Ethiopiques

Ethiopiques

Éthiopiques is a series of compact discs featuring Ethiopian and Eritrean singers and musicians. Many of the Éthiopiques CDs compile various singles and albums that Amha Records, Kaifa Records and Philips-Ethiopia released during the 1960s and 1970s in Ethiopia. Prominent singers and musicians from this era appearing on Éthiopiques releases include Alemayehu Eshete, Asnaketch Worku, Mahmoud Ahmed, Mulatu Astatke, and Tilahun Gessesse. However, some Éthiopiques releases are new recordings.

The Paris-based world music record label Buda Musique began the Éthiopiques series in 1997 and initially compiled Ethiopian popular music releases from the 1960s and 1970s. Some of the subsequent CDs focus on traditional music, while others highlight individual musicians or specific styles. As of 2010, there have been 27 releases. None of the CDs features modern-day synthesizer-based Ethiopian pop music. Francis Falceto is the producer of the series.

Some songs from Éthiopiques Volume 4 were featured in the Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers.

In a 2012 interview, Getachew Mekurya noted that Falceto is largely responsible for the international popularization of Ethiopian music, and that Ethiopiques had directly led to more opportunities and international success for Mekurya. At the same time, Mekurya claimed that Falceto underpaid him and other Ethiopian musicians, and that Buda Musique retained the copyrights to most of the music. He further alleged that these business practices had infuriated Mulatu Astatke.