Jananites Band

Never in the history of Ethiopian music has there been a creation of an all female band until Jananites, a nine piece band which has three lead vocalists, three guitarists, two keyboardists and a drummer all in their twenties.

Inspired by Addis Gassesse, a renowned Ethiopian music manager who is also behind the making of Jano, the first Ethiopian rock band, and financially supported by Ermiyas Amelga, Ethiopia’s business tycoon, they came together with the intention of not thriving on the current success of their counterpart musicians from Jano, but to show the music industry in Ethiopia that girls only band can be successful too.

Being the first all female band from East Africa, Addis Gassesse says like their twin band Jano he plans to eventually expose Jananites to the international audience worldwide. They had their first gig in April at the Sheraton Addis, capturing the attention of party goers whilst breaking new grounds in helping to modernize the perception of Ethiopian music.

Jananites have now been rehearsing together for six months, five hours per day, four times a week in the Villa music studio located in Piassa. They have just started preparing the composition of songs for the upcoming debut album which will be sung in a compilation of Ethiopian languages including Amharic, Tigrinya, Oromifa, and Guragigna.

Although rock is the style of music that predominantly influences all the band members, the album songs will be a fusion of rhythmic styles and moods of Ethiopian music with that of reggae and rock, bringing about a new and exciting innovation. Songs are not expected to be written based on female empowerment but a more common exploration of themes related to love and friendship.