The Young Ethio Jazz Band, ages 10 to 15, bring back traditional Ethiopian jazz
on January 9, 2013
Sirak Tegbaru leads young members of Oakland’s Medhani Alem Ethiopian Orthodox Church in an unusual extracurricular activity: a traditional Ethiopian jazz band. The young musicians, ranging in age from 10 to 15, had their first performance on Sunday, at Rasela’s Jazz Club in San Francisco’s Fillmore district. They call themselves the Young Ethio Jazz Band.
The students play Ethio-jazz, a style that blends American jazz and Latin rhythms with traditional Ethiopian sounds. Led by figures like Mulatu Astatke, Ethio-jazz flowered during the 1960s and early ’70s.
The eight person band played several covers at Rasela’s, with many members taking solos on each song. Most Ethiopian music hasn’t been written down, so Tegbaru has to study each song carefully, learning the keyboard, horn, bass, and drum parts so that he can teach them to his band. After seven months of practices, they were ready for their first performance this January.
Yonathan Estfanos, who plays trumpet, describes the Young Ethio Jazz Band’s sound as “unique and mellow and lively. And nothing like anything people have ever heard of, especially people of this generation.” Like many of the band members, Estfanos says the band has allowed him to preserve his cultural heritage. “I feel like I’m going back to my culture, you know? I feel like I’m going back to my roots,” he said.
To get more information about the Young Ethio Jazz Band, contact Tegbaru directly at youngethiojazzband [at] gmail [dot] com.
Check out other audio and video profiles of local musicians on our Bandwidth page.
Correction: the story identifies the vocalist as Jacob Tegbaru. In fact, the singer is Simon Yacob.
11 Comments
Oakland North welcomes comments from our readers, but we ask users to keep all discussion civil and on-topic. Comments post automatically without review from our staff, but we reserve the right to delete material that is libelous, a personal attack, or spam. We request that commenters consistently use the same login name. Comments from the same user posted under multiple aliases may be deleted. Oakland North assumes no liability for comments posted to the site and no endorsement is implied; commenters are solely responsible for their own content.
Oakland North
Oakland North is an online news service produced by students at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and covering Oakland, California. Our goals are to improve local coverage, innovate with digital media, and listen to you–about the issues that concern you and the reporting you’d like to see in your community. Please send news tips to: oaklandnorthstaff@gmail.com.
Young ethio jazz band
Thank you Aaron,for posting
From,Kebordist Simon Yacob
Thank you Aaron,for posting this on your website
From,Kebordist Simon Yacob
Today, after seeing such talents and learning of the efforts that was put in them,I am left inspired to do more and better. I was telling a friend this: that I hear the heavens when my three year old sings. I am going to listen and cultivate her gifts for the prospects of the coming 10+ years.Thank you for sharing. I appreciate you.
Yea we’re a few years behind, but that will make it THAT much sweeter when history is made all while breaking that crutch for ourselves as well as future generations in the process. These kid’s trying to open the door for the next generation. Well guess what … The door’s cracked and is getting wider, and it’s our job to walk through. I don’t think that I can say enough about these group’s …
Although there were some name errors, this was a beautiful interview and shows how “pop culture” hasn’t dominated us young musicians, it shows how diverse our world is.
-Christian the drummer for the band
[…] ranging in age from 10 to 15, are playing Ethio-jazz and getting some media coverage like this one. Sirak Tegbaru leads young members of Oakland’s Medhani Alem Ethiopian Orthodox Church in an […]
a great sound and a lot of talent
Certainly is a good sound. Andy, they wouldn’t be out of place at one of the weddings that you perform at
This is incrediblyi innovative. It is indeed a monumental masterpiece that stands alone without comparison as a genuine brand of my brother. Congratulations. Amare