Francis Falceto & His 30-years Love-affair with Ethiopian Contemporary Music

(Photo: Courtesy of Buda Musique)

Francis Falceto is a French musicologist and music producer, specializing in world music especially of Ethiopian music and he has been working to put it on global music map since 1986. Falceto's love-affair with the Ethiopian music just happened by accident in April-May 1984 when one of his music enthusiast friends who had been to Ethiopia and brought an LP entitled Ere Mela Mela by Mahmoud Ahmed. He and a group of his friends were organizing non-profit concerts out of boredom in small sleepy Western France village called Poitier. They used to listen music from other African countries, but Ere Mela Mela was an absolute shock to their ears because of the uniqueness of Mahmoud's sound, the arrangement and the brass. He made some cassettes out of it and sent it to journalists and music reviewers; it was an absolute shock to them as well. The next day, they all called him back, saying, “Francis, what’s that?  Where did you get this from?  It’s great!”  So, he immediately understood that, if these people, who supposedly knowledgeable about music by profession, if they don’t know this music, it must be a place to dig, to try to find out if it’s an exception, or if it’s one among many.  

After having a few ''crush-course'' about Ethiopia, its culture, music and history by the owner of the only Ethiopian restaurant in Paris at that time. Falceto went naively to Ethiopia to ''bring'' Mahmoud Ahmed, Mulatu Astatqe and other generations of the Swinging-Addis for a music tour in France. He admitted, he failed not once but three times to accomplish his mission due to

Legendary Ethiopian Musician Hailu Mergia Takes Off

I'm very honored to be one of the lucky ones to grow up listening to Hailu Mergia, an Ethiopian musician from 70 and 80s who now is now working as Cabbie in Washington Dc. Hailu Mergia was the leader of one of the biggest jazz funk bands in Ethiopia in the 1970′s. His band, The Walias Band, reached the pinnacle of success in Ethiopia, eventually being invited to play for the president. Their sound, a mixture of traditional Ethiopian melodies and American-inspired jazz and funk, struck a chord with Ethiopians across the spectrum. Having achieved celebrity status in his home country, Hailu wanted his band to grow. He arranged a U.S. tour for the Walias band, hoping to find international success. The tour did not match his vision of quick American success, and, met mostly with indifference in the States, the band fizzled.

Hailu decided to stay in Washington DC, where they had originally landed in the States. And there he has remained. More recently, Hailu Mergia has been driving a taxi, shuttling visitors from the airport to their hotels and houses. What most of his passengers don't know is that the friendly Ethiopian chatting with them about the weather or the Washington Monument has a full-sized electronic keyboard stashed away in his trunk, and when he's waiting for customers, he sits in the back seat and practices. He has practiced every day since he came to the United States, not necessarily out of a nostalgia for lost glory, but because his love for music is at the level of a vital need. He cannot go a day without playing. Thanks Far OFF Sounds for reconnecting us with this talented musicians of all time!