So … the interview was … ምን ልበላችሁ …አለ አይደል … umm … በቃ …ቂቂቂቂቂቂ ….(Ok. There’s only so much Zerututalk I can write!) … excruciating! It was insufferable. Agonizing. It brought back memories of first days of ፍስለታ ጾም when I was a kid, you know, right around 2PM, in time for የምትፈናከት የቀትር ጸሃይ, when they’d start lining us up, all unknowing, sin-less, ረሃብ የቦጨቃቸዉ kids so we can መቁረብ, and for one moment, እግዜር ተእምሩ እያልቅ, there’s … harmony, as discord ceases to exist in the minds of millions of Ethiopians – albeit all children – across the country as they stare up at the adults, making it seem like their stares were actually directed to the heavens in piety and awe, while in fact all were whishing that this process would end, like, now, as in አሁኑኑ፥ በቃን፥ ደከመን፥ ራበን፥ ሰለቸን፥ ቄሱም ጉሮሯቸው ነቃ … where is …እንትን … what was it …why are we here … ረሃብ makes one delirious … eh …አዎ … where is … ቁርባኑ? Give me .... whatever it is now and let it all be over. Now, goddammit! (and BTW, እግዜርዬ ይቅር ይበለን for having these thoughts). Yup, that was her interview. Where exactly was it going, and why was I following?
Every whisper (“Baby”, not seductive!), laughter, ‘Arif’ …. አሰቃቂ … goddddddammn. The thing was supposed to last 1 hour and I was watching the time counter on WinAmp tick, thinking እውነት? .. ሌላም ልትይ ነው? ተይ እንጅ? ወይ ጉድ … እስቲ? So I kept going. Sadomasochism 101: Theories of Habesh Molqaqification.
Then the time hit 33 minutes and something changed. Nothing really happened - I just came to the realization that this girl was …. f***ing crazy! They say ማር ሲበዛ ይመራል … well, here’s one for you : ኮምጣጤ ሲበዛ ይጣፍጣል. I LIKE HER! Me like crazzzy. She’s crazy. Have I stressed that enough?
We keep complaining about how habesh are bound and held back by ይሉኝታ, “ሰው ምን ይለኛል” mentality, unfaltering attachment to our “Ethionpian-ness”, our great history and long traditions, that we have an unfaltering definition of education as the fields of science, engineering/medicine and success is defined by those and only those.
This girl doesn’t have an ounce of ይሉኝታ left (or born) in her, her Ethiopian-ness needs a classification of its own. She is more of a candidate for a ፈረንጅ whose soul was stolen by aliens, implanted into an Ethiopian skin, and dropped on the Abyssinian highlands by some cosmic fluke. She has an unabashed lack of appreciation for … almost anything Ethiopian (oh wait, no … can we surmise that she likes አንጀራ, but obviously not ዳቦ?). This girl … has almost no appreciation for education, nor does she seem to have had much of it, for that matter. Not only does Zeritu not care about what the public says of her, she doesn’t seem to care what her አብሮ አደግ thinks of her (or what Zeritu says of her!) Above all, we’ve to give this to her … she’s young, successful and ደፋር to the point of አይን አውጣነት!
Well, አዳሜ ሃበሻ … be careful what you wish for … the 21st century delivers to you, “Baby”, with a banging style.
Having said that, I should also note that I don’t like her music. Here’s the problem: you know those Ethiopian songs that are so looooooong that even if you start off liking the song, 7 minutes later (Efrem Tamru is notorious for this) you ready to break the radio, or into a deliverance prayer, because you feel … nauseated? The problem with her music is that I can only listen to the first one minute before the impatient brain cell starts screaming ‘next!’ Her stuff is mildly refreshing, but not captivating.
Unsurprisingly, her music reminds me some pop songs I’ve heard on some
I may refrain from listening any further interviews with Zeritu (coz now it’s flipped back to ማር ሲበዛ ይመራል, you know), but I will look forward to her next album. I hope that by then she’d have grown a little bit more of … substance, while maintaining her dis-Ethiopian Ethiopianness intact.
Yup, yup …. I dig this chick, man. She’s crazy.