Another Ethiopian Songstress

If you're a fan of Aster Aweke or Kuku Sebsebe, you'll no doubt enjoy this cassette by Ethiopian vocalist Martha Ashagari.

Ärä Bakeh (Ambassel Music Shop) was released in 1993 shortly after the fall of the Derg, but Ashagari has been singing professionally since 1988 with the Abyssinia and Roha Bands, and during the '90s had her own nightclub in Addis Ababa. In 1996 she recorded the CD Child's Love/Ye-Lij Fiker, which is available online from AIT Records (I included a tune from it on my compilation African Divas Vol. 2).

Ashagari is notable for her unique vocal tone, somewhere between a sob and a wail. Side 1 of Ärä Bakəh typifies the '80s-'90s Ethiopian style, but Martha really hits her stride with side 2 of the cassette, especially the emotional ballads "Zoma" and "Ende Näh" and the Tigrinya song "Sälam Bäluläy."

Martha Ashagari - Ärä Bakeh

Martha Ashagari - Feqer Näw

Martha Ashagari - Alchalkutem

Martha Ashagari - Bämen Yedanyal

Martha Ashagari - Gorded

Martha Ashagari - Dämayle

Martha Ashagari - Zoma (Yäbati lej)

Martha Ashagari - Endäzzihəm Allä

Martha Ashagari - Ende Näh

Martha Ashagari - Sälam Bäluläy (Tigrinya)

Download Ärä Bakeh as a zipped file here. As usual, I'm including a scan of the original cassette inlay card if someone would care to correct my transliteration of the Ge'ez text (click to enlarge):



Update: Thanks to Andreas Wetter for his correction of my transliteration.

Welcome Back, Matt!

We're all thrilled that Matt Yanchyshyn is back on the scene and posting once more on his blog, Benn Loxo du Taccu, after a long hiatus. Of course, Matt's had pressing business - getting married, for one thing. Congratulations, Matt!

So now that Matt is rested and relaxed he's once again making available the great music we've come to expect from Benn Loxo. Do yourself a favor and check out this post of some of the latest tracks from Dakar. Matt is far more cognizant than I of what's going on in the music scene in Senegal, and writes about the current sensation:

. . . Without a doubt the biggest thing going in Dakar these days is Titi. Ask any mbalax fan in Dakar between the age of 16-30 and you’ll usually get a “Titi, j’aime titi,” which admittedly makes me laugh every time for every immature reason. Titi is a hot little mbalax number - a classically tall, thin and beautiful Dakaroise woman - who gets about as much radio play these days as Youssou’s latest Live at Bercy. I think her voice sounds a lot like Michael Jackson in his child-star, Jackson 5 days. . .

It happens that Titi features prominently in Mbeuguel Da Fa Khew Vol. 19, a "pirate" compilation by DJ Fallou & Beug Sa Reuw Productions that I picked up in Little Senegal in New York a couple of months ago. Apart from Youssou N'dour and Viviane most of the artists are unknown to me, but I see they're well represented on YouTube, for instance Pape Thiopet here, also Assane Mboup, Abdou Guite Seck and, of course, Titi herself here, here, and here.

Here then is Mbeuguel Da Fa Khew Vol. 19. It's not generally my policy to post "new" recordings in their entirety on Likembe, but since this is a pirate pressing, I think I can make an exception. . .

Titi - Tayou Mako

Assane Mboup - Aye Beugueunte La

Titi - Love You

Yousou N'dour & Viviane N'dour - Amitie

Pape Thiopet & Ass Seck - Takkal

Khadim Diaw - Moytoulma Dokhou Mbende Bi

Aida Ndiaye (Ndiole) - Diama Noir

Assane Ndiaye - Diamale

Abdou Guitte Seck - Beuss Bi

Gorgui Ndiaye - Yaaye

Youssou N'dour - Sama Gamou

Titi - Music

Youssou N'dour - Niit

Titi - Boulma Taanal

Abdou Guitte Seck - Jangaro

Outro

Some More Seldom-Heard Tracks by Remmy Ongala

Like Comb and Razor, I seem to be experiencing some difficulty managing to get a post up, not, as in Uchenna's case, because I'm terribly busy with anything else, but because of a general sense of ennui. Spring fever perhaps?

Anyway, I've got a few things in the works, but I just realized that it's been more than two weeks since I've posted, so here's something in the nature of a stop-gap.

In one of my first dispatches, I posted five tracks from Remmy Ongala's two 1988 albums On Stage With Remmy Ongala (Ahadi AHDLP 6007) and Nalilia Mwana (Womad WOMAD 010). Which leaves seven tunes that I didn't post, so here they are!

"Tembea Ujionee," from Nalilia Mwana, means "Travel and See For Yourself." Remmy sings, "Travel and see for yourself. Don't wait to be told about it. There are many things to see in the world. Waiting for you. . ." By the way, although the liner notes of the LP credit this song to "Remmy Ongala & Orchestra Super Matimila," I suspect it, along with other songs on Nalilia Mwana, was recorded when Ongala was with Orchestra Makassy. That sounds an awful lot like Mose Fan Fan Se Sengo on lead guitar!

Remmy Ongala & Orchestra Super Matimila - Tembea Ujionee

In "Mnyonge Hana Haki" ("The Poor Have No Rights") Remmy deplores the plight of the unfortunate. "I have nothing to say. . . Remmy is a poor man, an ugly man. Remmy has nothing to say to his companions. A bicycle has nothing to say in front of a motorbike. A motorbike has nothing to say in front of a car. A car has nothing to say in front of a train. The poor have nothing to say in front of the rich. . . The poor have no rights."

Remmy Ongala & Orchestra Super Matimila - Mnyonge Hana Haki

The liner notes of Nalilia Mwana state that "Arusi ya Mwanza" is ". . . about a young woman who is married in Mwanza and goes to live with her husband in Dar es Salaam. After a few days he deserts her and she is too ashamed to return home to face the questions of her parents and neighbors. She warns other women that men are deceitful and will promise a house and car to make girls give up their studies. She herself only wanted to be happy and start a family like her friends. . ."

Remmy Ongala & Orchestra Super Matimila - Arusi ya Mwanza

On Stage With Remmy Ongala unfortunately doesn't provide song translations.

Remmy Ongala & Orchestra Super Matilmila - Sauti ya Mnyonge

Remmy Ongala & Orchestra Super Matimila - Asili ya Muziki

Remmy Ongala & Orchestra Super Matimila - Maisha

Remmy Ongala & Orchestra Super Matimila - Mama Mzazi

If you would like to recreate the original LPs using the other five tunes, the tracklistings are as follows:

Nalilia Mwana (Womad WOMAD 010, 1988)
1. Nalilia Mwana
2. Sika ya Kufa
3. Tembea Ujionee
4. Ndumila Kuwili
5. Mnyonge Hana Haki
6. Arusi ya Mwanza

On Stage With Remmy Ongala (Ahadi AHDLP 6007, 1988)
1. Sauti ya Mnyonge
2. Asili ya Muziki
3. Maisha
4. Kifo
5. Mama Mzazi
6. Narudi Nyumbani

The picture at the top of this post is from this site.

A Fulani Voice

I linked to a video by Senegalese musician Abou Diouba Deh in my last post about Fatou Laobé without realizing that I've had one of his cassettes for some time, and an excellent one it is.

Like Laobé and the well-known Baaba Maal, Abou Diouba Deh is a member of the Fulani ethnic group. The Fulani, traditionally nomadic, have played an outsize role in West African history. From their homeland in the Fouta Tooro region of northern Senegal and southern Mauretania they have spread as far as the Central African Republic and Sudan. The most prominent Fulani in modern history was Usman Dan Fodio, a religious mystic and political reformer who founded the powerful Sokoto Caliphate in the early 19th Century in what is now Northern Nigeria. Numerous other West African leaders are of Fulani descent.

I've been unable to find out much about Abou Diouba Deh, but his cassette Yoo Bele Ndenndu (Tiïtounde) (Talla Diagne), which I post here, is a great example of the popular "neo-traditional" current in Senegalese music, traditional xalaam and percussion brilliantly complemented by the (uncredited) electric guitar. Enjoy!

Abou Diouba Deh - Gidam

Abou Diouba Deh - Ganndo Mayo

Abou Diouba Deh - Uururbe Daakaa

Abou Diouba Deh - Jaaraama Laaba Juude

Abou Diouba Deh - Beeli Seeno

Abou Diouba Deh - Jasar Wuddu Mbodo

Abou Diouba Deh - Taan Seex Aljumaa Bah

Abou Diouba Deh - Teddungal



Here's that YouTube Video. The cars racing by in the background detract a bit from the folkloric mood, I think:

Dakar Divas Pt. 6: Fatou Laobé

Barely known to me until I picked up a few of her CDs in NYC's Little Senegal a few weeks ago, Fatou Laobé is a huge star in Senegal, and a welcome addition to the Dakar Divas pantheon.

Fatou got her start as a backup singer and dancer with musicians like Baaba Maal and Ousmane Hamady Diop, and has toured the world with Youssou N'dour and Abou Diouba. Striking out on her own in 2000, she released l'An 2000 with her group le Laobé Gui on N'dour's Jololi label. The recordings have followed fast and furious ever since. Her music is deeply rooted in the folklore of the Laobé, a subset of the Pulaar, or Fulani, people who are known for their craftsmanship.

The six tunes on offer here are taken from three CDs: Hé Laobé Rewmi (Origines, 2004), Bara Mamadou Lamine (Ekla, 2008), and Keysi Bousso (Ekla, 2008). Enjoy!

Fatou Laobé & le Laobé Gui - Gambia Modou

Fatou Laobé & le Laobé Gui - Gawlo

Fatou Laobé & le Laobé Gui - Bara Mamadou Lamine

Fatou Laobé & le Laobé Gui - Doolé

Fatou Laobé & le Laobé Gui - Lambo

Fatou Laobé & le Laobé Gui - Harouma Play-Boy

Ramiro Naka Ramiro

Since achieving independence from Portugal in 1974, the small west African nation of Guinea-Bissau hasn't been much in the news until recently, when a series of political upheavals, fueled in part by drug trafficking, has brought it to the world's attention.

Bissau's music is also little-known, but Super Mama Djombo and Kaba Mane have achieved some recognition outside the country. Another prolific Bissau artist is Ramiro Gómes Días, better known as Ramiro Naka, or sometimes Naka Ramiro. He was born in 1955 and formed his first band, N'kassa Cobra, sometime around Independence. His disagreements with Bissau's new rulers led him to relocate to Lisbon in 1976, and later to Paris, where he established the Orchestre de Guinea-Bissau, which achieved some distinction in the lively African music scene as the foremost purveyor of Bissau's indigenous Goumbé style.

A series of excellent, if not always well-known recordings has followed, and Naka has also established himself as an actor in the nascent Guinea-Bissau film industry. I hope you will enjoy these selections from his early recording career, all released in the 1980s.

In "Ou Moundou Balas," from his album Je Viens d'Ailleurs (Rá Dya Music DYA 81055, 1983), Ramiro Naka sings in Mandjacque, "The world of singers is considered to be a crazy world. But in my eyes this world is more important than being a king. I will sing about it to the new world":

Ramiro Naka & l'Orchestre de la Guinee-Bissau - Ou Moundou Balas

"Fanta Mané," also from Je Viens d'Ailleurs, is in the Portuguese-based Crioulo language of Guinea-Bissau and the Casamance region of Senegal. It is about a boy who traveled to the town of Farim to meet the beautiful Fanta Mané. In this way he discovered the happiest city in Guinea-Bissau:

Ramiro Naka & l'Orchestre de la Guinee-Bissau - Fanta Mané

"Meu Trabalho," from Bikelia Ma Fiancée (Ramiro Naka RA 81065) expresses Naka's philosophy of life: "I prefer to entertain you so that you can forget life's chimeras. It's impossible to do both at the same time. Earning money is nice, but it is still necessary to do what one wants":

Ramiro Naka & l'Orchestre de la Guinee-Bissau - Meu Trabalho

Also from Bikelia Ma Fiancée. "I never get tired of talking to you about Guinea-Bissau. She is found at the end of the world in a small corner, but she exists all the same":

Ramiro Naka & l'Orchestre de la Guinee-Bissau - M'bin de Lundju

The title track of Bikelia. "You arrived with only one glance and only one smile. You changed my life. For freedom let us remain good friends in happiness and keep trouble far from our marriage":

Ramiro Naka & l'Orchestre de la Guinee-Bissau - Bikelia Kelly



Na Bolon (N'kassa Cobra NK 04880) finds Ramiro Naka reuniting with his old band N'kassa Cobra (who also did at least one recording on their own, 1995's Lundju), and hewing closer to the "mainstream" African sound. Unfortunately, summaries of the lyrics aren't available:

Ramiro Naka & N'kassa Cobra - Na Bolon

Ramiro Naka & N'kassa Cobra - Kara Bacile

Ramiro Naka & N'kassa Cobra - Nha Indimigo



Many thanks to my daughter Aku for translating the liner notes from Je Viens d'Ailleurs and Bikelia Ma Fiancée.

Tilahun Gessesse is Dead

I was saddened to hear of the death Sunday of a true master of Ethiopian music, Tilahun Gessesse, who has been the subject of several posts here at Likembe. The BBC reports:

The popular Ethiopian singer, Tilahun Gessesse, has died at the age of 68. He had been the most dominant figure in Ethiopian music for more than half a century and will receive a state funeral later this week.

Ethiopian radio and television interrupted programmes to broadcast tributes to the singer.

He started performing in the days of the Emperor Haile Selassie, and was for a time the lead singer in his imperial bodyguard band.The BBC's Elizabeth Blunt in Addis Ababa says that over the years, his plaintive tenor voice sang of love, family and friendship, as well as the more public themes of liberty, unity and justice.

He had been in poor health in recent years because of diabetes.

Ethiopian Media Forum writes:

The legendary Ethiopian singer, Dr. Tilahun Gessesse passed away on Sunday due to a sudden heart attack, EMF confirmed the news from close family sources. Dr. Tilahun has died at the age of 69, just hours after a surprise return from USA with his wife to celebrate the Ethiopian Easter.

His wife, Roman Bezu, said that he passed away while she was taking him to the nearest private hospital. “It was unfortunate that he couldn’t able to get medical assistance as most clinics had no doctors due to the Ethiopian Easter,” Roman added.

Family sources also said that Tilahun will be buried in public funeral scheduled on Wednesday, 22 April, at Holy Trinity Church in Addis Ababa.

Tilahun was attacked on his throat the same day, 16 years ago. Many were surprised by the coincidence. Tilahun had received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Addis Ababa University, in appreciation of his contribution to Ethiopian music.

In honor of this consummate professional, here are three tracks from Tilahun's 1995 release Wegen Alegne (Ethio-Grooves EG- 95-1):

Tilahun Gessesse - Aykedashim Libe

Tilahun Gessesse - Ethiopia

Tilahun Gessesse - Ene Alamaregnem

Many thanks to Andreas Wetter of Ntama Journal of African Music for bringing this sad news to my attention. Andreas also points out that I mis-spelled Tilahun's name in the G'eez script in the graphics in my last two posts concerning him. Sigh! I'll have to go back and correct that at some point.