Monday, 2 September 2013

Aster Is Born

Tsonga Disco Month is over. In case any of you are worried about suffering from cold turkey, we are going to wean you off it slowly with some more top-notch African pop.

While I was in Addis last year I picked up a copy of "Atasrejugne", an album by Aster Kebede that came out in 2010. It's great. Today's first pick is particularly groovy, and likely to get a spin down the Eleanor Arms if Frankie (a.k.a. The Minestrone of Sound) goes through with his misguided proposal that I do a guest "set" one night when nobody is in.

I know nothing else about Aster. There are a few home video quality clips of her newer recordings on YouTube, but whether she is a big star back in Ethiopia I couldn't tell you. If she isn't, she should be.

"Engdih Jemeregne" - Aster Kebede

"Algebagnem Gudayu" - Aster Kebede

To the traditional unrelated 80s videoclip. Our old friend Charity Chic recently referred to Tsonga Month as a "labour of love". He was only half-right - there was no labour involved, just love - but he did prompt me to dig out this old hit by two brothers who, like Chic himself, are of the Scottish persuasion. I don't mean the Proclaimers, or the Jesus and Mary Chain, or the Longmuir brothers from the Bay City Rollers, or even Jimmy Shand and his less well-known brother, Hand. These ones.

 

1 comment:

  1. You would have been better off with the Rollers Ernie.
    I can't stand Pat Kane - a talking head talking up his own derriere!

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