Name: Asnaketch
Brand: Asnakech Worku

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

ATFA031CD

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2018-11-16

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Cargo

Tax rate GB

UPC / Barcode

843563105955

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Total Cap

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

ATFA031LP

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843563105962

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2 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Asnakech Worku

Genre GB

African

Label GB

Awesome Tapes From Africa

Legendary singer / instrumentalist at her mid-1970s prime and backed by Hailu Mergia. There is perhaps no woman more cherished in modern Ethiopian history than Asnakech Worku. As a musician, actress, dancer and culturalicon, Asnakech inspired and challenged society for decades, until her death in 2011. From her beginnings as Ethiopia’s first theater actress in 1952 to her climb to become one of the most famous actresses at the National Theater to her days as a club owner-turned-master musician, Asnakech’s inimitable confidence and charm made her a household name. She earned endless accolades across the artistic spectrum. She made seminal recordings of unforgettable original compositions, as well as legendary renditions of traditional songs, that became national staples. With a singular sense of style, glamour and sex appeal that sometimes stunned mainstream society, Asnakech wore clothes no one else wore and said things no one else said. Staid notions of how women should dress andbehave didn’t apply to her. Battling a mentality that until the early 1950s had men wearing dresses to play female roles in the theater,Asnakech became a national treasure on her own terms. Her family wasn’t pleased with Asnakech becoming an azmari—an itinerant praise musician who sings, often in bars, for tips—and didn’t bother her, especially after Emperor Haile Selassie I began to emphasizetheater and music in society, officially legitimizing her career. 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. All this while leaving controversy, broken hearts and a changed cultural landscape in her wake. In 1975, keyboardist and bandleader Hailu Mergia got a call from the owner of Misratch Music Shop to do a recording with Asnakech and he went for it. This recording is a nearly-forgotten artifact of theremarkable icon’s singular legacy, remastered and available outside Ethiopia for the first time. It also provides a rare glimpse into 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 onAsnakech’s incisive - and occasionally romantic - lyrics and her virtuosic krar performance. 

Asnaketch

Music GB