TEZETA TELLS THE STORY OF a small, country-less community of Armenians and their contribution to Ethiopian music and culture in Addis Ababa's old city center of Piassa. With the unexpected royal adoption of 40 Jerusalem orphans by Emperor Haile Selassie and their role as the first Ethiopian imperial band, these orphans would make way for the popularization of brass instruments, the composed music of the country’s first national anthem by Kevork Nalbandian, and in later decades led by his nephew Nerses, a jazz fusion revolution that sweeps the country before descending into the throes of the strict musical censorship laws under the communist Derg regime. 


TEZETA reveals a uniquely Ethiopian musical story the was once lost to memory, told through first-hand accounts with music researcher Francis Falceto, Ethiopian jazz greats Alemayehu Eshete, Mulatu Astatke, Girum Mezmur, Sammy Yirga as well as Vahé, the only performing Ethiopian-Armenian singer in Addis Ababa today.

Featuring one of the last interviews with singer Alemayehu Eshete, music producer Ameha Eshete, director Abate Mekurya and one of the last performances of mandolinist Ayele Mamo, TEZETA opens a door of melodic light to memories of a popular and bustling jazz club now gone, a beloved teacher who was the "godfather of Ethiopian modern music", and a golden musical era forgotten by many.