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DEBO BAND WITH SPECIAL GUESTS FENDIKA BRING ETHIOPIAN MUSIC AND DANCE TO REAL ART WAYS
Photo of Fendika by Gary Eckstein. Friday, July 29, 2011 | 7:30 PM | FREE Hartford, Connecticut - Debo Band, an eleven-member collective, will bring their unique interpretations of classic Ethiopian pop music to Real Art Ways on Friday, July 29. The group will be joined by special guests Fendika, a traditional dance and music group from Addis Ababa that features a vocalist, a male and female dance duo, and a traditional goat-skin drummer. This performance is a free event. Debo Band's performances bring together the best of the last forty years of Ethiopian music, with a particular reverence for the vintage sounds of the 1970s, especially those that reached large world audiences in the last ten years through the popular Ethiopiques recording series. Debo Band's sound is an unlikely mix of Ethiopian pentatonic scales and vocal styles, American soul and funk, and the instrumentation of Eastern European brass bands - accordion, violins, horns, and drums. When they formed as an ensemble in 2006, Debo played in Boston's bars, church basements and loft parties. Today, Debo Band is an internationally recognized touring band that has performed in East Africa numerous times. In May 2009, when Debo traveled to Addis Ababa to perform in the 8th Ethiopian Music Festival, they began a collaborative relationship with Fendika. Fendika is a four-member azmari ensemble formed by Melaky Belay, a prominent dancer and respected cultural ambassador in Ethiopia. Azmari describes Ethiopian folk music traditionally played by wandering musicians who make their living singing, dancing and playing for money. Fendika, which has collaborated with jazz and rock bands from around the world, is a bridge between this Ethiopian musical tradition and today. In July Real Art Ways is also featuring two other events highlighting Ethiopia: Ethiopian-American singer and songwriter Meklit Hadero on Wednesday, July 13 and an exhibition of the work of Eric Gottesman opening Thursday, July 21. Gottesman has been creating art in partnership with a group of children in Addis Ababa whose parents died of AIDS since 1999. Debo Band members Bruck Tesfaye - lead vocals Fendika members Melaku Belay - dancer, director Praise for Debo Band "An eclectic mix of players… a sound that bridges cultures… just what Ethiopian pop music did in its golden age." - Boston Herald "Debo Band… represents for Ethiopia. Playing a pop fusion that could have come straight off any disc in the Ethiopiques series, Debo manages to sound fresh without sounding derivative." - Rick Sawyer, bostonist.com Support Support for this event comes from the Evelyn W. Preston Memorial Trust Fund, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Trustee. Supported by the City of Hartford Arts & Heritage Jobs Grant Program, Pedro Segarra, Mayor. Corporate, Foundation, and Government Support for Real Art Ways comes from: Greater Hartford Arts Council's United Arts Campaign, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, The Wallace Foundation, Ford Foundation, United Technologies, Travelers Foundation, Bank of America, Aetna, Lincoln Financial Group, Edward C. & Ann T. Roberts Foundation, Target, Joseph S. Stackpole Charitable Trust, Ensworth Charitable Trust, Alexander A. Goldfarb Memorial Trust, Fund for Greater Hartford, Larsen Fund, Ellis A. Gimbel Trust, Knox Foundation, The J. Walton Bissell Foundation, Helen M. Saunders Charitable Foundation, NewAlliance Foundation, National Performance Network – Visual Arts Network, Kohn-Joseloff Foundation, It's Only Natural Restaurant, The Artist Resource Trust, Charney Architects, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc. ### You are
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