Debo Band

[3] Rolling Stone described Debo's sound as, "guitar solos, massed vocals, violin and brass [that] rush in like a Red Bulled marching band...Dance at your own risk.

[7][1] They worked out several tunes from the canon of Ethio-pop and jazz heard on the Éthiopiques compact disc series and recruited local members of the Ethiopian community to sing.

[6] While Debo began as a primarily acoustic outfit—saxophones, brass, violins, accordion, and *drums —they eventually added electric bass and guitar to create a fuller sound that brought them to play bigger venues.

[8] The CD featured covers of well-known Ethiopian jazz and pop tunes by Walias Band, Mahmoud Ahmed, and others, half of which were recorded in Africa, the others in the United States.

[9] Produced by Thomas Gobena of the group Gogol Bordello, the record draws heavily from Ethiopia in the early 1970s, with original songs, reworkings of Ethiopian folk melodies, covers of hits by Alèmayèhu Eshèté, Mahmoud Ahmed, Muluqen Mellesse, and Bezunesh Bekele, plus instrumentals by Getatchew Mekuria rearranged to have the sax man's scales played by a duet of violins.

Named for a fervent battle cry known as "the call of the lionhearted", 'the record offered a faster, harder-hitting sound than their first album, with many nods to various band members' backgrounds in ethnomusicology.

Saxophone player Danny Mekonnen and singer Bruck Tesfaye performing with Debo Band in 2014
Debo Band performing with Fendika in 2010