Jano Band

The band was formed by entrepreneurs Ermyas Amelga and former manager Addis Gessesse in 2011. They performed in nightclubs and several venues in Addis Ababa. Jano's debut album Ertale was released in 2012. The album was named after an active volcano in Afar Region. The songs in the album were partly written by the renowned Ethiopian lyricist Yilma Gebreab and partly by them. The prominent singles in this album are "Ethiopiawit Konjo", "Yigermal", "Irasen", "Ayrak", "Irrekum", "Gude", "Mariye", "Mehed Mehed", "Tazebkut", and "Anchi Hagere".[4] This is the first ever rock album in Ethiopia. The audio and video of the song "Ayrak" from the album became quickly popular among the media in Ethiopia.[3]

After the release of the album, Jano had its debut show in April 2012 with shows at Sheraton Addis and the renowned Club H₂O. Before they went on a big tour to Europe and the Americas, Jano had countrywide concerts in November at the regional cities of Bahir Dar, Dessie, Jimma, Arba Minch, to introduce the unique sound nationally. Starting from mid-December, Jano began tour covering in Italy, Sweden, Netherlands, United States, Israel, and the Middle East.

In September 2015, Jano made live performance at Club H₂0, at the concert, they performed "Darigne", vocal from Hewan, "Aynema Wedajish" and "Fikrish New Yegodagn" performed by Dibekulu and "Erikum" by Hailu. They covered these four performance that was originally written by Ethiopian singers like Muluken Melesse and Tilahun Gessesse. The video went viral on YouTube and viewed over one million users. In the wake of their fame, Jano furtherly released "Yinegal" in summer 2015, vocal from Hailu.[5] In the music video, the band performs in rubble of house and upon travelling, their van stopped due to insufficient fuel. The group then shove the vehicle to enable motor.

In 2017, Jano also became the first Ethiopian band to feature on Coke Studio Africa alongside the South African singer Shekinah in Nairobi, Kenya.

On February 1, 2018, Jano released their second album called Lerasih New, comprises sixteen singles. The album has met positive reviews, and won multiple awards. The engineering process of the album was done in BluMusica studio in Turin, Italy and the mastering was done by Lurseen mastering studio in Los Angeles, California, United States.[2]

On October 4, 2018, they released "Tikur Almaz" through Admas Music. The song gained numerous accolades internationally. The music video, visualized in CGI, shows the group of warriors (the band) combating each other's in order to protect Ethiopia.[6]

On November 16, 2019, the group released "Abeba Ena Nib", vocals from Dibekulu and Haleluya Tekletsadik. The song lyrics were composed by Yilma Gebreab, arranged by Andy Bete Zema, while mixing and mastering held by Abegazu Kibrework Shiota. The music video was directed by Samuel Tefera.[7]

On February 15, 2020, Hewan independently released "Ane", being the debut solo single and it is Tigrigna language.[8] Amidst COVID-19 pandemic, she released "Kemenew" on June 19, 2020 through Nahom Records. At the time of release, the song instantly became popular in YouTube with million views and in mainstream media. It also served as airplay in radio stations and entered Top 10 Chart as of September 2020.

Haleluya also released her debut solo single "Kantegar" on July 31, 2020, through Nahom Records. The music video reached over 1 million views on YouTube as of October 21.[9]

• Samuel Tefera (manager)
• Dibekulu Tafesse (vocals)
• Hailu Amerga (vocals)
• Hewan Gebrewold (vocals)
• Haleluya Tekletsadik (vocals)

• Michael Hailu (lead director, guitar)[10][11]
• Kirubel Tesfaye (leader, synthesizer)[10][11]
• Yohannes Mekonnen (drums)[11]
• Daniel Negash (bass)[11]