Debo Band: Gedawo b/w Gedawo Kiddid Remix (Electric Cowbell)

Sitting at the desk catching up on correspondance this afternoon, I heard a loud *Thunk* at my door. What I found was a small package of 45's from Brooklyn based Electric Cowbell and as I reached for a pair of scissors to open the package, little did I know what I would find inside.

Debo Band are an outfit who I admittedly have no prior familiarity with but that lack of exposure gave me an even greater start once the needle hit the groove. Where does one pin this? The opening barrage of horns on A-Side 'Gedawo' exudes an instant shot of energy that only the likes of Fela Kuti and Segun Bucknor have been able to pull off while the pervasive Ethiopian influence brings that country's favorite son Mulatu Astatke to mind - though the level of energy bleeding off of the track far out shines the more temperate swaths of lounginess found in Astatke's output. Shades of Highlife suspend like ever present specters over the record as vocalist Bruck Tesfaye's exuberant shouts and intonations crown themselves king over the shouts of the throngs of joyous background individuals who's hollerin' sounds like a cross between celebration and outright war cry amidst the clatter and movement of horns and hand claps.

On the B-Side, 'Gedawo' sees those same Highlife specters vaporize into thin air with the horn section and activity that had marked the proceedings being sucked into a vacuum alongside them. In the vacant space stands a sparse slightly digitized bassline and electronic drums with a sinister treated organ sound lurking beneath. While Tesfaye's now electronically treated vocals are still present to ride atop the groove and the horns manage to find their way back into the track half way through from their banishment, the overall feel evokes the early 80's shenanigans of Prince Jammy, Scientist and King Tubby (in particular, Tubby's work of the period with the Roots Radics who themselves were exploring more digitized forms of musical communication as the pure organic instrumentation of dub's source material in the 70's gave way to the newer demands of dancehall and Jammy's own sleng teng - both of which would rule supreme in the decade following). The end of 'Gedawo' V.2.O sees a lethargic saxaphone float in and out of the space as the echoes of the organ beneath carry the track into the ether.

While 'Gedawo' presents itself in two guises, it proves that it can be comfortable in both and the two sides of this 45 show an interesting if not slightly jarring (from one stylistic switch to another) but altogether compulsively listenable piece of music that deserves to be placed alongside the best grooves of both Mesfin's 70's colleagues and the revivalists of now. I look forward to hearing more in the future from both Debo Band as well as Kiddid.

Purchase a copy of the 45 at Electric Cowbell and give a listen Kiddid's take of 'Gedawo' on the B-Side at Okay Africa.