Entrance (a.k.a. Guy Blakeslee) just released the great Promises EP and is gearing up for a full-length early next year via Thrill Jockey. In the meantime, he’ll be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Readers, you’re in for some really good stuff.
Blakeslee: There is definitely no recording I have listened to more in the past 10 years than the Piano Solo album by an Ethiopian nun named Tsegué Maryam Guébrou. Born in 1923, Maryam is now 92 years old and lives in Jerusalem. Her album, which is number 21 in the Ethiopiques series, features meditative, crystalline piano compositions that evoke the Ethiopia of her childhood and merge seamlessly into classical compositions a la Erik Satie and the majestic jazz of Ellington and Monk. It’s the perfect music for early mornings and late nights, hypnotic, soothing and yet infinitely stimulating. Spiritual yet humble and playful, full of stories and emotion yet lacking words. Here’s a link to the entire album.
