Many many thanks to Andreas Wetter for translating the liner notes of 4 ዝናኞች ሲያዳምጡ በልብዎ ላይ ሰላምና ፍቅር ያገኛሉ - When You Listen to the 4 Famous Singers You Will Find Peace and Love in Your Heart, a really nice cassette issued by Ambassel Music Shop in Ethiopia in 1992.
With the exception of Martha Ashagari, who was featured in a previous post, I've been unable to find out much about these artists, although judging by the number of Youtube videos available online, they're very popular indeed!
የሩቅ ሰው ትዝታ - "Nostalgia for a far person":
Martha Ashagari - Yä-Ruq Säw Təzəta
ነካካኝ - "He Touched Me Somehow" (i.e. We were together and then he left me):
Martha Ashagari - Näkakkaññ
ዳርልን (ባሌ) - "Let Your Child Marry Our Child" - (literally: give your child in marriage for someone of our family, presumably a boy because usually the family of the boy takes the initiative and asks for the girl's hand):
Martha Ashagari & Teshome Asged - Darəllənn (Bale)
እማዋዬው የለኝ - "I Have No One to Share My Thoughts":
Teshome Asged - Emmawayyew Yälläññ
አትለይኝ - "Don't Leave Me":
Teshome Asged - Attəläyyəññ
ሸጋው ተወልዷል - "A Handsome Has Been Born":
Elias Tababbal - Shäggaw Täwäldwall
ከከዳህው በል ተወው - "If He Betrayed You Leave Him Alone":
Bezawork Asfaw - Kä-Käddahəw Bäl Täwəw
ልብህን ታዘብኩት - "I Found Out What Kind of Man You Are":
Bezawork Asfaw - Ləbbəhən Tazzäbkut
ወሬዋን አምጡልኝ - "Bring Me News About Her":
Elias Tababbal - Wärewan Amṭulləññ
የኔ አለም - "My World":
Elias Tababbal - Y'ne Aläm
ትክክለኛ ኦርጅናሉን ብቻ ያዳምጡ (Listen only to a real original recording)
ዜማ (Music, melody): ዘላለም መኩሪያ (Zelealem Mekuriya), ማርታ አሻጋሪ (Martha Ashagari), ኤልያስ ተባበል (Elias Tababbal), ያየህይራድ አላምረው (Yayerad Alamrew)
ግጥም (Lyrics): ይልማ ገ/አብ (Yilma Gebre-Ab), ያየህይራድ አላምረው (Yayerad Alamrew), ዘላለም መኩሪያ (Zelealem Merkuria), ማርታ አሻጋሪ (Martha Ashagari), ኤልያስ ተባበል (Elias Tababbal)
አሳታሚና አከፋፋይ (Produceer and Distributor): አምባሰል ሙዚቃና ቪዲዮ መደብር (Ambassel Music and Video Shop)
Download Four Famous Singers as a zipped file here.
Note: I have included the Ge'ez font provided by Andreas for the benefit of anyone using an Ethiopic-language search engine. However, depending on your browser and its settings, this may be visible to you as gibberish, or may cause your computer/smart phone to run slowly or even crash. If you have the latter problem, please let me know in the comments and I will rectify the situation immediately!
Actually, Bezawerq Asfaw and Elyas Tebabbal are two well known singers in Ethiopia. Bezawerq is also called the "Queen of Tizita", because her interpretation of this song is regard as the one of the best.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting Ethiopian music. Ethiopian and Eritrean music are two of my favorite genres of African music and I am enjoying it greatly.
ReplyDeleteI have wondered as to what became of John B. He posted nothing in 2014 and has so far this year not posted anything. I used to happen into some of his commentaries on others' blogs but have not done so for at least a year now. All these factors got me into wondering if he is alright.
ReplyDeleteIf you read this, John, let folks know that all is alright.
take care.
Hi anon:
ReplyDeleteThanks for the concern. I am alive and well but engaged with other things at the moment. I hope to revitalize Likembe within a few months.
It's an amazing cassette! thank your for sharing this gem!
ReplyDelete