WOMAD

Gétatchèw Mèkurya

From Ethiopia

There exists, among Ethiopia's numerous vocal genres, a form of singing that is purely warlike: epic and declamatory, harsh and hoarse-voiced, it is known as shellèla. In the past, and up until the 20th century, it was de rigueur to belt out a shellèla before battle, in order to galvanise one's troops. Anybody could sing a shellèla and the genre, to this day, is well-loved by Ethiopians.

Gétatchèw Mèkurya was not the only one to adapt those furious solos for the saxophone but he remains, in the annals of modern Ethiopian music, the symbol of shellèla. Nicknamed "Negus of Saxophone" and a real giant - both musically and physically - he even wears the symbolic trappings of the genre: a military cape symbolising the pelt of a killed animal, and headgear resembling a lion's mane. Beyond the military references however, here we encounter a musical form that is daring, improvisational, angry and impetuous, where each melisma spirals dizzyingly towards less structure and greater freedom. Without resorting to clichés, shellèla saxophone was a sort of free jazz before its time. Gétatchèw remembers trying out the first heady strains in 1952-53 but still knows nothing of Ornette Coleman or Albert Ayler of the 60s.
(Biography supplied by artist management-2009)

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