- Their name is a tribute to Saint Yared, regarded as the pioneer of the traditional music of Ethiopia and Eritrea, creator of religious music and the Ethiopian musical notation system. Music Yared open with the epic but hypnotic twelve-minute-long second single and first cut of their self-titled EP, Ambassal. Musically based on the pentatonic scale, thought to be the world's oldest and the foundation for almost every other one. It originated in ancient Mesopotamia it spread to India, China, and Japan and to the old-world American nations of the Andes and the Pacific North-East. All you ever needed were five notes per octave, becoming the foundation for the eventual creation of blues, jazz, country, and rock music. Excitingly exotic as they may be, there's also something universal at work in Music Yared.
Masterful exponents of the masinko (one-stringed Ethiopian violin) played by Anbessa Gebrehiwot with Haftu Reda on the krar (five-stringed bass-like lyre) these five cuts are the accumulative result of recordings last year, in a collaboration with producer and multi-instrumentalist Dale Gorfinkel.
Kabsamai, the first single released can easily be recognised as the contemporary format common to the Horn of Africa. From modern takes on folk songs to new and original compositions beautifully unfurling with the strong vocals of Anbessa and Haftu’s simple but sweet lyricism, the trio have gathered a mesmeric clutch of repetitive grooves and hypnotic jams that celebrates East African culture.
Creating space for artists that work in culturally and linguistically diverse communities in Australia, Music in Exile is a recent initiative based in Melbourne whose aim is to use the resources at their disposal to collaborate with artists from South Sudan, Ethiopia, Rwanda, West Africa and Cuba like Gordan Koang, Ausecuma Beats, DyspOra and Ajak Kwai all sharing some of their incredible stories.
Music Yared are also included in the compilation Exile at Home - Music in Isolation released in May and are part of an interesting gallery of musical cultures hoping to be widely revealed to more music lovers once we’re all out of lock-down. Music Yared bring ancient musical heritage and freshtakes that are undeniably their own: there should be something here for everyone.
- Rick Heritage.