Inspired by the golden age of the 1960s Ethiopian funk, Debo Band takes a collaborative enterprise, and influences from klezmer, avant-garde jazz, and grooves of all genres to celebrate reinventions of traditional songs, a repertoire of Azmari praise-singers, and a trove of original compositions.
Debo Band is an 11-member group led by Ethiopian-American saxophonist Danny Mekonnen and fronted by charismatic vocalist Bruck Tesfaye. Since their inception in 2006, the band has won critical acclaim for their groundbreaking take on Ethiopian pop music (think Ethiopiques), which incorporates traditional scales and vocal styles, alongside American soul and funk rhythms, and instrumentation reminiscent of Eastern European brass bands. Debo have toured Ethiopia twice, appearing at both the Ethiopian Music Festival in Addis Ababa and Sauti Za Busara in Zanzibar, the largest music festival in East Africa. In North America, they’ve shared stages with Gogol Bordello, Amadou & Mariam, Grupo Fantasma, The Family Stone and Ethiopian great Tilahun Gessesse.
21 August 2014 at 3:30am -
21 August 2014 at 5:30am
Calderwood Courtyard, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Avenue of the Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Price: $24 MFA members, seniors, and students $30 Nonmembers
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