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Aster’s Ballads

Aster Aweke Aster's Ballads
Kabu Records 24 April 2006

Soul singer-songwriter Aster Aweke is a living legend in her native Ethiopia, and although contemporary Ethiopian pop is rarely appreciated outside its borders, over the years she’s managed to garner an international following. A transnational artist who shuttles between Los Angeles, California and Addis Ababa, her 2006 album, Aster’s Ballad’s, is a euphonious blend of the traditional and modern, mixing live instrumentation and traditional folk melodies in a unique, jazzy style thats rarely heard in present-day Ethiopian music. More reminiscent of older, ‘60’s era recordings (yet clearly less brassy), this album is a pleasant contrast to the genre’s usual synthesized fare. Produced by Abegaz Shiota, it weaves traditional instruments, horns, live drums, piano, guitar and bass in a seamless manner. “Minew” is the album’s opening lament; a tortured yet playful appeal to an old flame that strings an ambassel melody over a rollicking organ riff and a rhythmic arrangement of drum, bass, and kirar. Aster’s voice is clear and expressively plaintive. She’s perfected the nuances of singing tenderly but with convinction. The song is a strong, opening statement that contextualizes the album’s traditional roots while leaving much room for modern interpretation. “Munaye”, “Besebara Fole”, and “Hode Terebeshe” are equally melancholic tunes set to lush arrangements of tenor saxophones, comping jazz pianos, melodic bass and guitar.

Tizita, the album’s second name, is an Amharic word that means memory. As a style of folk music, its a genre that celebrates nostalgia, or what was once aptly described as that delicate feeling of “measured sorrow and happiness—the cherishing of loss without mourning”. While the majority of the album’s songs are indeed tizitas, the album is memorable for something much more profound. Aster’s Ballad’s is a great introduction to the beauty inherent in Ethiopian melodies and rhythm, boasting a textured, melodic sound that is, at its core, universal. For those of us who are already fans of Ethiopian music, this album is a testimony to thoughtful musicianship, engendering a sense of hope for the kind of sound we’d like to hear more often from Ethiopian artists. Indeed while the world might not yet be familiar with contemporary Ethiopian pop, Aster has managed to offer it a moving testimony to timelessly authentic, innovative music.