Press Quotes
“Throughout a performance, the artists build up a communal ecstasy that makes it clear why this tradition has endured. Onstage, Belay immerses himself completely in the action: during introspective passages, he can enter a trancelike state, and when the music swells in energy, he erupts in moves that have earned him the nickname “the Walking Earthquake.”
— the Chicago Reader
“The ensemble Ethiocolor brought an exuberant range of Ethiopian music and dance traditions from Addis Abba to Oakland’s Zanzi — and blew people’s minds for two straight hours.
The enchanting howl of the masterfully played Masenko, the rhythmic pulse of the kebero drumming, and the mesmerizing connection the entire group had with the audience forced me to stay unshakably present.
Through charismatic expressions and an inherent playfulness, Bandleader Melaku Belay brought joy and positivity to each selection with the assistance of seven other musicians and a dancer.
For over two hours, Ethiocolor put on a virtuosic evening of music and dance, but they also gave us a dose of much-needed “medicine,” a word Melaku Belay used recently on a Facebook post to describe their art. I can’t think of a better one. In the face of the painful and harrowing experience of being human, they gave us all a lesson in the transformational and radical nature of joy.”
— New Haven Independent
“The rhythmic virtuosity of Mr. Melaku was often astounding. He can turn either the upper or the lower body into an electrifying vehicle of rapid pulsation. … In later dances he showed how he could play his shoulders, his neck, his head and his whole torso like percussion instruments. In one number his shoulders kept chiming in like chords in music. … At the climax of one amazing dance cadenza, his own body became a trill — initiated, it seemed, from somewhere around the diaphragm and midspine, but with the whole body shaken into a blur … All these were dazzling bravura touches. Mr. Melaku’s dancing, however, didn’t consist just of stunts. Simply to see him sway his body to the music was a marvel: the angle of his out-held elbows, the pliancy of his spine, the rhythmic point of those shoulders all made their sensuous contributions. A happily superlative artist.”
— New York Times
“Every other Friday night in an invariably jam-packed azmari bet (traditional music club) called Fendika in the Kazanchis neighborhood of Addis Ababa, the scorching hot traditional band Ethiocolor holds court. Here, people cram together, sitting on beer crates and drinking tej (honey mead). Run by Melaku Belay, an electrifying dancer and in many ways the Ethiopian cultural ambassador of the hour, Fendika brings together some of the finest musicians, dancers and singers from Ethiopia’s many diverse regions. At the center of it all is Ethiocolor: One of the few traditional bands that tour internationally, they recorded their debut album with the Ethio-Swedish cultural outfit Selam. However, to get the most out of their music, one must see them in their element at Fendika. There, they kick things off with an hour-long jam that showcases their virtuosic talent and determination to bring the music in new directions, spiking their Abyssinian grooves with funk riffs, Afrobeat and jazz harmony. Following the jam, the regional singers and dancers take the lead and push the atmosphere into a feverish frenzy of joyous, sweat-drenched energy.”
— Afripop
A Night at Fendika, Louis Alemayehu
“I could feel the tension and anticipation as we moved closer and closer to show time. And when the magic moment struck, almost without pause the show began like some out of this world dancing, musical caravan. It proved to be a constant rush of shifting rhythms, urgent pulsing, raving chants, call and response, as the audiences’ collective heartbeat and breathing blended with an all-encompassing living unity of audience, dancers, drummers, singers, musicians. The band members would change, the singers would change, but the dancers came and went with each morphing of the singers and musicians. The dancers in fact returned again and again with costume changes and new dance riffs. …
I mean this was constant, non-stop, wave after wave of song and dance and just when you thought it couldn’t get any better than this, it did! Funky, “ancient” venue, distinctly Ethiopian, but it all had much in common with a show at the Apollo in New York City or Chicago’s Regal Theater in “the old days” from the 30’s to the 60’s. I felt I was experiencing the same performance values of what made a good show in Harlem or in Chicago’s Bronzeville. The show was tight, nothing sloppy or second rate. The audience and performers were one…no separation. I was far from “home”, but I was very much “at home”. The evening ended with performers and as many audience members as could make room, singing and dancing together. I will never forget when Melaku picked up the 11-year old boy and danced joyfully about with the youth in his arms in the crush of sweating celebrants, happy feet, happy hearts, HOME!!!”