Aster Aweke - classic or dud

She is considered a legend in Ethiopian music circles, but whether you will like it is another question. For awhile she was living in the US, here in DC in the 80s, later in Los Angeles I think, not sure where she is now. She might be considered over-the-hill now by some, or get dismissed because she received crossover attention in the US and UK.

older Ethiopian music here:

Ethiopiques S/D

Yeah yeah, Ethiopiques. Ethiopian music for cardigan wearing jazzers.

Back to Aster Aweke and her "Fiker" - nice voice, worrying musical accompaniment.

worrying musical accompaniment

Does this mean keyboard synth backing? That's all I usually hear from Ethiopian musicians in DC. Often too mellow or schmaltzy but I recently heard a group that was more upbeat and rocking and not like anything else I had heard from locally based Ethiopians.

Haven't heard Fiker, but I loveloveLOVE the one simply entitled Aster. Kinda Westernized production, but with real piano vs. synths, and lotsa horns. Saw her several times in the 90s, and she always amazed.

Curmudgeon, you have the sound of Fiker down. I am unsure as to whether this record will prove a keeper or not.

I see that in March of this year she released "Aster's Ballads," a retrospective of songs from over the years, on Kabu records. On the 30 second sound samples on http://payplay.fm/asteraweke her voice sounds powerful. I'm gussing the music will vary depending which prior release it comes from.

She's in Atlanta for New Year's Eve and in DC at DC Star New Year's Day. I've decided that I love her voice so much that it doesn't matter too much to me whether she's singing over smooth jazzy synth/keyboards or over more active rhythms with booming horns

Aster is still the undisputed queen of Ethiopian pop (tho her voice to some non-Ethiopians is grating)
Her first two major releases in the US in late 80s Aster and Kabu are great. Her stuff from the late 70s and early 80s in Ethiopia is unavailable unless you feel like cassette shopping in Addis.

Think the Fikir album you got Vicar was the slide downwards in quality, much more synths and hyeah hollow, she just released a new album which i havent heard yet but a friend was on Facebook offering to give his copy away before he threw it at the wall and asking where the Aster who gave us Kabu had disappeared to (and btw, Ethiopiques also = Ethiopian muisc for Ethiopians)

the Aster's Ballads album is a good introduction (she redid all the songs so production is consistent) tho you do lose all her high energy stuff, check out Sebebu from the first album for a sense

Curmedgeon, her live shows in Addis are with full bands with horn sections, no idea what her US touring band is like but she works the stage, should be a good show

Where is she living these days? She lived in DC in the 80s.

I understand her NYC show the other night was amazing. And yes, some Ethiopians here (kind of like the Cubans in Miami) in the US have decided that Aster is somehow not politically correct back home, and were calling on folks to boycott her shows. I do not think the boycott calls got much support.

Banning Eyre liked her first NYC show in 10 years also (in addition to the blogger who e-mailed me).

http://blog.afropop.org/2011/02/aster-aweke-awakens-nycs-ethiopian-soul.html#

Info about her recent cd in the link also.

10 years since her last NYC show and the NY Times does not review it. Weird. I would figured Pareles or Ratliff would have done so.

not that surprising that the times would not do a review but i am gonna have to check out the new album.

initial feedback made it sound like the last cpl which i hated but hearing from folx here that its decent and banning's review of the album of yer blog post was positive so have to give a listen

North American tour ongoing:

remaining gigs

Dec 7th: Seattle | Dec 21st: Toronto | Dec 28th: Minneapolis | Dec 31st: Dallas | Jan 1st: Las Vegas

******GRAND FINALE - Jan 4th: Washington DC ******

Aster's gonna be at huge DC techno club Echostage backed by DC's the Feedel Band.

Haven't seen her since Seattle in the 90s. I'll likely be out of town post-Christmas and miss her in Minneapolis. I can't find venue info anywhere.

I only found out the DC venue info because I had written about the backing group and sent them a facebook message asking for the specific venue. I got that itinerary from her Facebook page, and from the Feedel band's page.

Dan, a member of the Feedel Band who are backing Aster on this tour said the Minneapolis gig was great and sold-out. She's adding a Philadelphia show this month I think, and a NYC show in February.

Here's what I wrote on the Rolling Outernational 2014 music thread:

I saw Aster Aweke in a late gig in DC last night/this morning. She was great--wide vocal range, charismatic, dancing around and backed by top DC Ethiopian old-school style outfit the Feedel Band. Other than a blonde woman I saw with an Ethiopian guy; and some Echostage club employees, I think my gf and I were the only non-Ethiopians there among the crowd of hundreds (400 maybe). Tickets were $40 in advance and $50 at the door. The last Ethiopian show I saw there (Mahmoud Ahmed with Teddy Afro) was even more crowded (with roughly the same ratio of Ethiopians & non-Ethiopians). The promoter of this one blamed the non-working heat in the cold cavernous building for discouraging walkups (texted by people already there not to come). Although this promoter also didn't seem to get postcards and flyers out to every Ethiopian restaurant in the DC/MD/VA region the way the prior gig's promoter did. It still surprises me that virtually no area non-Ethiopian resident attended. Despite the language barrier and the sometimes challenging to Westerners ululating Middle eastern like vocal techniques sometimes used, this was great music from arguably the most acclaimed vocalist from another country appearing in DC, home as well to former Peace Corps volunteers, State Department employees, and international non-profit & NGO types, World Bank staffers, whom one might think would be interested. But I guess the late start time, the price, the location (far from the subway in Northeast DC), the lack of crossover publicity (other than my Washington City Paper preview & my concert calendar email & blogpost) and the language & music barriers discouraged even those folks.

― curmudgeon, Sunday, January 5, 2014 4:47 PM (0 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post

Aster's 2013 album is pretty good

Turns out Mpls show was at Epic, which used to be Quest, which used to be Glam Slam (Prince's place.) Odd place for her. Never a venue I've enjoyed, but glad it sold out. We have a large and fervent Ethiopian community here.