By Selam Berhea | DCist

Cutting through the chatter of passersby on 18th Street deciding where to eat or waiting in line at Songbyrd, the sound of a saxophone floats from Bossa Bistro + Lounge. It is the first Thursday of the month, and that means Feedel Band is playing. Inside, about 20 people are gathered to see them, some of whom have been coming to Feedel’s shows since the band’s residency first started six years ago.

By Steve Kiviat | DCist

Every Friday from 2016 until recently in a small, second-floor room of the Crystal City restaurant Enjera, Ethiopian guitarist Selam Seyoum Woldemariam has led his trio through minor key, groove-filled renditions of 20th century Ethiopian songs. For the crowd of mostly 40-something-and-up Ethiopians in attendance, Woldemariam’s catalogue brought back memories of when these tunes were the radio soundtrack to their lives. The band stands on a tiny stage jammed up against a wall, playing their lounge-funky East African jazz for an audience of roughly 50 people who enjoy plates of Ethiopian and Eritrean food with spongy injera or just drink and socialize at tables close by.