« back

debo band & kiddid - adderech arada - electric cowbell - vinyl

New Copy

Genre: African

1. Adderech Arada
2. Adderech Arada Remix

Debo Band is an exhilarating eleven-piece Ethio-groove collective created as a means of exploring the unique sounds that once filled dance clubs of 1970s Ethiopia.

Made popular through the renowned Ethiopiques series, the musical inspiration behind Debo Band is an unlikely confluence of Ethiopian pentatonic scales and vocal styles, American soul and funk, and the instrumentation of Eastern European brass bands – accordion, violins, horns, and drums. Committed to a broad range of musical collaboration, Debo Band recently performed with several traditional Ethiopian musicians at the 8th Ethiopian Music Festival (Addis Ababa, 2009) and 7th Sauti za Busara Festival (Zanzibar, 2010), and has, for the last year, worked with NYC-based producer and percussionist Kiddid, on a series of remixes, previously released as limited-edition cassette-only mixtapes.

"Adderech Arada" is a beloved traditional Ethiopian song about a woman who, after breaking out of her lawful marriage, falls into sin by traveling to Arada, or Addis Ababa's red-light district. and falling into sin. Recorded live in Ethiopia in May 2009, Debo Band's version of Adderech Arada is inspired by the Haile Selassie I Theater Orchestra's recording arranged and conducted by Nerses Nalbandian. And on the flipside, Kiddid's haunting remix deconstructs Debo Band's performance with elements of dub, ambient electronica, and experimental hip-hop.