Loosening the Strings

When I saw Ethiopian singer and krar (lyre) player Haymanot Tesfa perform at SOAS last year, it was very disappointing. She did one or two solo pieces that were lovely, but the rest of the concert was in collaboration with improvisatory jazz musicians. It was disjointed and chaotic; the ensemble didn't gel at all. I was very relieved, then, to discover that this album – her debut – is almost completely solo and, as expected, it is beautiful. Her voice flutters around the Ethiopian scales like a small bird or butterfly while the resonant plucked strings of her krar create a steady platform on which her voice can alight from time to time.

It's not entirely solo, though. Haymanot is joined on half the tracks by Arian Sadr on the tombak (Persian goblet drum). It's a strange but well-chosen accompaniment; the drum's warm tones are unobtrusive while blending Persian and Ethiopian rhythms with aplomb. Listening to the gentle yet powerful combination of voice and krar, it's hard to avoid thoughts of the legendary Asnaketch Worku, but Haymanot's skill and subtlety of string and song allows her to live up to such weighty comparisons. Luckily the jazz was left in its box this time around.