Ethiopian funk invades Washington as Debo welcomes lounge lizards to the Kennedy Center's Atrium on the Roof Terrace level for an extraordinary happy hour.

The energetic Boston-based band founded by saxophonist Danny Mekonnen specializes in dance sounds direct from four decades of classic pop nourished in Ethiopia. Just as the musicians unleash mystical grooves, so do dance moves by the gravity-defying Fendika leave folks gasping.

Mekonnen traces the history of the music Debo plays back to 1966 when Peace Corps volunteers arrived in Ethiopia and other nations with their personal record collections. From that introduction to American jazz, Ethiopian pop emerged, seasoned with traditional styles.

"Ethiopian pop music of the 1970s is played with the timbre and tone of the indigenous African styles from Nigeria," he said. "It was also influenced by the Turkish psychedelic rock bands. The 6/8 rhythm and non-Western scales are foreign to the average ear. The dissonance resembles what you hear in music from the Mideast and Japan.

"There was a period in Ethiopia when big bands contained strings and drums. Debo has two saxophones, two violins, a trumpet, a trombone, a tuba, an accordion, a drum, an electric bass and an electric guitar. The accordion has historical relevance, but tubas were only used in military bands. There never was a band with the combination we have."

Mekonnen was 18 months old when his parents came to the United States in 1982 by way of Sudan, the pathway of most refugees at that time. He grew up in Dallas, began saxophone lessons in middle school and entered the University of Texas in Arlington as a music major.

After graduating, he headed to Boston to study jazz. While working on his Ph.D., he was urged by a Harvard professor to explore Ethiopian music. Subsequently, he formed Debo from musicians he played with around town. Their specialties ranged from classical music to klezmer and Balkan brass bands.

Since its debut in the Boston area, Debo's popularity has erupted nationwide. Adding to the excitement, the band joins forces at festivals and venues this summer with Fendika, an ensemble they encountered at an Addis Ababa nightclub. It consists of a male and female dance duo, a female vocalist and a traditional goat-skin drummer.

"The vocalist's vibrato is a timbre of singing found in Ethiopian voices and the saxophone," Mekonnen said. "Singers there are often accompanied by a one-string violin and a lyre with six strings and no fret board.

"Our ensemble of 15 is large because we want audiences to see how we bring together folk dances and the big, exciting band with a little bit of dissonance that doesn't fit tradition."