Biography

When guitarists Alhousseini Anivolla (Niger) and Girum Mezmur (Ethiopia) first met in 2005 at a festival in Europe, they were both already established professionals. Alhousseini had been part of the Tinariwen movement, and later on, gained remarkable reputation with his band Etran Finatawa and his trio Anewal. The Sydney Morning Herald praised his "gloriously repetitive, traditional music mixed with some of the slickest and most beautiful electric guitar maginable." Girum has been a mainstay in Addis Ababa's live music scene as a guitarist and producer for decades. He is the musical director of Ethiopia's greatest star Mahmoud Ahmed and has worked with the likes of Angelique Kidjo and Ali Keita..

Algher (RMX by Mathami): Thomas Koch, aka Mathami, has been a pioneer of the electronic music scene for over 30 years, not just as an artist or DJ, but as a label manager, magazine editor/founder, promoter and more.

Asmoussoudou (RMX by Girum / Abegasu): Half-Japanese and half-Ethiopian, Abegasu Kibrework Shiota was born in Japan and raised in Ethiopia, went to the Berkeley College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and is one of Ethiopian pop music's most sought-after producers. Abegasu has worked on hundreds of albums on which he is credited as composer, producer and arranger. However, despite his role in the Ethiopian music and popularity, not much is heard about him. He mostly shuns publicity.