WORKU ASNAKECH - VINYL ASNAKECH [VINYL]

Popis - ASNAKECH [VINYL]:
Legendary singer/instrumentalist at her mid-1970s prime. Carefully extracted from cassette and remastered by ATFA family engineer Jessica Thompson. There is perhaps no woman more cherished in modern Ethiopian history than Asnakech Worku. As a musician, actress, dancer and cultural icon, Asnakech inspired and challenged society for decades, until her death in 2011. Asnakech became an internationally-celebrated performer of Ethiopia's ancient harp, the krar, making her one of the most visible female musicians of the 20th century. This recording is a nearly-forgotten artifact of the remarkable icon's singular legacy, remastered and available outside Ethiopia for the first time. It also provides a rare glimpse into Hailu Mergia's work as a arranger-sideman in the Addis Ababa music scene. This trio recording featuring Mergia on organ and Temare Harege on drums using only brushes is starkly minimal but deeply evocative. The minimalist arrangements ensure the focus is on Asnakech's incisive -and occasionally romantic- lyrics and her virtuosic krar performance.