Review: A Town Called Addis ****

Unless you're an afficionado of world music (something The World Festival @ St George's West increasingly makes me want to strive to be), the sounds of modern Ethiopea may have passed you by.

Try not to let Dub Colossus do the same whilst they are in Edinburgh, performing the show based on their album A Town Called Addis, a European World Music Chart-topper. This nine-piece band are astonishingly good, treating you to the full range of styles of music from their part of the world, from Ethiojazz to dub reggae and Afropop, transporting you effortlessly to the sultry and pounding clubs and dancehalls of Addis Ababa.

Vocalists Sintayehu 'Mimi' Zenebe and Tsedenia Gebre-Markos guide you through an excellent set of numbers, each one pulsing with the rhythms, piano and brass of the tight musicians that make up the rest of Dub Colossus, including producer and guitarist Dubulah, ex Transglobal Underground / Temple of Sound. Indeed, the CVs of the band read like a who's who of modern dub & funk, with ex-members of Asian Dub Foundation, Jamiroquai and the Brand New Heavies all now contributing to Dub Colossus' mighty slab of sound. Special mention must also go to Teremage Woretaw, who plays the massinko, a traditional Ethiopean one-stringed instrument throughout.

The venue shines as ever, with the stained-glass window of St George's West providing a mesmerising backdrop to some equally well-staged lighting. As the sounds of Ethiopea fill the hall and Dub Colossus get the whole audience up dancing, the atmosphere is electrifying and you'll carry the Ethiopean mood and vibe with you for some time to come afterwards.

A Town Called Addis runs until Aug 26th at St George's West. Price £12.