I’m pretty busy today but time for a quick post.

I already posted an Alemayehu Eshete track a while back, but I didn’t really do the guy justice. It’s a rare cloudy day in Dakar and everyone seems to be moving a little slower. Perfect weather for some more East Coast funk from The Man in 1970s Ethiopia.

One has to wonder what would have happened to Ethiopian music if the country hadn’t fallen apart in 1974. With the possible exception of Ghanaian Highilfe and Nigerian Afrobeat, I can’t think of another significant African musical movement in the 60s and 70s that was so cool. Leisure suits, afro cuts and guys running around screaming “baby, why dontchyou come back to me now, you know you want it, baby, you NEED me!” in Amharic.

Anyway. Lots to do. You can find great collections of his earlier music on the Ethiopiques compilations vols. 3, 9 and 10. (Don’t believe emusic, by the way. He didn’t die in 1969. Where’d they get that?)

ps- Unfortunately Eshete discovered the Casio in the 80s and 90s and never looked back. I suggest you stick to his early material if you don’t want to feel the same remorse as you may have felt when you re-watched The Neverending Story a little too late in your teens.

Alemayehu Eshete - Teredtchewalehu
Alemayehu Eshete - Eskegizew Bertchi