Music
Alemayehu Eshete: the “Ethiopian Elvis” of Addis Ababa’s golden age
Alemayehu Eshete was one of the stars of Addis Ababa's musical golden age in the 1960s and 1970s.…
Ethiopian music
Music
Hailu Mergia: the Ethiopian keyboard star who became a Washington taxi driver
Hailu Mergia played keyboards with Ethiopia's Walias Band in the 1970s. After a 1981 US tour, he stayed…
Music
From shoeshine boy to Ethiopian legend: Mahmoud Ahmed and Erè Mèla Mèla
Mahmoud Ahmed, born in Addis Ababa's Mercato district in 1941, worked as a shoeshiner and a handyman at…
Music
“The Voice” of Ethiopia’s golden age: Tilahun Gessesse
Tilahun Gessesse (1940 to 2009), born in Waliso, was nicknamed "The Voice" for his tenor during Ethiopia's musical…
Music
A protest song, a prison sentence and a nation’s love: Teddy Afro
Teddy Afro, born Tewodros Kassahun in 1976, is one of Ethiopia's most significant musicians. His 2005 album Yasteseryal…
Music
The Queen of Ethiopian Pop: Aster Aweke’s journey from Gondar to Washington and back
Aster Aweke, born in Gondar province in 1959, is known as the Queen of Ethiopian Pop. She began…
Arts + Culture
The records Ethiopia almost lost: how the Éthiopiques series brought “Swinging Addis” to the world
In 1997, the Paris label Buda Musique, with producer Francis Falceto, began the Éthiopiques series, reissuing Ethiopian popular…