Last week, Real World records and Dub Colossus launch The Ezana Stone Sessions - a ten week free track giveaway featuring remixes from the recent album 'Addis Through the Looking Glass'.
Key tracks from the album are re-interperated by remixers from around the world in many different styles and flavours - some smooth, some rough, and some seriously shaken and stirred in a dubwise style. The sounds of dubstep, roots, lounge, psycho-trance and perverse pop are all to be expected.
Week One kicked off with a roots remix of 'Wehgene' by Gennaro T and Paolo Polcari for Almamagretta, Featuring Tirudel Zenebe on vocals. From Naples, Almamegretta are one of the most successful groups from the roots reggae / world music arena in Italy. Their best known albums are 'Lingo', 'Quattro Quarti' and recently, the excellent 'Dubfellas'.
There will be a new track available to download every Monday, just visit the Dub Colossus Facebook page to find out more.
Dub Colossus is the vision of Nick Page - aka Dubulah. Composer, guitarist, bass player and programmer Nick first travelled Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2006 to collaborate with musicians and explore traditional Azmari styles, 60s Ethiopian pop, Ethiojazz and 70s Jamaican dub reggae. There he came across some amazingly talented artists - female vocalists Tsedenia Gebremarkos, a fine, soulful performer and highly successful African pop star, and Sintayehu 'Mimi' Zenebe who runs a nightclub in Addis and has been described as 'Ethiopia's Edith Piaf', extraordinary young pianist Samuel Yirga, veteran saxophonist and jazz exponent Feleke Hailu and Teremage Woretaw, a traditional folk singer, an azmari, an exponent of the one-stringed messenqo violin - Dub Colossus was born.
When their first set, 'A Town Called Addis', was released back in 2008 it was hailed as one of the most inventive fusion albums of the year, with its blend of contemporary and traditional Ethiopian styles, jazz and dub reggae. Second came a lengthy, even more varied and sophisticated album, 'Addis Through The Looking Glass', that moved the experiment on - with the Ethiopian contingent playing a greater role in the proceedings.