Free MP3: Tomas Doncker, “Abet Gurage”

[mp3com-artist]Tomas Doncker[/mp3com-artist] creates what he calls “Global Soul” music, but you don’t have to just take his word for it, check it out for yourself, and you’ll hear a world of inspiration and influences, fused together with seamless rhythms, telling the stories or trials, struggles, and celebrations from around the globe.

[mp3com-artist]Tomas Doncker[/mp3com-artist] creates what he calls “Global Soul” music, but you don’t have to just take his word for it, check it out for yourself, and you’ll hear a world of inspiration and influences, fused together with seamless rhythms, telling the stories or trials, struggles, and celebrations from around the globe.

Doncker comes by these inspirations honestly. He’s a Brooklyn based musician, who has toured the world extensively, and collaborated with a huge range of artists including [mp3com-artist]Bootsy Collins[/mp3com-artist], [mp3com-artist]Yoko Ono[/mp3com-artist], [mp3com-artist]Masabumi Kikuchi[/mp3com-artist],[mp3com-artist] Meshell Ndegeocello[/mp3com-artist], [mp3com-artist]Ivan Neville[/mp3com-artist], [mp3com-artist]Bonnie Raitt[/mp3com-artist], and many, many more. On “Abet Gurage,” Tomas features one of Ethiopia’s most revered vocalists, [mp3com-artist]Mahmoud Ahmed[/mp3com-artist], and legendary guitarist [mp3com-artist]Selam Woldemariam[/mp3com-artist], with Bill Laswell handling the remix.

The song itself is a mix of traditional and contemporary Ethiopian sounds, layered with soulful brass and organ, with rhythmic vocals that would force even the heaviest and most tired feet to dance so hard you would almost forget the song is about the hard life– which, we guess, is the point.

Tomas’ album Power of the Trinity tells the story of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, who stood up against the imperialist Italian invasion and use of chemical weapons on Ethiopia in the 1930’s. In fact, the Rastafari movement was founded on the teachings of Haile Selassie (born “Tafari Makonnen”), and most Rastas worship Selassie/Tafari as Jah. Now, history lessons aside, download “Abet Gurage” below, and start enlightening yourself musically.

[mp3com-download url=”tomasdoncker-abetgurage.mp3″ artist=”Tomas Doncker” song=”Abet Gurage” email=”none” year=”2012″/]