In 1924, a brass-band became Ethiopia’s first official orchestra. Until the 1950s big institutional bands dominated. From the the 1960s on, musicians began to fuse Jazz, Soul and Rhythm’n’Blues with the traditional Ethiopian five-note scale in what today is known as Ethio-Jazz. This first peak for Ethiopian music was called the era of ‘Swinging Addis’. 

But when the grim Marxist regime of the ‘Derg’ took power in 1974, it killed ‘Swinging Addis’ – like it killed almost everything else. Many were murdered, many escaped, most to America. All cultural life was paralyzed. But when the horror finished in 1987, only a few musicians found their way back.

It took until the 21st century that a new generation of young Ethiopian musicians began to fill the void. This is their story.

JAMMING ADDIS accompanies its prota- gonists through the long days and electrifying nights of Addis Ababa. Clubs and cultural centers such as the Fendika, Mama’s Kitchen, the Jupiter Hotel or the Jazzamba Lounge are their playgrounds. Joyfully yet always aware of their traditions and heritage, this new generation is about to transform Ethiopia into a modern country.

Pianist Samuel Yirga, bandleader Girum Mezmur, dancer Melaku Belay, bassist and music teacher Henock Temesgen, the students of the Jazzamba School of Music, Beguenna-harpist Alemu Aga and many others are our protagonists. 

With confidence and astonishing ease they explore the horizons and perspectives of their cultural identity. The result is a cinematic jam-session where color, music, stories and people come together creating insights into unknown aspects of the new Ethiopia – in a film that brings visual acuity to aural pleasure.