Inspired by the Golden Age of Ethiopian modern music
(1969-1978) Imperial Tiger Orchestra is set to hit the live music spots of
Southern Africa. Their tour includes Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban as
well as Harare and Maputo.
While preserving the natural beauty of the Ethiopian
melodies and sound, this six-piece Geneva-based orchestra is not to be
mistaken for a covers band. Improvising and experimenting, the musicians
explore uncharted territories with their powerful instrumentation of horn,
percussion and keyboards, adding distortion and noise to the revamped and
reworked original vocal songs with the sax or keyboard replacing the
singer.
Embracing dark hypnotic rhythms, obsessive basslines and
grooves from electronic music, the orchestra surprise and impress with
their use of the traditional Thai "phin" guitar together with the
traditional Ethiopian "kebero" percussion. Band members include leader
Raphaël Anker (trumpet), John Menoud (baritone saxophone), Alexandre
Rodrigues (keys), Cyril Moulas (bass guitar and phin), Julien Israelian
(drums) and Luc Détraz (percussion).
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A special feature of their Southern African tour is the
inclusion of Ethiopian musician Endres Hassen, who plays the masenqo, a
traditional single-stringed violin.
Their first performances are at the Pan African Space
Station (PASS), on Wednesday 29 September at
19h00 at the Slave Church, 40 Long Street, Cape Town
and on Friday 1 October they perform at the Albert Hall, 208 Albert Road,
Wood Stock, Cape Town at 22h30. Tickets for both venues are R30 if
booked through Computicket or R50 at the door.
On Saturday 2 October, the Tigers perform at The Mannenberg,
Harare at 21h00. Tickets are $10 at the door.
Thursday 7 October they are in Maputo at encontrARTE, CCFM
at 20h30. Tickets cost 200MZN at the door.
Friday 8 October, at the Bassline, 10 Henry Nxumalo Street,
Newtown, Johannesburg. Performance time is 21h00 and tickets cost R60 at
the door.
Their final concert is on Saturday 9 October at 19h30 at the
Poetry Africa Finale, BAT Centre, Durban. Tickets are R50 at the door.
Founded by Raphaël Anker, Imperial Tiger Orchestra began
with an invitation from Cave12, the legendary experimental live music
event in Geneva. Given carte blanche to play what he liked, Anker took
the opportunity as an admirer of Ethio-Jazz to experiment with a
particular music scale, common in Ethiopian music and what they played at
the start of their union was more in the style of free jazz and ‘noise’.
In 2009, the group’s commitment to Ethiopian music was
sealed when they, via an invitation from Francis Falceto (the curator of
the anthology series “Ethiopiques”), performed at the Musiques
Ethiopiennes festival in Addis Ababa. By all accounts, the group was the
sensation of the festival, impressing Falceto, established Ethiopian
musicians as well as local audiences.
Raphaël Anker says, ‘We are very excited about playing with
Endres. The masenqo is really important in traditional Ethiopian music and
it presents a challenge for us to incorporate this into our sound. Endres
is considered today as one of the best players in Ethiopia’.
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