Adoption Bookshelf: music

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Ethiopian Music - Artist Spotlight: Gigi

For today's Ethiopian artist spotlight, I'm going to make a very obvious selection. Chances are, if you've taken even a cursory peep into the world of Ethiopian music, you've sighted this artist: Ejigayehu Shibabaw, otherwise known as Gigi.

Gigi shares a number of biographical similarities with Minyeshu, the last artist I featured. They were both born and raised in Ethiopia, and both performed with the Ethiopian National Theater before emigrating.

Both married non-Ethiopian musicians (Gigi married prominent American musician/producer, Bill Laswell). Now, both are members of the Ethiopian diaspora--Minyeshu in Europe, Gigi in the United States.

Since leaving Ethiopia, Gigi has released a solid--if somewhat confusing!--discography. The confusion stems from exactly how many CDs she's released. Although her record label (Palm Records) claims that 2006's Gold & Wax CD is Gigi's "long-awaited second album," overall it seems like it's really her sixth or seventh.

So how does this add up?

First, in 1997, Gigi released two independent albums: Tsehay and a French compilation of Ethiopian love songs called Éthiope: Chants d’Amour. Both of these discs are now pretty obscure, and I haven't been able to track down a copy of either one. However, at the time, Éthiope: Chants d’Amour marked Gigi's first appearance on the music scene and paved the way for the creation of her first major album, 1998's One Ethiopia.

One Ethiopia, with its reggae-tinged title track, brought Gigi her first real taste of success within the Ethiopian community. This album, while a good effort, does not appeal to me as much as her later albums because of the production values. Its recording relies upon synthesized, computer-generated instruments, rather than actual drums, saxophones, etc. Although I know this synthesized approach is typical of Ethiopian music at the time (a cultural phenomenon that deserves a whole post of its own), it can sound dated to modern-day, Western listeners. However, as usual, Gigi's beautiful, warm vocals stand out, no matter what the background instrumentation.

Thankfully, for her next album (2001's eponymous Gigi), Gigi ditched the synthesizers in favor of real instruments, and the difference immediately leaps out of your speakers. Enveloped in earthy guitars and paced by real percussion, Gigi's voice glows. This newfound vibrancy caught the attention of music critics, and Gigi landed on many critics' "best of" lists in 2001, even earning a mention in the New York Times' “best of the obscure among 2001's albums” list:

"In songs about love and the country she left behind, Gigi's modal melodies and urgently questioning voice rise out of grooves that swirl jazz and funk into the complexities of Ethiopian pop, broadening the music without Americanizing it."

And yet, the next album Gigi released was exactly what the critics warned against: an Americanized version of her music. Sort of.

Illuminated Audio, the 2003 follow-up to Gigi, marks a strange entry in Gigi's discography, because it's not really a new album. Illuminated Audio is a remixed version of the 2001 album, Gigi, with Bill Laswell-styled redos of the same songs. Which makes for an album that isn't bad at all, but that perhaps feels a bit unnecessary. While it's enjoyable, Illuminated Audio is an album that leaves Gigi fans wishing for more, especially in the way of original material.

But Gigi made up for the potential misstep of Illuminated Audio in a big way. That same year, Gigi (as one part of a group of musicians calling themselves Abyssinia Infinite) contributed vocals to the album Zion Roots, a collaborative effort to return to the acoustic roots of traditional Ethiopian music in a meaningful, yet fresh way. And they succeed beautifully. Zion Roots is a flat-out gorgeous album.

Please do yourself a favor and buy this CD. It's one of my favorite modern Ethiopian music finds and is worth the price for the first track alone: "Bati Bati," a lush, dreamy song elevated to sublimity by Moges Habte's haunting saxophone work and Gigi's plaintive vocals. Track 7, "Aba Alem Lemenea," is also captivating. With songs this exquisite, it's no surprise that Zion Roots earned a nomination for the Critics Award in the BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music in 2004.

Finally, Gigi's latest work, 2006's Gold & Wax, marked her return to a solo album. And while it doesn't rise to the thrilling aesthetic heights of Zion Roots, Gold & Wax--as one Amazon reviewer noted--"picks up right where [Gigi] left off five years ago....Not much of a departure from her debut, but there's no point in complaining about more of a very good thing."

And overall, Gigi's music is indeed a reliably good thing and an essential part of any modern Ethiopian music collection, particularly Zion Roots and Gigi.

Some of my favorite Gigi songs...

- "Bati Bati" from Zion Roots

- "Gud Fella" from Gigi

- "Gomelaleye" from Gold & Wax

- "Aba Alem Lemenea" from Zion Roots

This last song is particularly interesting to me, as the first time I heard it, it was immediately arresting; a stop-you-in-your-tracks type of song. As I was trying to describe it, the phrase that kept recurring to me was "painfully lovely," though exactly what made it "painful," I couldn't quite put my finger on (especially since I had no idea what the lyrics were saying). However, I later read an interview with Gigi where she commented on the origins of this song, saying she wrote it as a cry to God:

"'Aba Alem Lemenea' means 'Father, Why the World for Me?'. It's a song that I wrote when I was kind of sad...you know, when you feel like you don't know why people do things around you, why they say things to you, or why you love and hate at the same time, why you're rich now and poor tomorrow. It's like when I lost control of my life. You know that the world is out there, but you can't help yourself from doing bad things, like smoking. (laughs). It's spiritual song. It's also kind of a prayer to God saying 'Help me.'"

Proof yet again that the heart of any good song, its emotional truths, know no language barriers. Music itself is a truly transcendent language.

Ethiopian Music - Artist Spotlight: Minyeshu

I've been cogitating about how best to continue my series of posts on Ethiopian music. Why all the worry? Well, I fear that some people (heck, maybe most people) will be so unused to the sounds of Ethiopian music that if I start with something too unusual sounding, they might not give it a chance.

Case in point: my normally very musically-open-minded husband. I had loaded some Ethiopian music on the ol' iPod, and one day an Ethiopian song came up on shuffle that sounded pretty "out there" (even to me). Unfortunately, this was my husband's very first exposure to any Ethiopian music, and it kind of left a sour taste in his mouth. It has taken weeks of me sneakily absconding with his iPod and stuffing it with Ethiopian tunes to get him to give Ethiopian music another try. Thankfully, it's been a success. In fact, he commented just the other day about a song in the Ethiopiques series that he really liked.

All that to say that I don't want to get off on the same kind of rocky footing on my blog! So I've been trying to find some ferenji-friendly music (read: music that won't sound too off-the-wall to everyday Americans) to get the musical ball rolling. And I had been drawing a blank...until I ran across an artist named Minyeshu.

Right about now I might be provoking the ire of some Ethiopian folks who would argue against this choice! For starters, Minyeshu, though born and raised in Ethiopia, no longer lives there. She lives in western Europe and married a Belgian man, so strictly speaking this is diaspora music rather than music made in Ethiopia. Second, this is hardly classical Ethiopian music; it's very contemporary stuff (her most recent album was released in 2008), clearly influenced by Western music. All in all, perhaps not the most "authentically" Ethiopian choice.

However, for those leery of Ethiopian music, Minyeshu's music remains a great entry point. Sure, it's westernized, but it retains elements of classical Ethiopian music--the minor keys, some traditional sounding vocal styles, and lyrics sung in Amharic. Plus, Minyeshu was born and raised in Ethiopia, and at a young age, she began performing with the National Theater of Ethiopia. While on a musical tour in 1996, Minyeshu visited Europe and, because of political instability in Ethiopia, decided to stay in Europe and make it her home.

In 2002, she released her first solo album, Meba, which--alas!--I have not been able to find a copy of. But I have discovered her second album, 2008's Dire Dawa, and have thoroughly enjoyed it. It is (in brief) lovely, laid-back music brimming with quiet joy. And while it appeals to my Western ear, it simultaneously maintains a distinctly Ethiopian vibe. One review describes it particularly well:

"Like Aster Aweke and Gigi Shibabaw before her, Minyeshu Kifle has subtly adapted Ethiopian music for European and American sensibilities and...has added a soft-rock veneer and modern pop production to the characteristic asymmetrical rhythms and pentatonic scales of Ethiopian tradition....
[L]istening to the opener 'Halafi Nen Kealem' [sic]..., you can't help thinking that if Sheryl Crow lived in Addis Ababa rather than California, she might sound a little like this.
If that sounds critical, it isn't meant to be. The marriage of Ethiopian forms and Western pop motifs is effected with an easy panache and potency so that Minyeshu manages to sound both accessible to a wider audience yet still authentically -- and proudly -- Ethiopian at the same time."

But hey--why not judge for yourself? You can buy Minyeshu's Dire Dawa CD at Amazon. Unfortunately, because it's an import CD, it's kind of pricey: $29. So, in the interest of informed consumerism, I've taken the liberty of tracking down a couple mp3s from this album. If you choose to download them, please listen to them and then buy the CD if you like it.

Track 1 - "Halafi Nenke Alam"

Track 8 - "Buna"

(Random fact: "buna" is the Amharic word for "coffee.")

Track 11 - "Ayasresam"

Research Rundown: Ethiopian Music, Part 1

It occurs to me that while I would love to get more in-depth book reviews done, I am already up to my neck in all of the busyness happening around here right now. Nevertheless, even if I don't have time for daily book reviews, I am constantly researching one thing or another. (Need to know how to install slate flooring? How to research your creepy neighbor's criminal history? What to do with leftover blueberry bagels? You name it; I've googled it!)

As you might expect, the majority of my queries lately have been adoption-related. And because some of these research topics might actually be useful to other people, I figured I'd share. Sometimes it may be just a couple interesting links; other times it could be a whole mess of information. Either way, I hope it helps!

Today's research topic: Ethiopian music.

Ten bucks says that by now you've now guessed where we're adopting from. That's right...Colombia! No, seriously, it's as obvious as it seems: Ethiopia. And because my husband and I love music and it's always played a big part in our lives, I wanted to educate myself (however cursorily) about Ethiopian music. I figure it's a win-win endeavor: we'll learn more about Ethiopian culture and hopefully run across some cool songs in the process. Plus, anything that might help ease our kids' transition is a good thing, even if it's only background music.

With all this in mind, I set out to explore the wide world of Ethiopian music. And the biggest, most obvious entrance point is French music label Buda Musique's Ethiopiques collection, the mother lode of Ethiopian music available in the Western world. This 23-volume series compiles the highlights of Ethiopian music, primarily from the 1960s and 1970s, with each volume presenting a different artist or sub-genre of music.

Thus, from what I gather, the Ethiopiques collection tends more toward being a historical document than CDs of popular tunes you'd hear on the radio. Perhaps an American equivalent might be a CD box set of popular music through the decades, from early rock and roll to Motown to disco, etc. While most Americans would recognize songs by Elvis or The Supremes or the Bee Gees, they're not necessarily constant radio fare anymore.

Nevertheless, a number of the artists featured in the Ethiopiques series still play today and remain very popular. For example, Alèmayèhu Eshèté, Mahmoud Ahmed, and Gétatchèw Mèkurya played in New York City just a few days ago, in what looks like an incredible show! (Here's a picture of Eshèté and Ahmed that night from BrooklynVegan.)

So Ethiopiques is a great starting point for Ethiopian music...but with 23 volumes, where do you start? Thankfully, there's a 2-disc compilation, The Very Best of Ethiopiques, which gives a taste of each volume. From that, you can hopefully get a feel for the general vibe of each volume before you decide what other volumes to buy. Also, you can listen to song samples at Emusic.com.

(And as a side note, let me suggest that if you decide to purchase any of the Ethiopiques series, buy it from Emusic. As long as you don't mind buying mp3s instead of actual, physical compact discs, Emusic offers a much better deal than anywhere else I've seen.)

A little warning, though--unless you are already a fan of jazz and African world music, the music in the Ethiopiques series will probably strike you as very unusual. I know it wasn't at all what I expected. Part smoky jazz lounge, part early James Bond movie soundtrack, with a blaring emphasis on the horn section, the golden era of Ethiopian music is truly a creature unto itself! The melody structures are often complex and rarely "resolve" to the Western ear (which, of course, is not a bad thing--just different). Also, the general vibe sounds quite distinct, a kind of building, repetitious groove that at times becomes downright hypnotic. (Just today, I found myself totally zoning out to it as I was stuffing pasta shells for dinner!)

So if I sound like I'm having trouble describing this music, well, I am! The more modern, popular music of today's Ethiopia will probably strike American listeners as much more familiar-sounding, but the golden age of Ethiopian music is refreshingly unlike anything else. Which makes it that much more important to listen to it, as it symbolizes a truly unique cultural offering on the world stage--one to be proud of and to teach our children to be proud of.

As for the aforementioned Ethiopian popular music of today, well, I had planned to continue with that, but I've already written so much that I'm going to take a break for now! Let's just consider this Part 1, then! Part 2 to come soon.

And in the meantime, if you're still feeling clueless about where to start with Ethiopian music, check out Ethio-Borsaye, a "site for Ethiopians and friends" that features a music player on the upper-right hand corner of its page. There you can listen to a good mix of classic Ethiopian songs and present-day hits.

So listen for yourself and let me know what you think!