WOMAD

Black Jesus Experience

From Australia, Central African Rep., New Zealand

This exciting, emerging nine-piece ensemble fuses traditional Ethiopian song with jazz, funk and hip-hop, thanks to a membership that spans across Africa and the Pacific. Hailing from Ethiopia, vocalist Enushu migrated to Melbourne in 1996, bringing hauntingly beautiful compositions inspired by her remarkable life story with the unique vocal traditions of Ethiopia that took shape in the group GOJAM. She is joined by keyboard player Danny Atlaw Seifu,
recently in Australia from Addis Ababa, where he was musical director for the Ethiopian National Theatre, and vocalist Aminata Doumbia, whose songs are shaped by her Ivoirian, Burundian and Malian heritage. They are joined by a sizzling hotbed of creative Australian talent: Peter Harper on alto saxophone, a torchbearer for the avant-garde since the early 1980s, having performed and recorded with Musiikki Oy, Steve Lacy, Paul Grabowsky's House Arrest and the Australian Art Orchestra; Adrian Sherriff on keyboards and percussion; Ian Dixon, renowned trumpet player and composer on the global electronica scene, recently returned to Australia after 15 years in London; Melbourne drummer Patrick Kearney; trombonist and composer Simon Kent; Australian born and Namibian raised MC Aaron
Stephanus; and New Zealand's Cass Horsfall on bass and vocals, part of Melbourne's premier reggae sound system Heartical Hifi Outernational.

http://www.myspace.com/blackjesusexperience