( Mahmoud Ahmed )

«An authentic legend in Ethiopia, Mahmoud Ahmed has laid down the basis of a music style which is resolutely original in the way it synthesizes the most diverse influences into a language both typical and universal. With his haunting, serpentine voice, at the same time raucous and velvety, Mahmoud Ahmed has invented a world of uncertain borders, an improbable mix of Eastern-African rhythmic lines, mysterious laments with refined ornamentation and melodies of unexpected Indian modulation; all this streaked by electric sounds and pulsed by a hot, swaying groove spanning swing to funk and even foraying into reggae music. What an exhilarating shambles!»