomba heard him play, they began recording together that very night. This cross-cultural fusion sees Bomba supplying bass, drums, guitars and keyboards in a minimalist, sensitive way, supporting and elucidating the challenging rhythms, modes and scales of Desalegn's songs.

It's a shame the album doesn't explain what the songs are about. Desalegn's impassioned voice sounds almost Arabic, broken by irregular glottal stops. Tizta is a gentle hip-swinging groove with pattering drums in a swirling rhythm. Korabelina is a joyful, carefree track reminiscent of Paul Simon's seminal album 'Graceland', with Joe Camilleri's bright, brassy exuberant saxophone.

Birtukan is in a minor key, its pulsing rhythm throbbing like a heartbeat. In the deceptively simple bass together with the repetitive lyric and use of pauses for dramatic emphasis, it's almost a twelve-bar blues. Other steady-paced tracks combine call and response elements with a bustling city vibe.

On the unusual Yematbehla Wof, the grooving bass picks out the same walking rhythm as the masenko, with a country-style lamenting vocal reminiscent of 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?'. If the trembling tones of the masenko were replaced by a violin, the cultural echoes of Celtic folk music would be even more apparent.

Bomba brings in contemporary elements, his improvisations adding texture and variety to the more challenging Ethiopian sound, evolving the music into something new. That said, the language barrier and rambling nature of this unfamiliar music may mean that this album will only reach the world music community, which would be a shame. Listen to this for something a bit different, to get your feet moving and your hips swaying.


Rosie Clarke