Ethiopian brothers Noah and Medhane Tewolde
were born and raised in Addis Ababa by a family that worked for the
Emperor Haile Selassie. As Nazarenesthey record passionately spiritual
reggae music.
s had
independent careers in reggae throughout the ’90s, but something special
happened when they came together in 2001 to release Orit, their first
album together. There’s a spirit that haunts their songs and a strangely
cool fire when they sing together. And when they do it in the ancient
Ethiopian language called Ge’ez it can induce chills.
But their
back story raises an immediate question. If roots reggae in Jamaica and
elsewhere is marked by a longing for a spiritual home (figuratively or
literally) in mythic Ethiopia, what do you long for once you get there,
or, in the case of Nazarenes, if you are in fact Ethiopian? If the
Tewolde’s answer the question with their music, the answer is that you
long for a better world. On their recently released fourth album
Meditation, the duo, now based in Sweden, sing pleas for environmental
conservation and access to healthy food for the world’s people, but they
infuse these Earth-grounded songs with powerful metaphysical force.
And they do it beautifully. Their jams bubble with dub heat or gleam
with vintage horns. Sometimes both. On the stand-out track “The Lord
Said” the brothers bring a late ’70s soul feel into their reverie, an
addition that somehow makes it sound even more timeless. But if you
really want to feel like you are moving though the ages.
Habibi Ethiopia
