PART II (continued from Part I)
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Soul Ekos Band
Soul Ekos with producer Amha Eshete (late 1960′s) Left to Right-Alula Yohannes, Tesfaye “Hodo” Mekonnen, Tamrat Ferenji, Amha Eshete, Teshome Mitiku, Feqade Amdemesqel & Tewodros Mitiku.
Before they named themselve “Soul Ekos”, the Soul Eko’s were first known as the Zula Band, named after the Zula Club they played at. The Zula Club was owned and operated by an Eritrean, Tekle “Eisenhower” Gebremichael (1937-1998). When the Zula Band stopped playing at the Zula Club they changed their name to the Vibrations, before changing it one more time to Soul Ekos. The band was comprised of Teshome Mitiku (Keyboards/Vocals), later Messele Gesesse took over the Keyboards, Tewodros Mitiku (Saxophone), Tamrat Ferenji (Trumpet), Fekade Amdemesqel later Hailu “Zehon” Kebede (Bass), Tesfaye “Hodo” Mekonnen (Drums), Alula Yohannes later Andrew Wilson (Guitar) and Seyfu Yohannes (Vocals).Â
The Soul Ekos were the first independent band to be recorded. When Mulatu Astatqe returned from the United States in 1968, the two bands he had an opportunity to work with were the Ras Band and Soul Ekos. It was during this time that Mulatu introduced the Soul Ekos band to Amha Eshete (a piece will be dedicated to this giant, the first independent producer and another well known producer Ali “Tango” Kaifa). Amha Eshete was taken by the bands sound and agreed to record them in 1969. The Soul Ekos arranged and played the music to Seyfu Yohannes’ popular songs, Tizita and Mela Mela. Under their other lead vocalist Teshome Mitiku they recorded 4 songs on vinyl (Shekla). These songs were:
Gara Ser Naw Betesh-(lyrics by Teshome Mitiku, arranged by Mulatu Astatqe)
Hasabe (lyrics by Teshome Mitiku, music and arrangements by Mulatu Astatqe)
Mot Adeladlogn (lyrics by Teshome Mitiku, arranged by Mulatu Astatqe)
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(lyrics by Teshome Mitiku, music by Abubakar Ashakih, arranged by Mulatu Astatqe) -Abubakar Ashakih (1937-2002) an native of Eritrea, owned and operated two very successful clubs in Addis Ababa, The Venus Club and The Venus Underground (later  named Dahlak Paradise.) A wonderful book about him was written by his wife Juith Ashahki, entitled “Gift of Incense”  Yezemed Yebaed was remade with a varied arrangement and released by the Either Orchestra on their CD titled “Afro-Cubism” and its live version was released on  “Ethiopiques 20-Either Orchestra Live in Addis Ababa.”         Â
The above four songs plus Seyfu Yohannes’ Tizita and Mela Mela were released on Ethiopiques 1                   Â
Teshome Mitiku and older brother Tewodros started their music studies at Haile Selassie First Day School, later known as Kokebe Tsebeha. Teshome learnt the drums, trumpet, clarinet and violin under Danish music teacher Paul Bank Hansen. When Hansen returned to Denmark, he was replaced by two Ethiopian instructors, Getaneh Tadesse and Mamo Demissie. The school had one of the best marching bands and orchestra at the time. Other students included Tamerat Ferenji (Trumpet), Tesfaye “Hodo” Mekonnen (Drums), Tamerat “Lotti” Kebede (Drums), and Tekle Yohannes Zeke (Trumpet), and Moges Habte (Saxaphone), who went on to form The Walias Band.  In 1969, after performing Fano Tesemara( Fano Fano, Fano Tesemara ende Ho Chi Minh ende Che Guevara…) at the Haile Selassie University, Teshome Mitiku was imprisoned for three days.  The harrasement by the police didn’t stop. His brother, Tewodros, persuaded Teshome to leave Ethiopia. In 1970 Teshome left first to Denmark and on to Sweden. While in Sewden he got his masters in Clinincal Psychology. Teshome now lives in the Washington D.C. area where he is still involved in the music scene. Tewdros Mitiku on the other hand stayed in Ethiopia and helped form the Ibex Band before fleeing to the US.  There he released two CDs, Teddy’s Mood and Hasabe. (Hasabe was first released on cassette back in 1988 with the Shebeles)     Â
Alula Yohannes left for Germany soon after and was replaced by Andrew Wilson who hailed from then Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.  In the mid 1980′s, Alula Yohannes returned to Ethiopia and had a popular song called, “Sentayehu“ (Ethiopian Television repeatedly showed the video through its “Hebret Terit” and “For the Youth” programs). 
Seyfu Yohannes refer to Part I–some other songs that Seyfu Yohannes probably did with the Soul Ekos include Yekermew Sew and Meche Dereshe.
Tamrat Ferenji-was born in 1951 in Wellega. Though he was a trumpet player in the Soul Ekos band, he did release several 45′s in the late 1970′s with the Sensation Band for Kaifa Records. He sang both in Amharic and Oromiffa. Tamrat passed away sometime in the mid 1990′s.
The Soul Ekos Band was later renamed the Ibex Band which later became The Roha Band.Â
Continue reading ‘Bandochu (The Bands) From Ras to Abyssinia (1961-1991)’
Published by Ethio Jazz April 24th, 2006 in Music, Noteworthy, Podcast and Thoughts.
We are all familiar with Abeba Lakew. A beautiful up and coming Ethiopian singer who grew up mostly in the United States (Houston, TX). She started her musical career in the United States. Good singer with great potential; so I thought, till I heard the 
