Modern Ethiopian big band orchestra music

finds its unlikely origins in Emperor Haile Selassie’s royal adoption of 40 Jerusalem orphans of Armenian descent. Their presence as the first royal imperial band would make way for the composed music of Ethiopia's first national anthem, the popularization of brass instruments, and in later decades, a jazz revolution that sweeps the country before descending into the throes of the communist Derg regime.

Told through first-hand accounts with Ethiopian jazz greats such as Alemayehu Eshete, Mulatu Astatke, Girum Mezmur, as well as Samuel Yirga and while following Vahé, the only performing Armenian singer / musician in Addis Ababa, TEZETA opens the musical door to a light of memories in an old city district's jazz club, a beloved and fatherly music teacher, and a golden musical era forgotten by many to washes of absurd laws under a restrictive communist rule.

TEZETA is an ode to the nostalgic sentiments; for our loved ones of yore; for hometown birthplace; for belonging to a community; to Addis Ababa and its wondrous and layered Ethiopian experience.