57 f Ethiopian Stripes
Switzerland’s Imperial Tiger Orchestra have already taken their Ethiopian-inspired music to Addis Ababa and as far as Cape Town. Elisabeth Stoudmann talks to founder Raphael Anker.
not correspond to the general images associated with Africa: “Everything was clean, magnificent, very ‘white’,” explained Raphael Anker, trumpeter and founder of the Orchestra. 20 kilometers later, from the township, the group quick- ly realised that Cape Town is a true African megacity. Imperial Tiger Orchestra were the guests of Pan African Space Sta- tion (PASS), a month long “musical inter- vention” with activities on the internet, a radio station, culminating in four days of public concerts.
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Amongst the ‘African’ groups taking part in the festival, the Imperial Tiger Orchestra troublemakers caused a sensa- tion – because these funny Tigers were all from Geneva, Switzerland. Some of them came from a jazz background, another from the funk scene, and the last from psychedelic rock. “We chose our name as a homage
hen Imperial Tiger Orches- tra placed their feet on South African soil in Cape Town on 26th September 2010, what they saw did
to the Imperial Bodyguard Band, the first group of Mahmoud Ahmed. The ‘Tigers’ is another way of saying that we’re not lions, a symbol of Abyssinian culture. We make fun of ourselves a little, but at the same time we are saying that we nevertheless still have a few teeth...” explains Raphael Anker, smiling.
The Tigers tackle the delicate task of re-reading the classics of Ethiopian music in their own way. The daily South African Mail & Guardian, who devoted a large pre- view article to the group, summarised the essence of their sprawling approach: “Imperial Tiger Orchestra keep the melodies of Ethiopian music intact while experimenting from the inside with the structure of the tracks. The sombre and hypnotic rhythms, the elements of distor- tion, create a new, devilishly funky sound.” For the Cameroonian Ntone Edjabe, co-founder of the festival, “The fact that this group is based in Switzerland is just a detail. We can no longer think of the world simply as a territorial space.”
The original Tiger in Africa was Raphael Anker, a great fan of African music from a young age, whose father was born
and lived in Cameroon until his adoles- cence. When he discovered Ethiopian music via Francis Falceto’s Ethiopiques, Raphael dived into the cauldron. And when he first heard Mulatu Astatke’s Dewel, it was the trigger. He immediately thought of musi- cians who would be capable of following him in this unusual project.
In 2006, Raphael obtained a carte blanche to Cave 12, the mecca of Genevois underground culture. Six friends, soon joined by a percussionist, were quickly infected by the Ethiopian syndrome. They listened to Getatchew Mekuria, The Ex and the invincible Mahmoud Ahmed on loop. They had no idea that, four years later, this foolish and unreasonable project would lead them to go on a 15-day tour in Southern Africa.
In Cape Town, as part of the PASS fes- tival, Imperial Tiger played in a church con- structed by slaves. The next day, they were on the stage of a suburban club. “There must have been a buzz, because by the second night the venue was packed. We played wholeheartedly, like a metal group. There was an incredible energy. It remind- ed me of our gigs in Addis Ababa.”
Photo: Supapix
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