This double CD album is a compilation set made from selected field recordings undertaken in Ethiopia by Ragnar Johnson and Ralph Harrisson in the early 1970s. Both recordings were originally produced in analogue format by Lyrichord as two separate records under the serial numbers LLST 7243 and LLST 7244. Subsequently, these records were released in digital format as CDs in 1999. Thus, this newly released double CD set brings together recordings influenced by histories of field recordings and trajectories of commercialisation. Perhaps because of this, there are some anomalies and oddities in the album booklet notes that prevent the album reaching its full potential. Nonetheless, for those wanting to acquire a digital copy of original source material from a wide range of traditional Ethiopian music, this is an album worth purchasing. In comparison to present-day digital distribution/streaming networks or online file purchases, this kind of release is always valuable for the extra information it provides as well as the physicality of its presentation. While all the tracks of these two CDs may be heard in various formats online, most of these streaming sites provide little extra information about the items you hear.

The two CDs in the set are each named in accordance with the original LPs/CDs from which they are taken: Mindanoo Mistiru (“What is the Unknown”) and Gold from Wax. According to the album booklet, Dave Hunt was responsible for digitising the original magnetic tape recordings and mastering these for CD production. The CDs therefore are made with a closeness to the original recordings that is laudable rather than being copied from copies. This results in a generally clean sound and a professional finish throughout.

By contrast, the notes that appear in the booklet that accompanies this new album contain some problems that may confuse some listeners. The title to the fifth item on the second CD, “Galla Song” is missing as is a portion of the description for the item before it, “Bagana.” Thus, it becomes unclear which track is which within the latter half of this CD. If each item on the list of items within the booklet had been numbered, this would have helped match the track items to the information given. Elsewhere, descriptive information is repeated across the two CDs. For instance, information from “Lome Dorze song” (CD 1, track 8) is repeated for “Eyo Dorze song” (CD 2, track 1); information from “Bagana” (CD 1, track 10) is repeated for “Bagana” (CD 2, track 4), albeit with different text; and portions from “Habeebe” (CD 1, track 11) are repeated for “Fanno” (CD 2, track 9). Other examples exist, all of which emerge from the originally distinct LP productions of 1972 and 1975. Greater care could have been taken with this aspect of the publication. Nonetheless, it is useful to have at least some information for each track including their original recording circumstances and musicians’ names.

The pathway of re-releasing older Ethiopian analogue recordings from the 1970s in CD format is well trod, with Buda Musique’s Éthiopiques series leading the way for popular music albums from Addis Ababa. Many of these CD re-releases were originally released in analogue format with record labels such as Amha Records. Such releases have become an interesting part of the trajectories of circulation for world music, influenced by different media formats and new economies of distribution associated with globalisation and digitisation. This double CD album brings a more traditional set of sounds to the table than those of the Éthiopiques series. Thus, we hear the krar as well as its lower pitched cousin the bagana, both of which provide a fascinating and uniquely Ethiopian timbre to many of the items. Similarly, we hear the wishint flutes played with unique multiphonic singing timbres. Elsewhere, different church-based Amharic chants are juxtaposed alongside Amharic secular poetry and Afar divination chants. The sonic picture is one in which Ethiopia’s great diversity is portrayed, albeit through glimpses of different locations from a time fifty years ago.

As the album title to the second CD tells us, “Gold and Wax” are the two layers of meaning in Amharic poetry. This reference to the “lost wax” technique of metal casting is known worldwide. Through it, metal casting symbolically refers to an original, more supple meaning being replaced by a deeper and more permanent one: wax is melted as molten gold replaces it. The symbolism in this case works not only for the process of meaning but also for the recording itself as original analogue recordings are replaced through digital contemporary ones.