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DEBO BAND BIOGRAPHY

Debo Band is an 11 to 15-piece Ethio-groove collective that has quickly earned an ever-growing and enthusiastic following in the USA performing for American, Ethiopian and Eritrean communities. Since 2006, we've been immersed in the unlikely confluence of traditional Ethiopian polyrhythms and pentatonic scales, classic American soul and funk music, and the instrumentation of Eastern European brass bands, which produced a unique form of dance music that mature Ethiopian audiences instantly recognize as the soundtrack of their youth, carried from party to kitchen on the ubiquitous cassette tapes of the time. In the meantime, erudite American and European audiences are increasingly getting hip to the Ethiopian groove, largely through CD reissues of classics on the Ethiopiques series.

With a unique instrumentation – including horns, strings, and accordion – that is a nod to the big bands of Haile Selassie’s time, Debo Band is carrying the torch of classic Ethiopian music by giving new life to these old sounds. Our lead vocalist, Bruck Tesfaye, has the kind of pipes that reverberate with the sound of beloved Ethiopian vocalists like Mahmoud Ahmed and Alemayehu Eshete. But Debo Band is not content simply “covering” the older styles – we also perform original compositions and new arrangements of songs from modern and contemporary artists such as Teddy Afro and Roha Band. Our unique repertoire and spirited performances have lead to invitations such as opening for concerts by the legendary Ethiopian greats Tilahun Gessesse and Getatchew Mekuria.

Danny Mekonnen, an Ethiopian-American jazz saxophonist and a PhD candidate in ethnomusicology at Harvard University, created Debo Band as a way of exploring the unique sounds that filled the dance clubs of “Swinging Addis” in the 1960’s and 70’s and as an outlet for experimenting with new arrangements, configurations, and compositional techniques and a further exploration of both tradition and possibilities in Ethiopian music.

In early 2009 Debo toured the East Coast of USA, bringing Ethiopian sounds to diverse venues in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. In May 2009, Debo traveled to Addis Ababa to perform at the 8th Ethiopian Music(s) Festival and several other locations throughout the Horn and East Africa. These performances affected Debo Band’s creative and professional development in significant ways, particularly in the collaboration we began with several traditional musicians – vocalist Selamnesh Zemene, drummer Asrat Ayalew, and dancers Zinash Tsegaye and Melaku Belaye. All accomplished musicians in their own right, these musicians work together at Fendika, a leading “azmari bet” traditional music house, owned by Melaku in Addis Ababa. Debo Band has been invited to bring these 4 musicians to present Ethiopian music for the first time at East Africa's largest music festival, called "Sauti za Busara" (from Swahili: "Sounds of Wisdom") in February 2010.

Debo Band’s May 2009 and February 2010 performances in Africa have been partially funded by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through USArtists International with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

BAND MEMBER BIOGRAPHIES

Danny Mekonnen is the principal musical arranger and band leader of Debo Band. Born in Gedaref, Sudan to Ethiopian refugees, he immigrated to the U.S. with his parents in 1982 at the age of 18 months, and they eventually settled in the Dallas area of Texas. Danny received a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from the University of Texas in Arlington and has played the saxophone in funk, salsa, jazz, and experimental/noise groups in Texas and Boston. For six years he participated at the Litchfield Jazz Festival in Litchfield, Connecticut as a student performer and as an instructor teaching at their summer music school. Danny has co-produced concerts for the Ethiopian community in Boston with the Either/Orchestra and organized a performance of Tesfaye Lemma’s Nile Ethiopian Ensemble at the New England Conservatory’s cultural institute, “Dialogues in the Diaspora.”

Danny is a Ph.D. candidate in ethnomusicology at Harvard University where he works with Prof. Kay Kaufman Shelemay, an eminent scholar specializing in Ethiopian music. In summer 2007, Danny was selected to teach a graduate course in music at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies at Addis Ababa University in a program administered by UNESCO/Norwary Funds-in-Trust. With Jonah Rapino, Danny composed music for the soundtrack to the new Ethiopian short film “Lezare.” At present, Danny is raising a new daughter Sasha with his wife Jennifer, continuing his doctoral studies, and bringing Ethiopian music to new audiences with Debo Band.

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Bruck Tesfaye is the lead vocalist for Debo Band. He was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1975. At age fifteen, for fear of increasing political tensions and instability in the country, his parents sent him to northern France. He spent most of his teenage years in a French family of six children that included four musicians who played various instruments and where singing played an important role in the daily family life. Bruck made his musical debuts taking some music theory and piano lessons at a local music school, and singing with his foster family and the church choir. In college, he continued singing with a guitarist from Madagascar, performing at musical soirées and a yearly music festival in France. After graduating from college, Bruck moved to the United States where he became a founding member of a student organization, ESUM, with a mission to promote Ethiopian cultural diversity, highlighting the historical and cultural richness of the country. Through ESUM he met Danny Mekonnen, and they began performing Ethiopian songs together, eventually becoming Debo Band. Bruck is an electrical engineer by day.

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Abye Osman plays the alto saxophone in Debo Band. Abye is a senior in music studies at Berklee School of music in Boston where he specializes in improvisational jazz and Ethio-jazz. Abye is Ethiopian American and grew up in Houston, Texas.

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Melaku Belay, dancer, is the owner of the esteemed azmari-bet “Fendika,” a traditional music house in Addis Ababa. He is also the band leader of the ensemble Ethio-Color, featuring washint, krar, bass krar, massenqo, vocals, drums, and dancing. Melaku has toured Europe and the US dancing with Getatchew Mekuria (“the negus of Ethiopian sax”) backed by the Dutch band The Ex.

Zinash Tsegaye is the lead female dancer at Fendika, and specializes in the Amharigna style of eskista dance. She also studies and performs traditional dance in Guragigna, Oromigna, Tigrigna, and other styles from around Ethiopia.

Selamnesh Zemene has released an album of her own music and traditional azmari standards. Her powerful vocals can be heard on the track “Aha Gedawo” at http://www.myspace.com/deboband , from a live performance with Debo Band in Addis Ababa in May 2009.

Asrat Ayalew plays the traditional azmari goat-skin drums, and has performed nightly at Fendika for four years. He is also a singer and has recorded and released his own single.

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Käthe Hostetter plays the 5-string violin with Debo Band. Käthe has been performing with the Boston Philharmonic since 2004. A participant of the Manhattan String Quartet International Workshops, she has studied the music of Mendelssohn in Leipzig, Bartok in Budapest, and Smetana in Prague. Her parents, oldtime musicians, taught her to play traditional fiddle music from different regions of the US at a very young age, and she also plays traditional jazz from New Orleans. She joined the circus orchestra Cirkestra in 2003 and is featured as violinist and soloist on three Cirkestra albums of original music, and traveled as the band for Circus Smirkus for three summers. Käthe has also performed and recorded with Beat Circus, Estradasphere, Luminescent Orchestrii, DME, the Eyesores, and countless other sessions.

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Jonah Rapino plays electric violin with Debo Band. As a performer he has worked in a myriad of different musical styles including: art-rock, modern classical, country/bluegrass, Ethiopian jazz, eastern European folk, ragtime, and more. As a principal member of the DME ensemble, Jonah has scored soundtracks to ten silent films and has toured the US and Europe performing live soundtracks to these films. As a composer of modern-classical music Jonah has created numerous pieces for string quartet and 40-piece orchestral ensembles with performances in Boston as a part of the yearly DME modern music series. Jonah has created soundtracks for contemporary documentary films, including “Darkon” (winner of the SXSW film festival audience award), “Alice,” and “New World Order” (produced by the Independent Film Channel). With Danny Mekonnen, Jonah created the soundtrack for the new Ethiopian short film “Lezare” by director Zelalem Woldemariam.

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Stacey Cordeiro plays the accordion in Debo Band. Stacey has been a pianist and vocalist since the age of seven. Her early musical education was in sacred music, and she was a member of Swanhurst Choir in Newport, Rhode Island, and the Avenue of the Arts Chorale in Boston. She has performed as a piano soloist and accompanist in concerts in RI and the Boston area. More recently, she is a tenor banjo player interested in varying musical styles, including klezmer, early New Orleans jazz, and Irish styles. She was one of the founding members of the Stick and Rag Village Orchestra, a traveling street band of 18-25 players, with a repertoire of circus, klezmer, and Eastern European folk music tunes. Stacey has performed and recorded with Cirkestra, and performed in hot jazz ensembles for events and weddings. She also is a member of the International Music Club, playing folk dances from Eastern Europe. Stacey works as a carpenter and bookkeeper.

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Arik Grier plays sousaphone as the bass instrument in Debo Band. From 1993 to the beginning of 2006, Arik was electric bassist in the hardcore band Fat Day, who completed 8 tours of the US, Britain and Japan. In January 2004 Arik was a founding member of the Stick & Rag Village Orchestra. Danny recruited Arik and other members of Stick & Rag to form Debo Band. Arik also leads and arranges for a brass harmony sextet, works occasionally with the Bread & Puppet Theatre both on sousaphone and as puppeteer, and also plays early American folk jazz, country, and Balkan music on the upright bass. Arik works for the nonprofit Bikes Not Bombs.

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Keith Waters is the kit drummer for Debo Band. Keith was a founding member of the experimental group Dreamhouse, who completed 2 coast-to-coast tours of the US, and one of Europe. Keith spent three years performing with MIT's Gamelan Galak Tika, a Balinese style gamelan. In the MIT World Music Room, Keith was introduced to Lamine Touré, a Senagalese griot and master drummer forming a new group with which Keith played hand drums for two years. Since 2003 Keith played drums and percussion for the Stick and Rag Village Orchestra, and from this group he was also recruited to join Debo Band.

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PJ Goodwin is Debo's electric bass player. He manages production both live and recorded as Debo's sound engineer. He graduated from the Art Institute in Boston in 2003 with a degree in Audio Production and Recording Arts. His experiences include Production Manager at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Live Sound Engineer for the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, and Touring Sound engineer for the Benevento Russo Duo, Fall 2008 Tour. Most recently PJ recorded and produced the sound design as well as the score for a short film out of Ethiopia titled "Lezare", directed by Zelalem Woldemariam. With Danny Mekonnen, Jonah Rapino, PJ recorded the sounds of Debo which act as a powerful back drop to the breath-taking narrative short.

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Brendon Wood plays the guitar in Debo Band and attended UMASS Boston in music studies. Brendon is a composer, arranger, and perfomer with DME, doing both modern classical music and live soundtracks to silent films. Brendon also performs American country music with the Blue Ribbon Band, and teaches a high school music course.

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David Harris plays trombone in Debo Band. David is a graduate of New England Conservatory and is Associate-Professor at both New England Conservatory and Berklee College of Music. David was the founding trombonist for the Klezmer Conservatory Band, as well as trombonist/arranger for the traditional klezmer music ensemble Shirim. David has twice won the Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship for music composition and is longtime trombonist and composer/arranger for the avant gaarde big band Jazz Composers’ Alliance. David has been featured in soundtracks for TV, commercials, Woody Allen’s “Deconstructing Harry”, a klezmer soundtrack for the movie “Stranger Among Us”, and the soundtrack for “Opposite of Sex.” Mr. Harris has performed around the world, including the Berlin Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Carnegie Hall, the Philadelphia Pops, the Smithsonian Institute, and jazz clubs such as the Blue Note and the Knitting Factory.

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