The Official Site of Teshome Mitiku
The "Comet" Returns

The biggest culprits are the audience themselves. In order to keep them happy, we as musicians have to give them what they want; otherwise, we find ourselves looking for other work. Case in point, why is it that there is a market for acts like La Fontaine and Chachi, but someone like Teshome Mitiku has to strive for his market? To paraphrase from a very famous adage, while I might disagree with, or even dislike a person's musical/artistic taste, I fully support his/her right to continue to practice that chosen craft. I know, I know this seems like I'm waffling but I'm not; while I personally CANNOT stand either of the two examples I gave, I certainly would not want to deny them their right to attempt to create something, anything. On the other hand, it is a crime that someone like Teshome Mitiku, who in my opinion has a much better grasp of our musical heritage, does not enjoy the same accolades as others. The irony to this statement, of course, is the knowledge that Teshome, along with his brother Teodros, was one of the founding members of the now defunct, Soul Ekos Band from the Sixties, which in its time was probably seen as a cutting edge modern electric band, possibly seen as a precursor to the impending demise of Ethiopian music (I wonder what the music literati of that time had to say, hmmmm)

However, let me leave you with a grain of hope. While the music of today might appear to be in decline, I feel that we are in a period of great evolution. We are experiencing a birth, a rebirth if you will. The musical revolution that started with the likes of the Mitiku Brothers and the Soul Ekos Band, and the Ibex Band, is continuing, but the influx of new recording equipment and the relatively cheap electronic equipment of today has allowed anybody who is so inclined to release a CD...
--Seleda Ethiopia, continue to read here

Some of the best Amha recordings can be found on Éthiopiques 1: Golden Years of Modern Ethiopian Music 1969-1975, the first of ten CDs that will chronicle the bulk of Ethiopian pop. Mahmoud Ahmed is featured in this collection along with other outstanding singers, including Tèshomè Meteku, Sèyfu Yohannès and Muluqèn Mèllèssè...
--Anchorage Press

The majority of the rest of Volume I is devoted to Mahmoud Ahmed (who shares Mellesse's backing band, The Equators, who did the arrangements for both singers) and to the deeply passionate Seyfu Yohannes, backed by Soul Ekos and Teshome Meteku, whose voice at times shares a stylistic resemblance to Jackie Wilson and whose arrangements sound like a cross between Booker T and Esquivel. Getachew Kassa has one track and Ethio Jazz provide three instrumental tracks...
--Emusic.com

Muluqen Melesse, Teshome Meteku, Getatchew Kassa, Alemayehu Eshete and Hirut Beqele. For most, these names only constitute a riddle, but the music they made in the 1960s and 70s will catch anyone's attention...
--Cairo Times

Addis Ababa, 1969... enter the vibraphone, for the first time ever – Astatqe allegedly still the country's only player – “cool”, slinky arrangement with horns, organ, bass & drums in support of Teshome Meteku’s liquid male voice...
--ABC Radio National

The three instrumental pieces that punctuate the disc have a wonderful smoky sound, like late-night jazz played by Booker T. and the MGs. The 1969 cuts from Teshome Meteku could only have come from that decade, with "Yezemed Yebaed" eerily reminiscent of "Black Magic Woman" in everything but its guitar work...
--MSN Entertainment

"There's this amazing series of compilations put out called Ethiopiques, recorded in Ethiopia from the late '60s to '74... It's the most primitive, raw, crude, nasty-sounding soul music ever. The music sounds more Middle Eastern than African — a lot of those Arabic scales and stuff like that, but it's infused with like a crude early James Brown kind of approach, and it's just amazing...
--VH1.com