Ere Gobez

America's Debo Band revisits and transforms with uncanny authenticity the kind of classic Ethiopian music popularised by the epic Éthiopiques series. Debo Band, however, eschews Ethio-jazz for the kind of high-energy entertainment that sweeps you off your feet.

The international band's second album is a confident step on from their assured debut. The title, Ere Gobez, echoes a cry used to rally troops and is, as saxophonist band-leader Danny Mekonnen explains, ‘about a passionate response to the world in which we live.’ There's passion a-plenty in numbers like ‘Kehulum Abliche’, originally performed by the Somali band, Dur-Dur, and given new lyrics by the band's singer, Bruck Tesfaye; or in ‘Blue Awaze’, a fanciful musical meeting of Duke Ellington and Addis Ababa's Police Orchestra; or in ‘Hiyamikachi Bushi’, an Okinawan song. With sousaphone, saxophones, trumpet, trombone, violins, accordion and electric guitar all stoking a kind of East African Arcade Fire, the album bubbles inexorably towards an appropriately upbeat climax in the shape of two classy originals, penned by violinist Jonah Rapino. Great stuff, but not for the faint-hearted.