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ZION ROOTS
(Network)
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Ethiopia’s most intriguing young singer, Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw has never sounded this good on CD. Her international debut in 2001 set her flowing devotional and love songs into a jazz-pop context with help from the likes of Wayne Shorter and Pharoah Sanders and production by Bill Laswell. This group — also produced by Laswell — go for a more organic sound, emphasizing acoustic atmospherics and gently rolling percussion, much of it tabla by world club maverick Karsh Kale. Abyssinia Infinite’s backing is textured and elegant, complementing rather than crowding Gigi’s searing voice. "Bati Bati" opens the set in a spiritual mode, the band blending timbres with a saxophone, a staple of Ethiopian pop. Some of these 10 tracks are reworkings of material from the 2001 album, and they’re transformed. "Alesema," a melodious folk song, is upgraded with a bubbling bed of plucked strings and light percussion. The most rhythmically driving tracks split the difference between ritual pulse and chant and ambient club groove, but it’s Gigi’s confidence as a singer that puts this production over the top. She shifts easily from whispering purr to full-throated wail; in the process, a vivid and alluring personality emerges.
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