Dub Colossus - In A Town Called Addis

Rating:

* * * *

Paul Simon was one of the first to do it in South Africa. Ry Cooder went to Cuba and the

Buena Vista Social Club

album made worldwide stars out of the star Cuban players. And Damon Albarn from Blur, Gorillaz and the Good, the Bad, and the Queen recorded an album in Mali.

The latest Westerner to dabble into another country's rich musical heritage is Dub Colossus and he's coming straight out of the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. It's a project fronted by British producer and musician Dubulah (real name Nick Page who in the 90s founded world music-meets-dance band Transglobal Underground) who spent time playing and working with Ethiopian musicians in the city in late 2006.

Rooted in moody, heart-tremor dub, ...

In A Town Called Addis

also brings together traditional Ethiopian music, such as Azmari (a type of MC-meets-singer/songwriter style of performing songs), hints of classical, desert blues and rock, sprawling jazz, and much more.

Seven-minute centrepiece

Tizita Dub

is the most tranquil of the bunch and sounds like something from the Orient rather than Africa, with its delightfully wonky combination of messenqo (one-stringed fiddle), kraar (harp), and swooning and wistful vocals. Elsewhere, on the ramshackle

Sima Edy

, it's like Tom Waits has been left to wander the streets of Addis Ababa to fend for himself; the spooky bass stepper

Yeka Sub City Rockers

reveals the seedy underbelly

of this city located slap-bang in the middle of landlocked Ethiopia; and the album ends emphatically with the saxophone-led storm of

Mercato Music

.

For those looking for some inspired dub explorations and, best of all, some new sounds from old Ethiopia, then check out the music coming out of this town. It's good, man.

Scott Kara