Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Abinet like it's 1999

Passing through Debre Guracha we saw a sign that read, 'Tiru sira Delala ayasfeligewim!' Indeed.

Wegid Teddy. Nor Abinet.

Whatever is equivalent to peripheral vision for hearing, if you have it, all over Addis you'll hear a song that goes, 'Suse, suse ... irabem Timatem'. I finally broke down and asked a street vendor for the CD who sold it to me for $5 birr more than what I'd have bought it for in Dembel Mall (which prolly means it goes for another 10 or 15 less in Piazza ... or I could have meqemat-ed for free it in Merkato. But I digress.)

I'm no seasoned music (or anything) critic, unless meneCHaneCH counts. I bought this CD because I liked the first song. I wish i could tell you about the rest of the CD, but I can't. I should confess - I'm one of those people who listens to the same song 100 times if she likes it. The problem with this CD is that I happen to like the first 3 songs, Suse, CHuh CHuh and Sebeb. So, I have no clue what the rest of the CD is like.

Out of curiosity, I've skipped over to listen to Wuleta, for the title. I like it but I'm saving my customary repeat play for one of those long 90 mph drives. It has that perfect inguroro thing going on.

I can however attest that the first 3 songs were worth every besa santim spent (and ripped off) this CD. If you don't have it, don't copy it. Buy it!

No, I'm not a delala :)

p.s. My only complaint about this CD is that it should have been called 'Suse' ... I'm addicted.

p.p.s. After the 57th listening, here's the lyrics to Sebeb
tewat tewat silugn, wedijat teleyehu
lesew biye tewkuat, linor biye kesew
ante kalkegn bila, heda sitasayegn
keneberew biso, chirash CHemerebign

woohoho ...

Basebign basebign chirashun basebign

basebgin basebegn fiqrua CHemerebign
Basebign basebign ...

sew hulu simekregn let teqen tazibe
saygebagn kelibe
signoda gin yelem manim kaTegebe
siCHeneq besua libe
inen bicha bila lene bicha sitnor
andim qen lesua salnor
sithed afeqerkuat abragn hono...*
ilif new leka fiqir*

Indet hono, hono linor new
isu fiqrwa gud liaregegn new
tewat sibal CHirash motkulat
amTat alegn nebsem sasalat

Basebign basebign chirashun basebign
basebgin basebegn fiqrua CHemerebign
Basebign basebign ...

quTbu fegegtash zimitash CHenquachew
mikniyat sebeb honachew
athonihim silugn min larg amenkuachew
alweTam kejachew
min semetew new aytew negerign sil yane
azenshibign wey bene
"lemin" silalaslhin asatashign wene
ay alamnew aynen
p.p.p.s I still can't figure out the two lines with asterix (*) . Maybe at 98th. Suggestions appreciated :)

p.p.p.p.s. Did they misspell his name on the CD? Abenit? If there was such a word as, 'Aben', then Abenit sounds the feminine of that. I'd write his name as Abinet ... gin you know what they say about Habeshoch. 25% die kebeshita, another 25% from famine, 25% from Torinet... and the rest die bemayagebachew gebitew. The spelling of his name bizum ayagebagnim.

p.p.p.p.p.s. I spent about 30 min trying to figure out how to post a sample track, as per Yonas's request. Then I figured the easiest way out was to "politely" piggyback off of Nolawi's player. (Nolawi, I'm only testing ;-)

Track 1 - Suse:






17 comments:

Anonymous said...

anchi zuretam, good to hear you're steppin outside addis! hope you're having fun. i've only heard one track from abinet (yah, abenit is a typo) and that was an arabic track ... song was ok, video not! make sure you post some sample teaser tracks from the album when you get back.

tobian said...

Sample track's up. Hope you likes :-)

Is the guy on that link that you gave really Abinet? AND ... is the song really Arabic, not Oromiffa? Yest, the dancers were getting on my nerves. What culture was that from?

tobian said...

Eh, Yonas, yeah it's Abinet.

Unknown said...

great great great you are podcasting music... ere this is the best player thing... I must have tried six hundred things before settled on the one we are using now...

this is great!!

PPPS. the music really sux... drum beats and synthesized voice/lyrics...

tobian said...

Nolawi, I hope you realize i'm using your player. Although I don't imagine it will tax your server much.

'Synthesized drums and voice' - ya, ya, ya.

Unknown said...

its not my player.. its everyones... opensource aydel ende?

tobian said...

mts.

i'm using the copy residing on your server.

hmm, i should have kept quiet :p

tobian said...

talking of synthesized voice, Abby is very popular in Eth. Ewww to that .

Anonymous said...

thanks for the song ... i really love it! i have a thing for arabic music.

nol, you really should try to listen beyond the synths.

Unknown said...

yonas
how can a true music lover ignore synth..

went to watch evangotti this past weekend... and they sucked...live

as you know they are th3e originators

tobian said...

yonas, glad you likes.

nolawi, ere true-music-lover-abah-yiwTa. Wachoo saying? Calling us fake to our faces? Wey difret! :-)

Anonymous said...

aye nol, sbs! you're such an arty farty music snob ... you better ease up on that synthephobia, coz contemporary ethiopian music is not likely to move away from synths in the foreseeable future. i'm afraid your choices are to: just accept it and enjoy, or stop listening to new ethiopian music.

Anonymous said...

Tobian-thanks for the post and thank you Nolawi for directing this blog link to me. I love your admission that you tend to wear out a song by listening to it continuosly. I think the majority of us do that. Though I love the lyrics to "Suse" and "Basebign," I'm with Nolawi on this one, overall the CD sucks!!! Sorry Tobian :)

tobian said...

EJ, but you break my heart ;-)

To move or not to move this to a whole new post in itself? Hmm. Well, here goes ...

I finally listened to the rest of the CD and I still like it. I also listened to his 'Dibiq Wubet' CD wich came out in 2003. I'm not crazy about all the songs, and I may have skipped a song or two, but I am amused in that I'm surprised by one track after another (like a rock style electric guitar solo, albeit synthesized, but electric guitar nonetheless)

At the back of his '03 CD it's written, 'You asked for new artists, new lyrics and new music.' And the CD, it said, was the answer. I concur.

His music may not be anchi hoye lene'na bati. In fact it usually has distinctive foreign influences, be it middle eastern, Indian or Mediterranean. But unlike say Zeritu's work, I thik his music still sounds unequivocally Ethiopian.

The Synthesizification of Ethiopian Music: Ethiopian music cannot grow if we don't create the environment for it it to grow. We're wallowing in a culture of dubbing and satisfied by live performances of copy entertainers. Being an artist, I imagine, is hard enough without having to perform for a neglectful crowd.

If I indiscriminately shunned synthesized music, then there'd be no Efrem Tamru, Hamelmal Abate, Teddy Afro, among many others, in my music collection.

Beterefe, kezih wedia, kalkefelugn I ain't volunteering no promo.

bele said...

Abinet 99, wey gize

Tigi said...


Teddy Afro's Tikur Sew Official Music Video released

amel said...

tewat tewat silugn, wedijat teleyehu
lesew biye tewkuat, linor biye kesew
ante kalkegn bila, heda sitasayegn
keneberew biso, chirash CHemerebign

woohoho ...