Country : Ethiopia Label : Piranha Genres and styles : East African Traditional / Ethiopian Jazz / Saharan Blues Year : 2020

Afropentatonism

· by Alain Brunet

Afropentatonism is the title of a first collaboration between desert bluesman Alhousseini Anivolla and Ethio-jazz guitarist Girum Mezmur. Singer, guitarist, and bassist, Niger’s Anivolla had made a name for himself as frontman of the group Etran Finatawa, and also through his own projects from 2012 on. As for Mezmur, the superb guitarist has a long history in East Africa and is one of the key players of the musical revival in Addis Ababa, at the end of a cultural darkness under the authoritarian powers. Flashback? Ethiopian modernity expressed itself musically as early as the end of the 1950s, but it became world-famous long after its key elements had been expatriated to Europe. Ethio-jazz is a long way from the Tuareg blues, but the two styles are nevertheless linked by the desert culture, present everywhere in Niger and also in the northern part of Ethiopia. Ethio-jazz draws from the traditions of the Nile, at the confluence of African and Arab civilizations, but also from North American R&B, funk, and jazz. As for desert blues, it is the direct ancestor of Afro-American blues, but one feels the clear distinction in the playing, in the tone, in the direct and lucid character of the declamations, in the vocal inflections and of course in the instrumentation, even if it is electrified. In this case, the meeting of these two musical currents from Nile-region and Saharan Africa is essentially built on the exploitation of pentatonic scales (at five pitches of sound), so famously at the roots of the blues. On Afropentatonism, Ethio-jazz exhales more richness, harmonic and also rhythmic (binary/ternary alternations), which takes nothing away from the hypnotic grooves of the sandy Niger blues. One thing’s for sure, the meeting occurs between these two great currents of Africa. The exchange is fair, inspired and committed.

Latest 360 Content

FIJM | Fievel is Glauque For Dessert… Dessert loaded!

FIJM | Fievel is Glauque For Dessert… Dessert loaded!

FIJM | Misc: Beat Bouquet Well Garnished!

FIJM | Misc: Beat Bouquet Well Garnished!

FIJM | Alexis Lombre and the Holy Spirit in the South Side of Chicago

FIJM | Alexis Lombre and the Holy Spirit in the South Side of Chicago

FIJM | Allison Russel’s Apotheosis Concert in Her Hometown

FIJM | Allison Russel’s Apotheosis Concert in Her Hometown

FIJM I Best Dressed, Most Possessed: Fantastic Negrito Stupefies Rogers Stage

FIJM I Best Dressed, Most Possessed: Fantastic Negrito Stupefies Rogers Stage

FIJM 2025 | Beth McKenna : raising her Momentum

FIJM 2025 | Beth McKenna : raising her Momentum

Nuits d’Afrique | Immersion In The World of Stogie T

Nuits d’Afrique | Immersion In The World of Stogie T

FIJM | Julius Rodriguez, Jazz Groove Ace

FIJM | Julius Rodriguez, Jazz Groove Ace

FIJM | Men I Trust Shines Brightly on The Place des Festivals

FIJM | Men I Trust Shines Brightly on The Place des Festivals

FIJM | Anomalie and Lettieri: A New Musical Friendship, Developing in Real Time

FIJM | Anomalie and Lettieri: A New Musical Friendship, Developing in Real Time

FIJM | Linda May Han Oh, A Role Model for Female Double-Bass Players

FIJM | Linda May Han Oh, A Role Model for Female Double-Bass Players

Nuits d’Afrique | La Chiva Gantiva As Seen by Rafael Espinel

Nuits d’Afrique | La Chiva Gantiva As Seen by Rafael Espinel

Suoni | The Spiritual Quest, The End in Transcendence

Suoni | The Spiritual Quest, The End in Transcendence

FIJM | Thundercat, A Feline on The Loose

FIJM | Thundercat, A Feline on The Loose

FIJM | Bill Frisell, Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston Exposed

FIJM | Bill Frisell, Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston Exposed

FIJM | Branford Marsalis Among Four MF’s Playin’ Tunes… Live!

FIJM | Branford Marsalis Among Four MF’s Playin’ Tunes… Live!

FIJM | About Derrick Hodge’s Idea of the Color of Noize

FIJM | About Derrick Hodge’s Idea of the Color of Noize

FIJM | Queen of Afrobeats, Ayra confirms her status as a Global… Starr

FIJM | Queen of Afrobeats, Ayra confirms her status as a Global… Starr

FIJM | Black Jazz by Marquis Hill

FIJM | Black Jazz by Marquis Hill

Festival de Lanaudière | Leonardo Garcia Alarcon/Monteverdi’s Coronation of Poppea: being marketwise

Festival de Lanaudière | Leonardo Garcia Alarcon/Monteverdi’s Coronation of Poppea: being marketwise

FIJM | Nate Smith and his Supremely Talented Quartet

FIJM | Nate Smith and his Supremely Talented Quartet

Nuits d’Afrique 2025 | Tyrane Mondeny Presents Her Mandingo Soul

Nuits d’Afrique 2025 | Tyrane Mondeny Presents Her Mandingo Soul

FIJM | Nai Palm? Creature of Exception! Hawa B? Future Star!

FIJM | Nai Palm? Creature of Exception! Hawa B? Future Star!

FIJM 2025 | Funky funky, Trombone Shorty

FIJM 2025 | Funky funky, Trombone Shorty

Subscribe to our newsletter