Sad news: Benn loxo listener, Andrew, told me yesterday that my favourite musican from Belize, Andy Palacio, died last Saturday after suffering a heart attack and stroke. He was only 47.

Palacio was largely responsible for a revival of Garifuna culture in Belize. He spread its influence far and wide with his music, including to me. You may have read about Garifuna here on Benn loxo a couple years ago after I visited Belize.

I saw Andy Palacio and Paul Nabor perform this past summer in Paris at the New Morning. They were fantastic.

You can read a nice obituary in the New York Times here.

I really respect musicians like Palacio. We can only hope that Palacio’s efforts to reinvigorate Garifuna culture will result in a new generation of talented, young Paranda musicians to follow in his footsteps.

My thoughts go out to his family. RIP.

Aurelilo Martinez & Andy Palacio – Lanarime lamiseu (How Sad)
Andy Palacio & The Garifuna Collective – Ayo Da (Goodbye My Dear)
Andy Palacio & The Garifuna Collective – Aguyuha Niduhenu (My people have moved on)

This is the last day of Eritrea Week.

I don’t know enough about much of the music I’ve collected this week to write full posts so I decided to make you a mixtape instead. This way you get more music and, hopefully, people will be able to educate us in the comments about the tracks I pick.

First of all we’ll hear a track by Tesfay Mehari. What a killer opening – could someone please translate what he’s saying? In my head I imagine a Barry White thing going on.. until the drum machine kicks in, then the sexiness just fades away.

Tesfay Mehari – Abey Alewu

Next some tunes by famous Eritrean musicians, Sami Berhane, Bereket Mengisteab and Wedi Tikabo:

Sami Berhane – Gezana
Wedi Tikabo – Hagarey Nimen Tefqri
Bereket Mengisteab – Milena

Tsehaytu Beraki you’ve heard before but I don’t know what this one is called. Any ideas?

Tsehaytu Beraki – Unknown

I’ll also include an Ahmed Mohamed Osman track. There’s a chance he might be Sudanese. Let me know.

Ahmed Mohamed Osman – SaEloba

Lastly, a mystery Eritrean track that sounds a lot like one of the best TV theme songs ever, Airwolf:

Unknown – Unknown
Theme from Airwolf

I checked the logs, by the way, and this week brought in visitors from Eritrea. This means that according to Analytics, Benn loxo du taccu has now been visited by people from pretty much every single country in the world, except the obvious exceptions.

Thanks for tuning in to Eritrea week.

Today we’ll hear some music by one of the first guitar players in Eritrean popular music, Tewelde Redda.

As I mentioned yesterday he was the one who “discovered” Tsehaytu Beraki back in the 1970s and took her to Addis to record some music.

It’s very difficult to find music by this guy but I wanted to include him anyway despite my mediocre findings. His name keeps popping up the more I dig into the history of Eritrean popular music.

Yesterday in a comment Awet mentioned a YouTube video of Tewelde Redda back in 1967:

I also found a few songs of his in various corners of the web. Unfortunately someone has laid a horrible drum track over otherwise nice music. But try to listen through the drum track for the music within…

Tewelde Redda – Unknown

You can also find Redda on Ethiopiques Vol. 5, that incredible collection of Tigrinya music:

Tewelde Redda – Milenu
Tewelde Redda – Nehadar Zeytkewen

I’d also like to post some music by an Eritrean who I think is called “Goytom”. I really like his music but I don’t know anything about him.. or even his full name. Any ideas?

Goytom – Unknown 1
Goytom – Unknown 2

Madlib is easily my favourite hiphop DJ and MF DOOM is one of my favourite MCs. The release of Madvillain’s first album on Stones Throw, Madvillainy, was a major musical event for me. I can’t wait for their new album.

What does this have to do with Eritrean music? I knew that I recognized the sample on Madlib’s remix of Madvillain’s track, Figaro. It’s a classic tune by one of Eritrea’s most famous musicians, Tsehaytu Beraki.

Tsehaytu Beraki is famous for both her singing and krar playing. (The krar is a stringed Eritrean instrument used in much of the traditional and popular music there.) She was originaly discovered by Tewelde Redda, who you’ll hear tomorrow, and soon became a big star both in Eritrea and Ethiopia. Eventually the worsening political situation in Eritrea forced her to flee the country in 1988. She ended up in Rotterdam, Holland.

Over the next ten years she stopped recording until she was “rediscovered” by Dutch producer, Terrie Ex. He built her a new krar and recorded her music for a couple years. The result is a record double-CD release, Selam. It’s on Terp Records, the same place you’ll find the late late Mohamed Jimmy Mohamed, who I saw at Banlieues Bleues a couple years ago, Konomo and Ethiopian sax player, Getachew Mekuria.

The earlier Beraki track I’ll post today is off the fifth Ethiopiques compilation, Tigrigna Music. Tigrinya/Tigrigna is a language spoken by the Tigray-Tigrinya people in Eritrea. It’s one of the most widely-spoken language in Etritrea, and the Tigrinya people make up a large part of the population.

One thing I’m confused about are the similarities/differences between those from the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia and the Tigrinya people in central Eritrea. I understand that the dialects they use are quite different, but do both people have a common heritage or should the distinction be made, historically and ethnically speaking, between the two? In other words, if today’s political borders didn’t exist would Ethiopian Tigrays and Tigrinyas in Eritrea be the same people living in a shared region?

Anyway, back to the music. The first track by Madvillain appears on Stones Throw 101, their 10-year celebration compilation mixed by another old favourite, Peanut Butter Wolf. The second from Ethiopiques 5, and the third from Tsehaytu Beraki’s Terp Release, Selam.

You can see her playing on YouTube here. There’s also more info on her and plenty more about Eritrea in general at this great site.

Madvillain – Figaro (Madlib remix)
Tsehaytu Beraki – Mhdjhmhrya
Tsehaytu Beraki – Atzmtom Keskisom

If you haven’t already, check-out some of those links that Awet left in the comments of yesterday’s post. Some funky stuff, plus some telling images of the war.

Today we’ll move to something more recent and certainly more studio-polished from Dehab Faytinga.

Faytinga is one of Eritrea’s most famous musicians and one of the very few to have a non-Eritrean following abroad. She has released two albums to date, Numey and Eritrea, both of which are available at good record stores and online, such as over at Calabash.

Aside from being a good musician, Faytinga is also famous for being a daughter of the leader of the “Faid Tinga” (Fighting Gun) independence movement. She fought in this movement from the age of 14 right up until independence about 15 years ago.

Faytinga comes from a mixed heritage of Kunama, Blen and Tigrinya. Her father was Kunama and most of her songs are sung in this language, but her ties through her mother to the Tingrinya and Blen add to her greater appeal amongst Eritrea’s various ethnicities.

She certainly has an original sound. Two songs today, one from each of her albums.

Faytinga – Buba
Faytinga – Salada God