⁣Awalom Gebremarian LP

Awalom Gebremariam — Desdes

Thanks to my pal Patrick Seabase—celebrated fixed gear bike athlete—for this cassette from Eritrea, which he picked up while filming Asmawa, a documentary about a beautiful and challenging bike trip down there. This is a highly addictive take on Eritrean Tigrinya-language Bahlawi music. Legit modern sounds culled from relatively ancient means. Patrick says he heard this tape over and over again while traveling in Eritrea. I have been playing it on repeat myself and I am thoroughly obsessed.

 

Awalom Gebremariam Desdes

Side A

Track 1

Track 2

Track 3

Track 4

Track 5

Track 6

Side B

Track 7

Track 8

Track 9

Track 10

Track 11

8 Comments

Join the discussion and tell us your opinion.

Anonymousreply
September 10, 2012 at 7:52 pm

I love your blog, but could you please .zip the songs into one file?

Modizoreply
September 12, 2012 at 8:02 am

Ancestral music!

adunareply
September 15, 2012 at 12:22 pm

Hello,

The new aduna Blog is ready now…
Feel free to visit it & to make a link on your site if you like it.

adunablog.blogspot.com

Aduna

rumremixreply
November 21, 2012 at 10:52 pm

You rock! Thanks for this excellent blog. Really enjoying me some Awalom at the moment.

To the Anonymous poster requesting the songs be zipped into one file, I suggest you use Songbird. Point it to this blog and it will download the songs for you. Even easier as no need to unzip.

Anonymousreply
December 24, 2012 at 2:26 am

The title is Desdes not Desaes. The top part of d is covered with the tgrigna word

Five Albums I’m Loving Right Now: Brian Shimkovitz aka Awesome Tapes From Africareply
February 12, 2015 at 7:44 am

[…] 4 – Awalom Gebremariam, Desdes: I was recently reminded of this wonderful musician from Eritrean multi-instrumentalist and singer, whose cassette I posted on the ATFA blog a couple years ago. The tape is not in the best shape so it sounds a bit rough but that’s part of the overall appeal for me, once I get a few minutes into a track. Krar and drum machine and vocals, pretty much. Just crushingly good. […]

Awalom Gebremariam "Desdes" reissue coming April 15 – Awesome Tapes From Africa Awesome Tapes From Africareply
March 28, 2016 at 12:48 pm

[…] Previously posted on Awesome Tapes From Africa, here is the backstory/original post. […]

Album review: Awalom Gebremariam – Desdes [Awesome Tapes from Africa, 15th April 2016] | Rhythm Passportreply
May 17, 2016 at 1:37 pm

[…] listening to Desdes, the title track of Eritrean exile Awalom Gebremariam‘s new album there is an immediate appeal. An acoustic instrument (a one-stringed fiddle) plays […]

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