Ethiopia music reviews

The statuesque Aster Aweke, who physically if not musically resembles Grace Jones, really shines on this, her second album the title of which means Sacred Stones. She's backed by a sensitive ensemble of London jazzmen that does full justice to her unusual voice and spectacular delivery.

While the rhythms range from complex Ethiopian styles to smooth jazz-funk, Aster's voice displays a remarkable variety of modalities, from yearning to rapturous and from coaxing to celebratory.

The album opens with Yedi Gosh (My Guy), a sensual uptempo number where Aweke's voice quivers and swoops to be interrupted at times by interludes of whistling and melodic purring.

The second track Yaz-oh (Get It On) is a steadily pounding dance ditty calling for a remix, whilst the title track is a brooding ballad where her voice soars and plummets from on high to below sea level, yet remains understated with a sort of quiet intensity.

The bouncy Kezira includes yodeling as her voice runs up and down the scales in an impressively swirling intonation. Bati is again a slow number, and Chewata (Romance) is almost reminiscent of Laurie Anderson in its devotional dirge-like power over an entrancing drum pattern and with a particularly impressive acoustic base and dramatic finger-clicks.

The songs - a mix of traditional Amharic tunes and Aweke's own compositions - are highly distinctive and in a class of African music quite unlike anything else.