One of the best times I spent during my short break home was with my emama. On one of these occasions I was tickled to learn that we have ETV2. A second Ethiopian Television channel that ends at 10:00pm. My mom doesn't own a satellite dish, in fact she hates the television. The only reason the TV is turned on is so that the house won’t be quiet. Well, one night as I was enjoying my tea with lemon and my mom her White Horse with ambo, I heard a familiar tune. I was suprised to see a young Abesha dude on Masinko and a white dude on drums jamming to “Yematebela Wof.”
The song has always been a favorite of mine. "Yematebela Wef" was written and performed first by the late great Assefa Abate. In this instance it was being performed by Dereb Desalegn and Nicky Bomba. The song was funky to say the least. What amazed me was that that apart from Dereb the remaining musicians were Caucasian. The tune captivated me so that the next morning I was searching for their CD/Cassette. I was extremely disappointed when I was told that the CD had not been released yet. The moment I returned I searched for the album and any information I could find about them.
Though the CD was available, it was only available in Australia and I did not want to wait two weeks for its arrival. I looked in iTunes and boy I was thrilled when I got the entire album for $9.98. I downloaded the music and was thrilled to hear 10 solid tracks. The only drawback from the iTunes service is that it lacks the line notes.
I wanted to find out who the other musicians were on the album. I emailed the distributor, Transmitter, if they could send me the information to no avail. Some more internet searches yielded the following information. Dereb a masinko player was born in Ethiopia moved to Australia after marring an Australian he met while she was working for an NGO in Addis Ababa. Nicky Bomba, is a Maltese born drummer. Nicky Bomba is also the leader of a band called Bomba. What sets apart this amazing CD from others in the same genre, is the instrumentation. The addition of the drums, hammond, guitar, bass, percussion, as well as a brass section in one of the songs, adds color that lacks in Ethiopian music CDs nowdays. I've added "Yematebhela Wof" and "Satenow" in the podcast and enjoy "YW" and "Korabelina" on Youtube.
The entire track list:
01. Tizta
02. Woylata
03. Birtukan
04. Shegitu
05. Yematbehla Wof
06. Korabelina
07. Satenow
08. Anbasehl
09. Bella
10. Anchihoyeh
"Yematebhela Wof"
"Korabelina"
Yemetebhela Wof
Korabelina
I’m loving it! (although i can’t make out a single full sentence of the second video. Is it just in one language?)
Also, EJ, he may be the only habesha, but they’re not all “Caucasian”
Tobian–glad you’re digging it. I should have made it clear, I was talking about my observation in regards to the “Yematbhela Wof” video. But, you are correct that he is the only Abesha.
…tnx ethiojazz…I remember watching this guy perform @ an Azmari Mishit @ Alliance EthioFrancaize a while back…a song about Wollo….
Ethio Jazz – Captivating indeed. I am especially enjoying Satenow. Also, I just watched the Korabelina video for the second time and found it so entertaining. They all look so relaxed and natural, like a group of friends who decided to get together to make some music and have lots of fun
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you EJazz !!
Great way to start the day. A little ESKESTA on my own.
EJazz,
I am going to do two things now:
1. bookmark bernos.org &
2. express my gratitude to you for an excellent selection.
I have already listened to some of your selections.Had it not been for people like you, I doubt it if I would have come across some of the music I am listening to right now. Thanks.
-sam-
Hello, EJ
this is a great sound!
I find myself thinking how much Ethio Music suxs, it is just horrible with the synthesization of vocals. Min alebet besemune ena they start omitting these fad.
beterefe there are a few gems out there and we are glad EJ is around here to find them for us.
Keep it up!
Ejey – !There should be a thread of Ejiopiques for us to listen to while we enjoy our chat in the background. Keep up the great job.
Great music EJ!!
I’m def. digging the songs! there’s something special about each one that captures my fancy…
lulu ditto… loved the natural-ness of the video
does the duo have a name.. or is that “drums and lions” ?
SWEEEEEt! Love it. Thanks EthioJazz.
Great music.
Thanks EJ.
Is it possible to get a heads up when the CD is released? If you just send a line to Bernosawian to let us know the CD is in stores so we can support as the same time enjoy nice music.
Abe
Very nice selection ethiojazz. Lovin’ it a bunch!
I like these very nice!
tasteful.
thanks, ej.
Wow–great responses–thnx everyone. A little more info I got on Dereb Desalegn is that he use to by Dereb Zenebe before he moved to Melbourne, Australia. Here’s a clip I found of him.
Tobian–I believe the entire “Korabelina” is in Amharic. i sometime have to hear it twice and more to make out the lyrics.
lulu–if I had to choose a favorite from the album it would have to be “Satenow.” That song gets me each and everytime I hear it.
bgFelasfit–the duo is known as Dereb Desalegn & Nicky Bomba.
Abebe–will definitely give a heads up the moment I find out of its release in the States.
hi, glad to see our music had a good effect on you.
this is dereb and nicky sitting in a kitchen in williamstown, australia enjoying the fact that someone on the other side of the world has made a spiritual connection with our music. we let transmitter know of your requests. we are embarking on a tour of australia in may/june then in LA (Aug)with a gig at the levitt pavilion. this sunday we are at the Fina cultural festival in melbourne…
enjoy the music and thanks for supporting us.
jah bless
x dereb and nicky
by the way the caucasion “musicians” in yematbehla wof are all…….nicky.(he he) the beauty of video editing…… or maybe it was a clone… hmmmm..
Glad to see you here from down yonder…Keep it up!
hey nicky and dereb, can ya’ll come around to the states?
I love it man
great of u to post it hear, Asefa’s songs are always impressive whoever or how ever it is song
omgggggggg hay u guys yematbela wef this tune drives me crazy man.Dereb konjo antem leben ademahew bochacreh bochacreh,Esti tell me yemtebela wef neh?hehehe i love ur smile des telalh.
I saw Dereb and Nicky play live at a cultural festival in Fitzroy and danced my lil tush off; t’was so good I bought the CD ‘Drums and Lions’ and am crazy about it. Though tis hard to listen into the car given the restrictions dance-wise! Highly recommend purchase and support our talented and culturally diverse artists.
Thankyou for the increased exposure to Ethiopian strains, though I beg thee for a translation with any future releases! I try desperately to follow the lyrics and translate them, but the only online Amharic dictionary I can find doesn’t seem to translate much of what I put to it at all! *sigh* (And tis such poor form to go back to a guy I dated to ask him to translate it for me! *blush*)
Do keep up the amazing tunes that entice the body to shake it!
thank you so much you about for this. your .ethiopian tradetion . seiwing yematebela wophe..tecnical .to
sound gittar . gittares man i love to thos .two .
man . .
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