Selenites Band
Ethio Jazz Groove Project
The Selenites Band is a musical collective led by Obi Riddim a.k.a. Antoine Laloux. The band is playing mostly Ethio jazz, famous from the '50s until the '70s in Ethiopia. During this period famous musicians such as Mulatu Astatke, Girma Beyene, Mahmoud Ahmed, Getatchew Mekurya dominated the musical scene. The Selenites Band is paying a tribute to those masters by playing their major pieces, and through their own creative work inspired by today's spirit. Modal jazz, pentatonic melodies, free improvisation are expressed and magnified through the original vintage sound, mixing of woodwind instrument, guitars and a drum section that seems to have stepped out of a Blaxploitation movie. Stereophonk put out six live tracks which consist of classic Ethiopian tracks composed by Mulatu Astatke and Girma Beyene. Some of them have become famous, being sampled by popular artists like Damian Marley, Nas and Jay Z.