Jasdeep Singh Degun makes history at Royal Philharmonic Society Awards
The Leeds-based musician was the first sitar player to receive the 'Best Instrumentalist' award.
Fri, 08 March 24
Guzo
Released 08 July 2012
- Abet Abet (Punk Mix)
- Tiwista (Tinish Mix)
- Firma Ena Wereket
- Ye Bati Koyita
- Nou Se Soleil
- I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun
- Dance With The Legend
- My Head
- Drop Me There
- The Blues Of Wollo (Dessye Mix)
- African Diaspora
Liner notes
Samuel Yirga was just ten years old when he knew he wanted to become a musician. “It wasn’t a case of knowing it or not,” he says serenely of this early musical conviction, “it was just something inside of me that told me I wanted to be a pianist.”
At home in the town of Addis Ababa, the centre of the heady mix of music known as Ethiojazz which was later to have such an influence on him, he devoured the Ethiopian pop music and American R&B that he heard on the radio. Samuel’s wish was to go to music school but he was discouraged by his parents, who were keen for their son to concentrate on his academic studies. By the time he’d reached the end of secondary school, he’d almost forgotten about his early wish to be a musician.
One day, however, he heard that Addis Ababa’s Yared School of Music was holding auditions for new students and the following week, at the age of 16 and having never touched a musical instrument in his life, Samuel entered the school and, with a coin tapping out rhythms on the top of the piano, breezed through the exams. Of the 2,500 people who took the exam, Samuel came third.
“Because I came third in the exams,” he says, “I was allowed to choose whatever instrument I liked. I chose the piano.” But the head of department looked at his hands and said it wasn’t possible. “She said my hands were too small. I don’t believe in small hands or big hands: music is not about that, music is about what’s inside.” He was determined.
Eventually, the school agreed he could study the piano that he’d so longed to get his hands on. And there began a relationship with the instrument that, though he is still in his twenties, has brought Samuel Yirga to musical acclaim in his hometown of Addis and now, on this his debut album, to an international audience. He was determined, after all the obstacles he’d already mounted, that he was going to be the best pianist in Ethiopia. Samuel took to his new instrument with unbridled enthusiasm and dedication. “I would go to school at 6.30am and at 11pm I would go home. Usually I missed all my other studies and just played the piano on my own. It was really tiring,” he laughs, “but it was my dream to be in music, and the piano was what I wanted to play, so that’s why I pushed myself so hard.” Samuel played like this, for more than 12 hours a day, for three years.
Samuel played the classical music he was given by his teachers —from Chopin to Rachmaninov— but he also had a growing interest in Ethiopian music, from the popular wedding and folk songs he’d heard as a child, to the Ethio-jazz legends that, in the last decade, had made a comeback. However, this led to trouble with the school. “I was playing my own versions of these Ethiopian songs, but the teachers passing the piano room would come in and ask me what I was doing. We weren’t allowed to play any contemporary music because it was a classical music school. They would say that Ethiopian music was simple. I was very angry about that, because I’d always had a dream to change my country and its music. I didn’t agree with them but I would just tell them that if something was simple, then we should try to make it better. We need to research and experiment.”
"She said my hands were too small. I don't believe in small hands or big hands: music is not about that, music is about what's inside." Samuel Yirga
And experiment he did. By the time the music school asked him never to come back because of his insistence on playing contemporary music, he was playing funk and Ethiojazz with one band, playing jazz gigs at a local club, experimenting with popular Ethiopian songs and creating contemporary versions with another band, and at the same playing salsa and classical music. Wherever his music went, however, he always held the beat of Ethiopian music at its heart.
Guzo is Samuel’s journey out of Addis to Real World. Introduced to wider international audiences through his playing with Ethio-fusion group Dub Colossus, Sammy is now exploring new directions as a solo artist. This collection of work is the product of his years experimenting with the music of his roots and the outside influences of jazz, Latin, and classical music. It explores the traditional musical history of his homeland, moves through soul and funk, and then simmers with the deeply impassioned solo piano tracks.
Further Listening
-
Released 12 October 2008
Dub Colossus collaborate with some of Ethiopia's finest performers. Utilising Azmari and traditional styles as well as the popular singing styles of the 60s and 70s the album seeks to combine the golden years of Ethiopique beats and Ethiojazz with the dub reggae styles of early 70s groups like the Abyssinians and the Mighty Diamonds. -
Released 11 February 2013
Freedom songs that have been passed down through generations of Haitian emigrants in Cuba are brought to life with vibrant harmonies, lilting melodies and rich, deep Caribbean rhythms. A hefty dose of Cuban flair creates a rich, soulful sound that evokes their proud history of resistance and resilience.
Further reading
The Unfolding: Bristol Light Festival
Bristol Light Festival is returns from Friday 2nd - Sunday 11th February, 2024.
Tue, 30 January 24
Real World Sessions: Owen Spafford & Louis Campbell, 5 December 2023
New folk duo Owen Spafford & Louis Campbell visited the studio to record a new EP for Real World X.
Tue, 05 March 24
Track of the day: ‘AmmA’ by Bab L’ Bluz
'AmmA' draws on music from north-east Morocco and influences from Tunisia and Algeria.
Fri, 08 March 24