[HN Gopher] The otherworldly compositions of an Ethiopian nun
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The otherworldly compositions of an Ethiopian nun
Author : tintinnabula
Score : 110 points
Date : 2023-04-09 21:05 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.newyorker.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.newyorker.com)
| philipov wrote:
| When I first saw this, I thought it said "The Otherworldly
| Composition of an Ethiopian Nun", which sounds demonic. Where are
| my glasses...
| littlelady wrote:
| I also read it that way, but thought the article would be about
| her character, not musical compositions. Regardless, Emahoy
| Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou was a remarkable person with tragic
| circumstances in life.
| rintakumpu wrote:
| Yup, sounds like a Rob Zombie song.
| hackernewds wrote:
| it does say that?
| jfk13 wrote:
| Not quite: "composition _s_ " in the title is plural, which
| makes a significant difference.
| adamwong246 wrote:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89thiopiques Do yourself the
| favor and give the entire Ethiopiques collection a listen.
| pciexpgpu wrote:
| Cannot recommend this enough. I was intrigued at first while
| watching the movie "Broken Flowers" where this music was
| subliminal yet haunting (and perhaps the most memorable thing
| out of that movie!). "Yegelle Tezeta" (Mulatu Astatke from
| Ethiopiques, Vol. 4: Ethio Jazz & Musique Instrumentale - the
| entire album is awesome).
|
| Also, "If you like this, then you might also like" Ali Farka
| Toure / Toumani Diabate (From a different African country).
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toumani_Diabat%C3%A9
| Nux wrote:
| "Broken flowers" was such a wonderful film. I recollect very
| little of it, but what I'll always remember is Mulatu Astatke
| and "Dengue Fever" (the band), very, very impressive.
|
| "Yegelle Tezeta" is an absolute masterpiece, up there with
| the very greatest of them.
| paganel wrote:
| I discovered this song [1] from Ethiopiques Vol. 10 some time
| ago when I was in a rough spot and it helped me, so I also
| highly recommend the Ethiopiques collection.
|
| [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1A5NTzSN08
| dusted wrote:
| The album referenced by the article can be heard here.
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKU7iz9RYV0&list=PLoD646hYS2...
| [deleted]
| thomasfl wrote:
| Listening to Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou on Spotify, sounds to
| me like an old honky tonk solo piano recording from before world
| war 2. Lots of pentatonic melodies. I'd rather listen to Ethopian
| orthodox choral music: https://youtu.be/F051ninkSWg
|
| Listen to this instead if you want to hear something different
| from Africa. This recording from 1968 of drummers from Burundi,
| was later a huge inspiration for Adam & The Ants in the 1980'ies:
| https://open.spotify.com/track/3Q6un8mTsYxGU9rN1OSje9?si=285...
|
| Here is the backstory https://medium.com/loopandreplay/burundi-
| beat-the-ants-annab...
| giraffe_lady wrote:
| What hits me about it is how similar the sense of rhythm is to
| that of liturgical chant. Things happen at the "right" time,
| it's not arbitrary, but it's not a priori precise either.
| Phrases can be as long as they "need to" be and other parts of
| the music change to accommodate them. It's not fixed to any
| sort of rhythmical grid and would be extremely difficult to
| annotate accurately & usefully, but it still has an order in
| time. Hard to describe but I recognize the feel of it from
| chant.
|
| On the surface it sounds like jazz but jazz has a very
| different feel to it rhythmically. Phrases expand and contract
| but through the mechanism of swing. The speed and swing might
| change but you can always feel the underlying pulse.
| nerdponx wrote:
| > Listening to Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou on Spotify, sounds
| to me like an old honky tonk solo piano recording from before
| world war 2. Lots of pentatonic melodies.
|
| I think that's partly what's so good about it. It's
| harmonically simple and a little noodly, but has a lot of
| atmosphere and feeling in it.
| 3dsnano wrote:
| her music is so effortless, seemingly weightless, like a
| butterfly flapping its wings in an early spring garden... a
| meandering presence of delicate ornamentation. you can feel the
| human spirit and presence of these songs. seemingly simple but
| also complex. slow and fast at the same time.
| hackernewds wrote:
| very well said. without saying much at all :)
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