We are excited to announce the first-ever album and book to document the music of a single Ethiopian village. The village, Yeha, is located in the far north of the country in north-central Tigray about 30 km south of the Eritrean border.

The field recordings were made by David Evans, a musicologist with whom we have been working since our very first project in 2003. From 2012-2013, David made multiple trips to record in Yeha. 

This digital release features 22 recordings and a 52-page book in PDF format. The book provides an account of the cultural and musical history of the region along with annotations for each track by David Evans. The book also features more than 65 photos of the musicians, their community, and the village life of Yeha. The book is presented in PDF format.

“From the Lion Mountain: Traditional Music of Yeha, Ethiopia” is released in partnership with the University of Memphis ​and its High Water Recording Company who supported the creation of these recordings. 

A Video from the Recording Sessions

This compilation video features women singing in preparation for a wedding, a wedding celebration, a work song by family and neighbors while working in a wheat field, and dancing and playing following the Meskel celebration in the main plaza of Yeha, Ethiopia.

A Personal Note...

We have been working with David Evans since our first project, “Goodbye, Babylon,” for which he wrote the liner notes for the Sermons disc in the box set.

Since that time, we have released an album of gospel recordings David made from 1965-1973 entitled "Sorrow Come Pass Me Around," and he was a contributor to the book included in “Voices of Mississippi,” a box set for which he won the Grammy Award for Best Liner Notes in 2019.

​It is with great pleasure that we announce this first album in a new series of releases with David featuring recordings he made in Ethiopia from 2012-2015.