፭ Things With UNO

To me music is everything…

EC/1: Let's get to know you first. Who is UNO? Can you tell us about your background like where are you from, how old you are, and when did you start producing and making music? Tell us previous works of yours.

My name is Yikunoamlak but most people know me by my stage name, UNO. I’m a 25 years old Ethiopian that was born and raised here in Addis Abeba. I started making music at a fairly young age by just playing around with sounds on FL studio and grew from there. as for my previous works... I can say that this album is my first official release

EC/2: Why Music? And can you tell us a bit about your journey so far and producing Kassmass' EP. What do you think to make it different? If you can tell us what inspires you to make instrumentals.

To me music is everything and like the great Bob Marley once said "one good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain” It's there for you to enjoy. I'd say that making the ep with kassmasse was a journey of experimenting and discovery of sounds by which some were created and others were sampled. I'd say the effort and heart that we put into it. I started out as a rapper and back then I used to have a hard time finding Ethiopian hip hop beats that I could rap on. The only beats we could use were instrumentals of famous hip hop songs that we downloaded from YouTube. That in a way gave me a push to start producing and see what I could do. I love listening to soul sampled hip hop beats and knowing the vast amounts of soul music our country has I chose sampling as my way of producing beats.

EC/3: Let's talk about the genre of the EP, Antsar. Can you tell us more about it and how it came up to be? Why create a new genre? You don’t feel like the ones we already have complied with your and Kassmasse's style?

To me, Antsar genre is like a lab where we experiment on elements and sounds from the old, the new, and the future to create a feel or a vibe that is balanced with who we are and what our culture represents."We formed antsar not because we felt incomplete by other genres but we want to feel all and express from our viewpoint " Kassamasse.

EC/4: Do you have idols or role models you look up to in the music production scene? Can you talk to us about the Ethiopian music industry and your take on it? what do you say we're missing?

Yeah, I'd say all the artists and musicians that took part in the golden age of Ethiopian music, and internationally I'd say, Jay Dilla and Madlib. I can't really say it...I can only tell you about what we brought to the industry and that is ANTSAR.

EC/5: What is your favorite thing to do besides music? Do you have any other talent or hobbies? What do you think your friends would say if we asked them about you?

Hosting the radio show that me and my friend Luna have on EBC radio 104.7. And yeah me and my friends are actually about to launch a streetwear Brand called Mokshàe and I handle the creative side of the brand

All good things I hope:)

We would like to thank UNO for sharing his piece of mind with us. We look forward to his upcoming projects!