Zion Roots

Ejigayehu Shibabaw—Gigi to world music fans—is the principle creative force behind this mesmerizing album. Since the release of her self-titled Palm Pictures debut CD in 2001, Gigi has been a major force in the Western rediscovery of Ethiopian music. For "Zion Roots," Gigi has assembled a fabulous crew of Ethiopian players, augmented by percussionist Karsh Kale and constant collaborator Bill Laswell. The tunes are enchanting, mainly acoustic interpretations of the devotional and liturgical church modes of singing that Gigi grew up performing. "Zion Roots" has as much groove ("Embe Ashafergne," "Gole") as it does dreamy, exotic melodicism ("Aba Alem Lemenea," "Bati Bati," "Alesema"). Best of all, these songs do not sound like anything else out there. The instrumentation combines ancient Ethiopian instruments like the kirar with tenor sax and talking drums. The vocals, sung in Amharic and, occasionally, Agewña (a language older than Amharic), cast a spell as old as Nubia itself. Distributed in the U.S. by Harmonia Mundi.—PVV