A bit of a different direction for us this one, but who wants a linear listening experience, ay? We came across this digital copy of Aster Aweke's tape on Keifa Records, and thought that you might want a listen too.Aweke is a Ethiopian born singer, who has often been described as the Ethiopian Aretha Franklin. This is more of a comment on her stature in East African music as oppose to musical similarities as we can't really see the resemblance as such, and most of her songs aren't a pop-style three and a half minutes long.
She moved to America in 1979 to pursue her education, but due to her growing popularity in Ethiopian communities her friends persuaded her to carry on singing and recording music. She is still a massive influence in on Ethiopian music. When she performed in Addis Ababa in 1997, she drew a crowd of over 50,000 people, which is pretty good going as she wasn't exactly able to tweet about it. In recent times, she's played with Pras (Fu gee la) to crowds in excess of 10,000 in her home country. She still makes music and lives in Los Angeles.
We're really into this tape. You should listen to it too, basically, and let us know how you get on.
Side 1.
Side 2.
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