What does Esy Tadesse sound like?

Guitar-focused Ethiopian music woven into desert blues, psych-rock and Western jazz environments

The review of ‘Adadu’ by Esy Tadesse

It might surprise a lot of casual musical listeners about how Africa has embraced the guitar into many different music genres. Guitarist and composer Esy Tadesee brings a real fusion of Ethiopian music, a scattering of Tuareg adjacent desert blues and washed it down with Western Jazz and ambient tendrils. In under 30 minutes ‘Adahu’ trailblazes all kinds of musical ideas like a kaleidoscope of sound and a mood piece.

cover art for Esy Tadesse - Ahadu — Esy Tadesse

This largely instrumental album places the guitar front and centre in the melody and mood. The mood shifts dramatically from track to track yet Esy Tadesse’s guitar is the central linchpin that stops the album feeling fragmented. The opening piece ‘Hope’ is a muddy, electropulse guitar and kick drum warble. It broods and murmurs as an ominous introduction before ‘Egzio’ opens up into smooth blues. One of only a handful of songs with vocals, it is a lush and spacious track that soars over the open plains. We then shapeshift into playful psychedelic jazz with ‘Admas’. As the sole long track on the album, it draws you in with its serpentine flutes, glistening tuned percussion and rolling keyboards. Alive, magical, bold and beautiful – it is one of the few tracks where the guitar duets rather than leads.

Esy Tadesse has said her album is a journey through Ethiopian musical scales. This will explain why each track is rhythmic and largely structured without defined verses and choruses. ‘Lideta’ for example, is a musical scale on repeat. There are soft dreamy vocal ad-libs and a careful drum beat that backs up the guitar chords but the song is all about the hypnotic nature of the scale itself. The swinging blues of ‘Shinbra’ is another track that celebrates soulful guitar solos over a bluesy/jazzy set-up. There is a desolate resilience that African guitar and stringed instrument players can tap into like no other artist and this seeps through here.

For an album exploring Ethiopian music, very little of the music tackles straightforward rootsy jigs. ‘Buna’ is where we hit this style head-on. The bombastic chug of skipping frets, a rustic drum beat and Tuareg-styled guitar noodling. It feels alive and triumphant whilst keeping a lilting sadness in the distance. Its sister track ‘Ere Manew’ slows things down into a mystical and psyche-rock twisted very of the desert blues. Esy Tadesse’s voice is captivating here, as are the acoustic rustic guitar sections that give history and heritage to the sound. Psychedelic synths and twinkling electric guitars pop up throughout the album. They lead the unusual title track, a short minute interlude of gurgling ambiguity. They also integrate into the beautifully tender ‘Bati’. The track starts out sounding prog-rock, morphs into an elegant piano jazz waltz and then transforms back into a motherly organ outro. As the track leaves us with baby coos, ‘Selam’ closes us out with a short uplifting lullaby to bid us farewell.

‘Ahadu’ is quite a tricky release to explain because the mesh of elements and styles is quite broad. Esy Tadesse has excellent musical penmanship and a beautiful voice which I’d love to hear more of in future releases. Most songs are written in a way that breezes you by upon first listen – selling a frame of mind instead. This is an album that unveils more each listen as you discover fun motifs or explore the musical structure of the album. You don’t need to know that there’s some music school geeking going on to enjoy this album. It does give additional appreciation for the end result though. Varied, engaging and engrossing – this will be a grower over time.

Recommended track: Egzio

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