Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit, Fendika

“Ethiobraz” documents the meeting of Paal Nilssen-Love’s Large Unit big band and Ethiopian dance/music ensemble Fendika at Molde Jazz Festival in 2018. Joining them as a special guest is guitarist Terrie Ex, who was a key component in getting making the meeting happen with his long involvement with the Ethiopian music scene. And, Paal Nilssen-Loves’s first travel to Ethiopia was with The Ex in December 2009. This changed his life. Paal’s first travel to Brazil was in June 2013. This also changes his life. Large Unit was established during fall of 2013. During numerous trips to both Ethiopia and Brazil, Paal established many contacts to schools, clubs, presenters, musicians and dancers in these two countries. The music he wrote for Large Unit were heavily informed by these trips and meetings, and fusing these influences together with the Scandinavian free music sensibility became an important factor in the Large Unit sound.

When Large Unit turned five years it was time to bring all these sources together and celebrate more than just the five years of the band, but also the collaborations with musicians and dancers in both Ethiopia and Brazil. Therefor Ethiobraz. 22 musicians and dancers together on stage. It could be argued that this is the most accessible recording in the Large Unit catalogue, and there is no doubt that this is the first one you can dance to all the way through.