Very nice clip, though AFAIK, Aster has always worked this way. A former boss told me of hearing her sing when she was working as a waitress at Aksum, the first Ethiopian restaurant established in the D.C. area. Apparently she did a lot of a cappella work. My ex-boss was actually disappointed with the kind of arrangement she used in the clip you posted! (She said the same about Mahmoud Ahmed - that he does lot of "roots" music in his live shows, with stripped-down instrumentation - I guess for the folks who are missing home.)
funny thing, though: a few years ago, back when i first started digging Ethiopian music, i tried to discuss it with an Ethiopian girl and she kinda scoffed at me and said "that's not real Ethiopian music."
Very nice clip, though AFAIK, Aster has always worked this way. A former boss told me of hearing her sing when she was working as a waitress at Aksum, the first Ethiopian restaurant established in the D.C. area. Apparently she did a lot of a cappella work. My ex-boss was actually disappointed with the kind of arrangement she used in the clip you posted! (She said the same about Mahmoud Ahmed - that he does lot of "roots" music in his live shows, with stripped-down instrumentation - I guess for the folks who are missing home.)
ReplyDeleteha... them kids in the audience was feeling it!
ReplyDeletefunny thing, though: a few years ago, back when i first started digging Ethiopian music, i tried to discuss it with an Ethiopian girl and she kinda scoffed at me and said "that's not real Ethiopian music."
i know what she meant, though. i think.