Zvuloon Dub System's concert in San Francisco on June 25 is an opportunity to call attention to a memorable, little-known film, Live and Become. Both the musicians and the film have to do with an amazing chapter of desperate migration.
In 1980s the black Falashas in Ethiopia were recognized as Jews, Israel welcoming them (sort of) after they escaped by walking through the desert. After 5,000 died during migration, the Israeli military's Operation Solomon rescued 21,000 from Sudan. Today, there are about 100,000 Falashas living in Israel, most fighting persistent discrimination.
The lead singer of Zvuloon Dub — named for one of the 12 tribes of Israel — is Gili Yalo, who made his escape from Ethiopia with his family at age 4. The eight-piece band combines Ethiopian, Jamaican, and Israeli cultures, singing in reggae in English and Amharic.
“It’s a natural mix,” says drummer Asaf Smilan. “We started out in 2006, playing roots reggae, all very ‘70s. I’d also loved that old Ethiopian music since I first heard it, about 10 or 15 years ago, but I didn’t have any Ethiopian friends to discover more about it. Then Gili Yalo joined as the singer in 2009, and everything changed." They have perfected the mix of the reggae offbeat with horns and chord changes from Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian-Jamaican historic connection had its most famous moment in 1966, when a 100,000 Rastafarians greeted Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie at Kingston Airport as the Messiah. The very name Rastafari is taken from Ras Tafari, the title (Ras) and first name (Tafari Makonnen) of Haile Selassie I before his coronation. The group's current tour of North America will be followed by appearance at Reggae Sumfest in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Legend has it, the group says, that Menelik, the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, traveled from Ethiopia to meet his father:
When Menelik returned home, he took something holy with him — the Ark of the Covenant, containing the tablets handed to Moses by God. Some believe it’s still carefully hidden in Ethiopia, which took as its national symbol the Lion of Judah, the same one that watches over the Jews. The same lion that guards Jamaica’s Rastas. Those three lions come together in the music of Zvuloon Dub System, and together they make the sweetest roar.