Che Belew (March Forward)

Ayalew Mesfin stands aside the likes of Mulatu Astake, Mahmoud Ahmed, Hailu Mergia

and Alemayehu Eshete as a legend of 1970s Ethiopia. Mesfin's music is some of the

funkiest to arise from this unconquerable East African nation.

Mesfin's recording career, captured in nearly two dozen 7" singles and numerous

reel-to-reel tapes, shows the strata of the most fertile decade in Ethiopia's 20th century

recording industry, when records were pressed constantly by both independent upstarts

and corporate behemoths, even if they were only distributed within the confines of this

East African nation.

Though Mesfin was forced underground by the Derg regime that took control of Ethiopia

in 1974, he has returned almost 50 years later with this triumphant set albums - the first

time that his music has been presented in this form.

Che Belew gives us a chance to discover a rare & beautiful moment in music history, in

an anthology built from his uber-rare 7" single releases.