Addisu Hailegiorgis Desta

Please read the article.

Ato Mulatu Astatke was in Toronto this Saturday (July 26, 2008)!!! You Rock Ato Mulatu!

First let me say that I got a chance to say hi to him before their gig. As usual he is down to earth and humble and made me think what a guy. It seems he is also shy on the stage as well. He never did any speech while the leader of the orchestra (Either/Orchestra) was explaining about Ethio-Jazz, about our different kinds of modes such as “anchi_hoye-Lene” and “Tizita” minor. Well, we heard Ato Mulatu only once when he sings “Ayiferam Game”; his Latin grooves arrangement that was 30 years old.

He was on main seen at Harbour Front of Toronto, Canada and it was a full crowd show. I never thought non-Ethiopians would go crazy listening to Ethiopian cultural tunes arranged in big band Classical jazz. I would also like to give credit to the Orchestra Band (Either/Orchestra) that made our music fantastic with their own improvisations and flavours. Most of the time it was a free style show with background of Ethiopian harmony and with Ato Mulatu vibe and the Either/Orchestra guys creative improvisation.

The band leader’s favourite Ethiopian scale was “Tizita minor” but I don’t know why. Most musician loved the unique tunes of Ethiopia and the reason is it sounds really dark scales. I don’t know what’s into these days’ musicians that make them love aggressive and dark type of music. I would assume they are talking about our “Anchi Hoye Lene” scale ..may be. Well for us, we use it to celebrate Enqutatashi (Abeba-yihosh)… not dark music. Well, that is the way Punk Rock musicians understood our tunes.

Anyways, it feels really good being at the show when 90% of non-Ethiopians moved by our vibes and grooves, shouting and screaming at some points and well know guy keeps explaining about Addis Ababa, Ethio-Jazz, …. Obviously, music is a global language.

Gashie Mulatu! He made us proud!!! He connected us!

Please read the article.

http://www.nowtoronto.com/music/story.cfm?content=164114

As multimedia hobbyist I have seen some people get confused on the formats of the two types of Camcorders. I think it all depend on what purpose you want to use the Camcorders.

If you are video editor and have the habit of processing your videos to cut, add effects, add layers and so on, I would suggest “Mini DV” would be the best bet. However, if you just plan to see the captured image directly into your home theater system without editing and any additional hustle, DVD Camcorder is preferable.

Mini DV Camcorder

• Roughly 13GB/hour of data
• Uncompressed Format: On PC this is “avi” format and on Mac it is “mov” (not any kind of “mpeg” format).
• Mini DV records the video at higher frames per second rate than a DVD camera.
• This gives the highest control over editing
• It used Firewire for Capturing

DVD Camcorders

• Roughly 4.7GB for two hours of video. For long play, 4.7GB disc might contain 4 hours of play with less quality
• It is compressed mpeg-2 format, i.e. only 1 in 15 frames are “real”, the others are calculated as part of the compression
• DVD camcorders gives the lowest control for editing
• It uses USB for Capturing
• Most DVD Camcorders don’t use the normal DVD disks. They use a mini DVD format for faster writing and size compatibility with the Cameras.

Having said all these, if you are really interested in editing video, go with the Mini DV. That’s what I would do.

I’ve been to a couple of Jazz shows in 2000 and 2001. Coffee house was the popular host for those shows. There were a couple guys who were pioneers for this new thing in Ethiopia. Amoung these are Girum Mezmur, Yohannes (Jhonny) Tona, Elias Melka and so on. I was previlaged to see one of the shows that Henok Temesgen was guest. But after five years this practice is even more escalated to be hosted in Sheraton hotel from that small restorant. I recently saw an article that people are getting more aware of this kind of music.

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