I spent the month of April in Ethiopia this year and was able to bring home a shoe-box full of cassettes from some of my favorite musicians. Ethiopiques offers one of the most comprehensive and expansive collections of Ethiopian music, so my cassette shopping focused more on musicians I enjoyed from the series, or some that were conspicuously excluded, like Kiros Alemayhu, perhaps the most legendary of Tigray singers from Northern Ethiopia. The next few posts will be some cassettes from Ethiopia, from the likes of Kiros Alemayhu, Mahmoud Ahmed, Tilahun Gessesse (who passed away while I was in Addis Ababa, tragically), Gashaw Adal, Tsegaye Eshetu and a few others, as well as some Ugandan FM radio broadcasts.
Here are a few tracks from one of the six Mahmoud Ahmed cassettes I grabbed from National Music Shop in Makele, Northern Ethiopia.

“Silenafekechign Aynamayitu”
“Ere Goraw”
“Tizita”
“Esti eyulign Yachin Loga”
thanks to Jofe for the translation and song-titles! Here’s a bit of info from the email regarding these songs:
“1. “Silenafekechign Aynamayitu” – Silenafekechign=Because I miss her, Aynamayitu=Her, with big bright eyes..
4. “Ere Goraw” This is a special one, in that it is a national rally (for war). It strikes a chord in many Ethiopians, and it has been around for centuries (there are similar others). Basically the style remains the same while the lyrics change according to the singer, or enemy to be fought against.
5. “Tizita” Literally translated, Memories. Another national treasure. I don’t know who or when this “song” came into history, but it is probably centuries. The scale, and basic melody remains the same. This is one of the songs every artist is tested by for national acceptance as far as I can remember. Almost all the famous ones have their own rendition of this, sometimes modifying the lyrics in their own ways.
6. “Esti eyulign Yachin Loga”..that’s like the first line of the chorus. It translates to “Check on that young lady for me” and “Iswan iyasebku meshto nega” means “Time went from dusk till dawn, thinking about her.”
Thanks Jofe!