Eshete, Alemayehu
Ethiopian Urban Modern Music 2
Available again. Alèmayèhu Eshèté is no less than one of the great voices of the heyday of modern Ethiopian music, the swinging sixties which, in this country, went on until the fall of the Emperor Haile Sellassie 1 in 1974. On a part with Tlahoun Gèssèssè, Bizunèsh Bèqèlè or Mahmoud Ahmed, Alèmayèhu is a star at the top level of the constellation that once lit up the wild nights in the capital. The singer, as remarkable for his frenetic rock numbers as for his heart-rending ballads, has, by dint of rampant Americanism, earned himself nicknames as the Ethiopian James Brown or the Abyssinian Elvis. With his dazzling stage presence, nimble voicebox and wicked pompadour, he is a strutting show-off, straight out of 'American Graffiti' or 'Saturday Night Fever'. His youthfulness untarnished although he is well into his '60s, Alèmayèhu still represents the explosive myth of the 1960s.