This is a rarity: a lavishly illustrated book covering the history of the much revered saxophone great Getachew Mekuria (1935-2016) and his collaboration with the Dutch punk band the Ex. The thoughtful and articulate introduction by Terrie Hessels, a founding member of the Ex, explains the band’s introduction to the Ethiopian musician when they had discovered his music on old cassette, back in 1996, from 1972 Philips Vinyl, later released as Ethiopiques 14. Terrie navigates us through the various stages of their collaboration, which saw them releasing an album, “Moa Anbessa,” in 2006 and playing more than a hundred concerts in 15 countries. There are fascinating eight pages in which Getachew talked about himself, his music and music in general, with some striking honesty saying that he knew nothing about jazz, he just played music. The photo book, described as the Ex’s final tribute to the late artist, has four sections of pictures, a selection from Getachew’s private album and photos by three different international photographers, Andy Moor, guitarist in the EX, Matias Corral and Nick Helderman, who came on tour in Europe, America and to Addis Ababa. There’s a surprising amount of real content here as well as being a visual delight.
The book is co-published by Terp Records and Ex Records and is available now from Ex Mailorder.
(Terrie Hessels generously sent me a copy of the book. In fact, two copies, because the first one never made it to me. The second one did, and i would certainly cherish for long time.)
An obituary of the New York Times Getatchew Mekuria, 81, Ethiopian Saxophonist With Global Reach, Dies-