Cover Artwork by Underdog.

Ethiopian beatsmith Mikael Seifu made his impressive debut this year with the 4-track Yarada Lij EP and loose single "Tuff Ruff" — a striking hybrid of house & UK garage production with secular azmari folk and sacred music traditions of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The Addis Ababa-based producer, who cites labelmate Endeguena Mulu, Burial, traditional Ethiopian folk, and Scott Storch as his influences, is the torch-bearing artist on the newly formed Washington, D.C. imprint 1432 R.

For his Africa In Your Earbuds mixtape, Mikael Seifu delivers an astounding, hazy journey through reinterpreted Ethiopian folk sounds. The producer mentions, "The last two songs are the only unaltered from the mix. I basically went for it and picked artists of Ethiopia or who are Ethiopian. That being said I used bits and pieces of their works and composed on top of that for the mix. One can say the majority of the mix is technically original stuff with it's major influence and theme being Ethiopian folk."

Download AIYE# 60: Mikael Seifu below. Check out the mixtape's sample & tracklist, plus our previous Africa In Your Earbuds releases, listed underneath.

Samples Used For Mix/Tracklist:

Ethiopian Folk

Tommy T-Oromo Dub (Cushitic Dub)

Gash Abera Molla- Enkutatash & other

Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou: The Last Tears of a Deceased

Addis Acoustic Project: Soundcheck at Jazzamba Club

Hailu Mergia- Ambassel

Seifu Yohannes- Yekermo Sew

Zion Rebels ft. Lion Heart Soldiers, Tiger & Black Haze: Dess Yebelesh

Lema Guebre-Hiwot: Medina Zelessegna

Get more African mixtapes from Africa In Your Earbuds:

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