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Haunting sound: Getatchew Mekurya on sax
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It's taken a while for this unlikely collaboration to reach
London but the meeting of soulful Ethiopian sax and thrashing punk sounds
entirely organic. Perhaps because it's had time to mature.
Getachew Mekuria is one of the great saxophone players of
the world and the Ex are a Dutch punk band who formed in 1979. Over the past
decade, their post-punk explorations have included annual trips to Ethiopia and
this collaboration with Getachew (pronounced, appropriately enough,
Guitar-Chew) began with The Ex's 25th anniversary concerts in 2004.
From the moment they took the stage on Saturday it was a
tidal wave of sound - loud, insistent and unstoppable. On one side was the punk
core of The Ex with joyfully flailing guitar of Terrie Hessels at the heart, on
the other side was Getachew with a four-piece horn section of saxes, trumpet
and trombone. It's hard to imagine the Sex Pistols bringing this off.
Ethiopian music has a soulful pentatonic sound that is
plaintive and haunting. Alongside the thrilling punk assaults there were
seductive slow numbers as Getachew, aged 76 and dressed in a glittering green
and gold smock, launched into curvasive tunes - dark and throaty - that seemed
to wind around themselves with a snake-like beauty. Suddenly there was a female
vocal: Katherina Bornefeld, The Ex's heavy rock drummer, singing in Amharic.
This was a glorious evening including London's Ethiopian community, trendy
young things and middle-aged punk rockers defying genres.
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