Jazz club burns down, but music perserveres in Ethiopia’s capital

In the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Ababa, the Jazzamba nightclub in the Taitu Hotel has fostered a resurgence of the Horn of Africa’s unique jazz styles in the four years since it opened. But, a fire in the hotel in January destroyed Jazzamba and left the city’s jazz scene in disarray. Jazzamba was the first club in Addis Ababa to offer concerts every evening and to promote jazz as more than background music. Since it opened, interest in Ethio-jazz, with its distinctly un-Western scale, has grown. The city’s jazz musicians, inspired by a rich history of musicians that disappeared under the nation’s communist rule, have turned to alternative restaurants and coffee houses.

The Ethiopian music scene is very dynamic. … We lost an iconic club in a place full of history, it’s true, but the music scene in Addis is not limited to Jazzamba. I am very optimistic about the development of Ethiopian music.

Girum Mezmur, jazz musican and co-founder of Jazzamba

Jazzamba also played a key role in the international rediscovery of the Ethio-jazz genre, forgotten by many during the hardline communist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam, whose 17-year rule of terror ended when he was ousted in 1991. During Mengistu’s rule — including the “Red Terror” purges in which tens of thousands were executed — Ethiopia’s music scene all but died. It was not until the late 1990s that the Ethiopian jazz scene started getting back on its feet.

Today, thanks to radio stations and clubs such as Jazzamba, the public is much more open to improvisation and experimental music.

Henok Temesgen, bassist and co-founder of Jazzamba

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