Francis Falceto is a contemporary French
musicologist and
music producer, specialising in
World music and in particular
music of Ethiopia which he helped propagate internationally from 1986 onwards.
[''The golden age of Ethiopian music''](_blank)
par Andy Morgan dans '' The Independent'' du 2 mai 2008.
Biography
Francis Falceto programmed different world music at the of
Poitiers
Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetà e'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglomerat ...
when in 1984 he discovered a
Mahmoud Ahmed LP record
The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and a ...
, via Bernard Gallodé. In 1985, he decided to undertake a trip to Ethiopia (via Moscow because of the
Derg
The Derg (also spelled Dergue; , ), officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military junta that ruled Ethiopia, then including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when the military leadership formally " c ...
regime) in order to meet Mahmoud Ahmed,
then in 1986 again to reissue Mahmoud's
Ethio-jazz album ' (1975) on the Brussels-based
Crammed Discs label.
[''Francis Falceto, roi du son éthiopien''](_blank)
by François-Xavier Gomez in ''Libération
''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France's ...
'' 31 October 2011. After the success of the record in Europe and in the United States, he decided in 1996 to create the ''
Éthiopiques'' series with publisher
Buda Musique
Buda Musique is a French record label specializing in world music. It was founded in 1987 by Gilles Fruchaux and Dominique Buscall. After Buscall died in 1990, Fruchaux became the sole owner. The label is especially known for its ''Éthiopiques' ...
in order to reissue Ethiopian music of the period 1950–1975, most of them produced by Amha Eshèté for the label
Amha Records
Amha Records was an Ethiopian record label founded by Amha Eshete. The company released 103 singles and 12 albums between 1969 and 1975.
Prominent singers and musicians who recorded for the label included Alemayehu Eshete, Bizunesh Bekele, Mahm ...
and Ali Abdella Kaifa for
Kaifa Records[Francis Falceto :"There is no punk movement in Ethiopia! "](_blank)
by Julien Bouisset on 29 October 2011.[''Francis Falceto - Abyssinie swing. Images de la musique éthiopienne moderne''](_blank)
by Gérard Prunier, Annales d'Éthiopie, 2002, vol. 18, No 1, (pp. 285-286).[''Éthiopiques vol. 6 et 7''](_blank)
by Thierry Jousse in '' Les Inrocks'' 30 November 1998. of which he acquired the full rights, which was not without creating tensions with certain artists, including
Mulatu Astatke
Mulatu Astatke (; French pronunciation: Astatqé; born 19 December 1943) is an Ethiopian musician and arranger considered as the father of "Ethio-jazz".
Born in Jimma, Mulatu was musically trained in London, New York City, and Boston where he ...
(''The king of sax shining on the world stage'' in ''
Ethiopian Reporter'' 28 January 2012). After the important international success of the series,
he also conducted numerous lectures on the subject.
Francis Falceto also proposed
Lili Boniche
Lili Boniche (Élie Boniche, April 29, 1922 – March 6, 2008) was an Algerian singer of Andalusian-Arab music. Boniche was the heir to an erudite, centuries-long tradition of Algerian song and a pillar of ''Franco-Arab'' music.
Born into a Sep ...
to realize a return on stage in the early 1990s and became his impresario.
''Disparition de Lili Boniche''
on the website of Radio France internationale 19 March 2008
Prizes and distinctions
* 2008: World Music Award of the BBC.
Works
* (en/fr) ''Abyssinie Swing: A Pictorial History of Modern Ethiopian Music'' - ''Images de la musique éthiopienne moderne'', Francis Falceto, éditions Shama Books, 2001 .
* ''Les Nuits d'Addis-Abeba'', Sebhat Gebre-Egziabher
Sebhat-Leab Gebre-Egziabher (; 5 May 1936 – 20 February 2012) was an Ethiopian writer from Tigray Region. He is famous for pioneering the naturalist writing style in Amharic. His writing style was not constrained by the traditional Ethiopian ...
transl. Francis Falceto, Actes Sud, 2004 .
See also
*
*
*
References
External links
Francis Falceto
on France Culture
Francis Falceto, ''l'amour du groove éthiopien''
on '' Marianne'' (28 August 2008)
Collection Éthiopiques
on Radio France Internationale
FRANCIS FALCETO : DUST FATHER
on superflyrecords (31 October 2010)
Biography
on France Inter
Francis Falceto-Ethiopia: Empire and Revolution
on Afropop
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falceto, Francis
20th-century French musicologists
21st-century French musicologists
French record producers
Ethiopian music
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)