Israel’s Zvuloon Dub System, currently on tour around the US, are working in support of the upcoming new record, Anbessa Dub, set to release July 1st.
Consisting of an 8 piece band, the Tel Aviv-based Zvuloon Dub System tune their music to blends of roots reggae and dub, with influences from a variety of music style including Ethiopian Jazz, Soul, Funk and Jazz from the US, as well as Israeli Oriental music. Their debut album Freedom Time was released in April of 2012 by the band’s independent label, Med Tone Records.
Now for their second record the group has put together a piece that merges the cultures and sounds of Jamaica, Ethiopia, and Israel, titled Anbessa Dub.
Anbessa Dub is filled with the atmosphere of vintage Jamaican roots Reggae, mixing old Ethiopian songs arranged in the Zvuloon style. Blending Reggae’s offbeat sound with horns and chord changes from Ethiopia, they refined the sound till it felt natural, using analogue equipment for an authentic sound. Even using a krar, an Ethiopian lute, and a maskino, a one-string violin, for certain sounds.
“It’s a natural mix,” explains drummer Asaf Smilan. “We started out in 2006, playing roots reggae, all very ‘70s. I’d also love that old Ethiopian music since I first heard it, about 10 or 15 years ago, but I didn’t have any Ethiopian friends to discover more about it. Then Gili Yalo joined as the singer in 2009. He’s from Ethiopia. And once he came, everything changed.”
In all the album contains 10 tracks, including one featuring Mahmoud Ahmed, the voice behind so many legendary tracks in the Golden Age of Ethiopian music.
This summer Zvuloon Dub System are taking Anbessa Dub on the road, with a tour of North America. In June, the group played the west coast working around the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival. In July the band will work across the US down into Florida before ending this run with a spot at Reggae Sumfest in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
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Zvuloon Dub System Links:
Zvuloon Dub System Website
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Article By: Aaron Solomon
Watch: Zvuloon Dub System – “Going To Zion”