Music
Inside London To Addis, the grime field trip exploring Ethiopian sounds
No Hats No Hoods travelled to Addis Ababa to record Ethiopian musicians, and then handed the results to some of the UK’s best grime producers. Here's how the incredible project came together.
No Hats No Hoods are one of the stalwart organisations representing the UK grime sound. Over the years, they’ve turned their hands to pretty much everything – they’re a record label, a management company, a music publisher; they ran the legendary club night Dirty Canvas, make their own merch and shoot their own videos, and represented the upstart Lewisham crew The Square, amongst many other things.
But for 2019, though, No Hats No Hoods might be embarking on one of their most ambitious projects yet. London To Addis is a compilation of grime instrumentals by the likes of Dexplicit, JT The Goon, Proc Fiskal and more that draws on a treasure trove of Ethiopean music captured live by NHNH founder Pete Todd – aka DJ Magic – and engineer/producer Chris Hodgson on a trip to Addis Ababa last year.
Ermias Nadew, Tezazu Mulat and Chris Hodgson at work
© No Hats No Hoods
Wondemeneh Kifle with the Krar, a traditional five stringed lyre
© No Hats No Hoods
The Ethiopian musicians behind London to Addis
© No Hats No Hoods
Drummer Bilegne Deresse
© No Hats No Hoods
I really enjoyed the sounds of the Krar, as it’s got a unique sound – it’s a bit of a mix between a guitar and harp.
The variety on London To Addis is pretty incredible – square wave melodies and ticking trap snares blend seamlessly with instruments like the masinko fiddle, or the washint, a wooden bamboo flute. “As a fan of grime sometimes it can feel like producers are stuck in a rut of either making Eski-type or trap sounding beats,” says Todd. “We wanted to do something that hadn't been done before and bring something original to the grime sound. Lots of Ethiopian music has an Arabic influence to the sound. This has worked well in hip-hop – for example Timbaland's production on Jay-Z’s Big Pimpin, which is 140 bpm and samples an Egyptian film score. So, we could see sonically how it could work.”
Listen to Shudan's Hyenas Of Harar below
On their return to the UK, Todd and Hodgson seeded their recordings to their producer network, who quickly got to work. “I found it inspiring to riff on the Ethiopian sounds,” says Shudan, whose Hyenas Of Hara is one of the stand-outs of the project. “It allowed me to navigate a refreshing unexplored space. I spend a lot of time thinking about how we can push the sound of grime and bring something new to the table, instead of returning to the old sounds. I think we can move forwards by combining new concepts and ideas like this project.”
London To Addis drops on March 15, and is available for pre-order now on No Hats Not Hoods’ Bandcamp. Read on to find out more about how the project came together.
Where did the idea of London To Addis come from?
Pete Todd: We first visited Ethiopia in 2016 when we directed Elf Kid's Reload That video and also hooked up with some local producers while we were out there. It was an amazing experience, as there is a vast amount of culture and natural beauty. There is also a scene called Ethiopiyawi Electronic which is made by Ethiopian Records and Mikael Seifu which uses traditional Ethiopian sounds within an electronic music context. We made a lot of contacts and friends out there, and we’ve wanted to do a music-based project out there for a while. We were lucky enough to be awarded a new Art new Audiences (nAnA) grant from the British Council's East Africa Arts team which has helped fund the project.
We wanted to do something that hadn't been done before and bring something original to the grime sound
How long were you out there, and who did you meet while you were there?
For the recording part, myself and Chris Hodgson flew out to Addis Ababa for a week last year and linked up with Endeguena Mulu of Ethiopian Records and the musicians Ermias Nadew, Bilelegne Deresse, Wondemeneh Kifle, Tezazu Mulat and Mimi Mulugen. We didn't really know what to expect so we planned lots of different ways of working from providing references – musicians playing individually to playing over grime. Endeguena's experience really helped as they were not aware of grime music. Ethiopian traditional music uses lot of different time signatures, such as 5/4 and 6/8.
What were your favourite sounds that you collected on the project?
That's quite hard to answer as normally when you are recording a project its quite an exact process in terms of what you are looking for – whereas this was a lot more experimental. I really enjoyed the sounds of the Krar, as it’s got a unique sound – it’s a bit of a mix between a guitar and harp.
Was there a lot of interest in the project from UK grime producers?
One of my favourite parts of the project has been some of the names that agreed to be part of it. When you start a project you never know who's going to be into the idea and willing to give it a try. The response we had was brilliant and pretty much everyone we contacted attempted to make something from the parts. Having legends like Dexplicit on it makes it very special to me, as I used to buy his records on white label. It’s also been interesting how producers have used the sounds. Some have used riffs and a melody the musicians played, other have taken tiny parts and written lots of different parts.
What's next for the project? Do you have plans to do more?
Yes, there is lots more to come from the overall project which is called Ethiopiyawi Electronic meets Grime. We are doing a live event in Addis Abba on March 22 which will feature Snowy and Scrufizzer, as well as Ethiopian Records and Labdi – an artist from Kenya. Cadell has vocaled one of the tracks which we will be releasing as a single called Don't Lack.
We will also be releasing the parts from the project, so up-and-coming producers can experiment with the sounds themselves. Lastly we will be releasing a single and documentary featuring a collaboration bewteen Ladi, Ethiopian Records and Scrufizzer.
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