Sidama De Cali
Degree of Challenge (DofC):
Challenge Avg : 2.7
Melody : 2.5
Harmony : 2.5
Rhythm : 3.0
Key : Bb min
Highest Melody Note : G5
Sidama De Cali
Artist Name : Todd Simon
Genre : Ethiopian Jazz
Style : Ethiopian Jazz, Cumbia
Degree of Challenge (DofC):
Harmony : 2.5
Rhythm : 3.0
Key : Bb min
Highest Melody Note : G5
“Sidama de Cali” is a journey into the world of Ethiopian – Jazz (aka Ethio-Jazz), where many cultures and music styles are blended. Acclaimed musicians Mulatu Astatke, Hailu Mergia, and Mahmoud Ahmed developed a new sound to amplify Ethiopia’s jazz identity in the early 1960’s by incorporating elements of hard bop, Latin and Caribbean sounds to accompany the hypnotic scale modes found in the folk music of their homeland. Students and educators will have fun playing the expressive melody, in Tezeta minor, over an infectious Porro (the Colombian predecessor to Cumbia) rhythm provided by the percussion section. Brilliant call and response backgrounds flourish throughout the song while the rhythm section holds down a fierce groove. The solo section unravels into a traditional Cumbia drum/percussion beat and bass line while the piano and guitar comp with a familiar Latin chord progression accompanying improvisations in the Tizeta Minor mode. There is something for everyone in “Sidama de Cali” to keep everyone engaged.