AZMARI / アズマリ / SAMA'I / レコード

エチオジャズ×中東サイケ×スピリチュアル・ジャズ! ブリュッセルのバンド、アズマリの新作はエチオジャズを中心に中東サイケやスピリチュアル・ジャズ、ダブの影響までもがうかがえる超注目作!

前作をリリースしたのちにトルコとエチオピア音階に深く没頭。マセンゴやクラールといったエチオピア音楽の伝統楽器に加え、ブラジルのビリンバウ、スーフィーなどで用いられる葦笛ネイ、サズとも比べられるギリシャの弦楽器バグラマなどを習得し録音されたのが本作だ。ダビーなサウンドにエチオ音楽のサックスとフルートが暴れまわる "Cosmic Masadani"、より濃密なグルーヴを聴かせる"Kamilari"、オリエンタルなネイの響きが印象的な"Azalai"、フューチャリスティックなテイストもある"Doni"などなど、ムラトゥ・アスタトゥケに代表されるエチオジャズ的な演奏を基本としつつも、オカイ・テミズからアルタン・ギュンに至るまでのターキッシュ・サイケ、ドン・チェリーからサイマンデに至るまでのエスノ~スピリチュアル・ジャズ/ファンク、さらにはアフロビートやダブからの影響までも垣間見える、今旬サウンドのおいしいとこどりともいえる一枚!



Created in Brussels in 2015, Azmari is a weaving musical odyssey that expertly fuses ethiogroove, dub, psychfunk and eastern sounds.
Taking inspiration from artists such as Okay Temiz, Mulatu Astatke, Cymande, Fela Kuti and The Heliocentrics, an Azmari, literally "one who praises" in Amharic, is an Ethiopian singer-musician, comparable to the European bard or the West African griot often accompanied with a masenqo - one-stringed fiddle or krar - lyre, two traditional ethiopian instruments.
Having released their debut EP ‘Ekera’ last year, a series of shows across Europe saw the Azmari sound develop and ten days performing in Istanbul opened the band’s ears to the Turkish sounds and rhythms from the 1960s.
Keen to get back in the studio to start work on their debut album, studiously studying Turkish and Ethiopian scales, along with learning new instruments along the way including the berimbau, the ney and baglama, the Azmari sound transformed into a rebellious, unrelenting and mesmerising trip.
The resulting nine tracks that make up debut album ‘Sama'i’, released 22nd January via Sdban UItra, is a deeply hypnotic experience where mesmerising rhythms and winding improvisations send the listener in to a higher state of consciousness.
From the magical sax of album opener ‘Zegiyitwali’, to the dubby template of ‘Cosmic Masadani’ and joyous horns of ‘Kugler’, Azmari seamlessly blend African and oriental melodies with effortless precision, providing a fresh take on the ethiojazz sound.
Elsewhere, the heavy, rhythmic sounds of ‘Tariq Al Sahara’ and the mystical and cosmological ‘Azalai’ continue our sacred journey full of raging saxes and wig-out percussion, while the free-spirited, trippy ‘Kadiköy’ coming in at nine minutes in duration, lends a trance-like quality to proceedings where psychedelic jazz meets afro-funk.

Azmari are:
Arthur Ancion – Drums
Basile Bourtembourg – Keyboards, Saaz and Percussion
Jojo Demeijer – Percussion
Niels D'haegeleer – Bass
Mattéo Badet – Saxophone and Kaval
Ambroos de Schepper - Saxophone and Flute