Aster Aweke’s voice can move from a whisper to a soaring cry within a single line. For more than four decades, it has carried Ethiopian pop to listeners at home and across the diaspora, earning her the title “Queen of Ethiopian Pop Music”.
Gondar and Addis Ababa
Aster was born in 1959 in Gondar province in northern Ethiopia. She moved to Addis Ababa with her father, who worked as a civil servant in the imperial government of Haile Selassie. The capital’s lively music scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s surrounded her as she grew up.
A young singer
As a teenager, she sang in Addis Ababa’s clubs and hotels, where bands mixed Ethiopian melodies with soul, jazz and funk. From 1977, she began producing her own music. Her voice, full of emotion and ornament, stood out even in a city full of great singers.
Leaving Ethiopia
The late 1970s were a time of political upheaval under the Derg military government, and many musicians left the country. In 1981, Aster moved to the United States and settled in Washington DC, which was becoming home to a large Ethiopian community.
The diaspora star
In Washington, she performed for Ethiopian audiences in restaurants and clubs, becoming a star of the diaspora. Her concerts gave homesick Ethiopians a place to hear their language and music.
Aster
Her album Aster was first released in 1989 by the British independent label Triple Earth and then by Columbia Records. It introduced her to international listeners who had never heard Ethiopian pop, and it became one of the best-known Ethiopian records outside the country.
Her style
Aster’s music blends traditional Ethiopian scales and vocal techniques with modern instruments and arrangements. She sings mostly in Amharic, often about love, longing and home, and her melismatic style, bending and stretching notes, is instantly recognisable.
Returning home
In 1997, she returned to Ethiopia, where she was welcomed as a national treasure. She continued to perform and record, moving between Ethiopia and the diaspora.
Kabu Records
She founded her own recording studio and label, Kabu Records. Through it, she released widely praised albums including Hagere in 1999, Sugar in 2001, Aster Ballads in 2004, Fikir in 2006 and Checheho in 2010.
Influence
Aster is regarded as one of the most important Ethiopian artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Younger Ethiopian singers often cite her as an influence, and her songs remain staples at weddings and celebrations.
A voice for two homes
Aster Aweke’s career has been lived between Addis Ababa and Washington, like the lives of many of her fans. Her songs speak to both places at once, which may be why they mean so much to Ethiopians wherever they are.
