UKANDANZ / ユーカンダンツ / EVIL PLAN / レコード

Ukandanz's diabolical plan is soon revealed... Once the first notes of Evil Plan ring out, the stage is set and fans of globalised trance know they are in for a very good treat. This sixth album is a new cosmic explosion in the galaxy that the band self created fifteen years ago where Ethiopian music is pumped up on rock, noise and experimental hormones!

Ethiopian cantor Asnake Gebreyes, vocal and spiritual incarnation of the group since its origins in 2010, joins the compact French quartet electrified by Damien Cluzel. Composer, arranger and musician, he continues his exploration and deconstruction of the great Ethiopian music standards of the 1970s. He even invites legends to join in this musical feast. It is respectful of the past as much as it is punk in this new present of globalised music. Tlahoun Gèssèssè, Getachew Kassa and Muluken Melesse are sitting alongside with Francis Falceto, director of the Ethiopiques collection (to whom the final track is dedicated) and even Black Sabbath.

While Tlahoun Gèssèssè's pop hit Yene Felagote opens the album in the combo's trademark, with a bold and explosive style, Ukandanz ventures into new territory with a cover of Black Sabbath's War Pigs. For the first time, the rock repertoire is revisited in 2.0 Ethiopian style, with Asnake Gebreyes performing this cathartic pamphlet in Amharic, while his country has been in civil war since 2020. The rest of the album keeps up the rhythm between sonic storms and vocal flights. Two new readings of great Ethiopian songs, Liwesdeshe Andiken and Hedech Alu, allow the electric griot to pay a vibrant tribute to his elders who died in 2024, while he gets back to the energy of popular celebrations. Two instrumental pieces coming from a previous quartet album, 4 Against the Odds and Song for Francis, demonstrate the synergy of musicians who know how to emancipate themselves from traditions while magnifying them.

With Evil Plan, Ukandanz reminds to the world their unique place on a musical planet in perpetual revolution... Asnake Gebreyes' powerful voice finds a new playground, always at the crossroads of cultures and eras. The bass-drums section is not afraid to rub shoulders with the rhythmic exuberance from the heart of Africa and feel free to give it electric shocks... Swells of boisterous sax, flights of exalted keyboard and a few gems of guitar riffs complete the sensitive geography of this imaginary new continent.

Asnake Gebreyes : Vocals
Lionel Martin : Tenor Sax
Fred Escoffier : Keyboards
Thomas Pierre: Drums
Damien Cluzel : Bass, Guitar & Arrangement