Roaring Abyss
Original title Roaring Abyss
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If you go out around music bars and venues in Addis Ababa, you will enjoy a very characteristic scene, but if you want to get an idea of the different sounds from the country, you will get a very narrow view of it; in some places some Amhara or Gurage music may be found but … what about the rest? There are more than eighty different nationalities and cultures spread all along the mountains, deserts and forests of Ethiopia.
Nowadays many of the traditional instruments in Ethiopia have been replaced by electronic keyboards, and many local traditional bands have been reduced to a front(wo)man singing along to a keyboard which plays beats and melodies all in one.
But there are still some musicians throughout the country who play the music they learned from their fathers and mothers; instruments such as the Krar, Washent, Masinko or Kabero, are nowadays roaring and bouncing against the hills of this land full of contrasts and diversity.
In order to unveil the music universe and keep a record of this endangered music tradition, the Roaring Abyss team spent two years performing field recordings around every corner of Ethiopia, documented in this audiovisual poem.
Trailer Click for view
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Author/s Quino Piñero
Quino Piñero is a sound engineer and film maker who started his nomadic life at an early age, always carrying his audio recorder and camera, hence has his work the personal signature of a sound journey, both on music albums and audiovisual pieces.
Following his eclectic influences like African blues, punk or experimental music, he has recorded and produced albums for Alkibar Junior (Mali 2007), La URSS (Spain 2006) and Orchestra Elastique’s “A Fallible Girl OST” (London 2012) among many others.
In 2008 Quino Piñero started working as a sound engineering lecturer at CCEB (Spanish Cultural Centre in Bata, Ecuatorial Guinea. AECID) and venue manager, working in studio with the young Hip Hop scene, as well as with legendary local musicians like Gabri B.
In 2011 he put together hours of footage and audio recordings from his years of music production in Western Africa, resulting in his first documentary film “Le Message du Issa ber” (Khaira Arby, Male Toure, Tinariwen, …)
In 2012 he moved to Ethiopia, where he worked with artists like Mulatu Astatke or Samuel Yirga. Paralelly, he produced the documentary films Roaring Abyss (International Film Festival Rotterdam 2016) and New Voices in an Old Flower, as well as collaborating as sound recordist and designer with film director Miguel Llansó on his latest movies Chigger Ale (Festival del Film de Locarno 2013) and Crumbs (International Film Festival Rotterdam 2015).
Research Quino Piñero, Jonathan Banes
Photography Israel Seoane, Quino Piñero, Gonzalo Guajardo
Sound Quino Piñero
Editing Guiye Comín, Quino Piñero