Teodros Makonnen - Teodros Makonnen With His Organ

Muzikawi presents the first reissue of Teodros Makonnen With His Organ, released in collaboration with Teodros Makonnen under exclusive licence. The album has been carefully restored and remastered, presented across two LPs pressed at Optimal Media and housed in a gatefold sleeve replicating the original artwork, with extensive liner notes in English and Amharic and previously unpublished photographs.

Originally released on cassette only, the recording is a cornerstone of the early digital sounds of Ethiopian music. Recorded directly to tape in a single take on a Yamaha double-deck keyboard in Addis Ababa, it recasts traditional songs in an electronic style built from atmospheric drum machines and hypnotic synth organs.

As a keyboardist, producer, arranger and sound designer, Teodros Makonnen helped define the digital sound of Ethiopian music in the 1980s and beyond, collaborating with artists including Mulatu Astatke, Aster Aweke and Mahmoud Ahmed.