Mahmoud AhmedWhen Mahmoud Ahmed took the stage at
Womad 2005 many looked at this grey bearded (yet regal) figure and wondered if
he could still touch the heights of those immaculate recordings he cut from
1971-1975. No worries: as his band locked into one of those rolling, eerie Horn
Of Africa-grooves Ahmed opened his mouth and that great, mysterious horn of a
voice sailed forth just as it had done all those years ago.
Mahmoud Ahmed is both a living legend and something of a mystery in the West.
Undeniably Ethiopia’s most famous singer of its “golden era”, the three albums
reissued of his recordings by French label Buda Musique as part of their Ethiopiques
series have captured Western listeners in the same way that, say, the reissues
of Robert Johnson’s Delta blues did a previous generation. Yet where Johnson
was long dead Ahmed is alive and in fine voice. Why then hasn’t he become a
bigger star on the world music circuit? It appears Ahmed is so valued by
Ethiopians – both at home and the Diaspora – he’s too busy singing for weddings
and private events to give much thought to Western audiences.
Mahmoud Ahmed was born May 8, 1941, in Addis Ababa. Although no one in his
family sang from an early age Mahmoud made no effort to be anything else.
Leaving school unqualified, Mahmoud began work as a shoe shine boy. A series of
jobs followed until he ended up handy-man at the Arizona Club. One evening
Mahmoud persuaded the house band to let him sing and soon he was a member of
Haile Selassie’s ultra-official Imperial Band, remaining there until the
military coup of 1974. Mahmoud cut his first single in 1971 and quickly became
a favourite across Ethiopia. During Ethiopia’s 17-years of military dictatorship
Mahmoud managed to sing in Addis’s luxury hotels and even toured the US!
Ahmed sings with a dark caress, never hurrying, voice riding a loping Amharic
rhythm (essentially a five-note scale involving complex circular rhythm
patterns). Indeed, as the Red Sea’s most seductive soul singer Mahmoud is the
equivalent of many of the US greats.
