http://musicinafrica.net/recording-industry-eritrea?language=en
The recording industry in Eritrea
Sep 20, 2016 • by In-house Kenya • 1 • Creative Commons Licence
By Tedros Abraham
A lack of reliable and consistent economic data affects the extent to
which the music industry is appraised within and across most African
countries, Eritrea is no exception. Information about the Eritrean
recording industry is minimal. For a nation that has had to endure
years of war, music production in Eritrea, starting from 1950s, has
always been faced with many challenges. A restricting political space,
lack of music education as well as recording facilities are just a few
of the challenges. This text explores the recording industry in
Eritrea.
Eritrea's Helen Meles during a recording session. Photo courtesy of
Tedros Abraham
× Eritrea's Helen Meles during a recording session. Photo courtesy of
Tedros Abraham
Introduction
Before the 1980s, there was hardly any existing full-fledged recording
studios in Eritrea. Tewelde Redda, a famous Eritrean guitarist of the
1960s to mid-70s, recorded many of Asmara Theatre Association’s
(Ma.Te.A.) music during live performances. Music arrangers like Osman
Abdelrahim and Alamin Abdeletif whose modern music arrangements
borrowed from western influences also played a role in shaping the
music of the time.
In the 1980s when Ethiopian music, mainly Amharic was dominant, the
few active Tigrigna singers (Yohannes Estifanos, Tareke Tesfahiwet,
Mulugeta Beyene and Berhane Haile) in Asmara recorded their music at
the Police Orchestra facilities. In these recordings, Isaac Banjaw, a
music composer and arranger, played a significant role in producing
Tigrigna music of the 1980s. However, Tsegay Beraki, one of the famous
musicians of the time, recorded his 1990 album Afom Mear’yu in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia.
Also during this time, musicians in the armed struggle recorded their
music in the underground studio of the Radio of the Broad Masses of
the EPLF. The station was also used to play revolutionary music aired
to the Eritrean audience who were under Ethiopian controlled areas of
Eritrea. Music remained part of the struggle campaign and raised
popular support encouraging the youth to be part of the struggle.
Tekle Kiflemariam’s (popularly known as Wedi Tukul) Yikealo, which
came after the 1988 military victory that liberated Afabet town from
Ethiopian army, and Ahmed Mohammed’s (aka Wedi Shiek) Hayet Enta are
just two of the albums produced at the underground studio.
Exiled Eritrean musicians produced their works in Sudan and Saudi
Arabia. For instance, Yemane Ghebremichael’s (Barya) Zemen album was
produced in Saudi Arabia by the famous Eritrean music composer
Abdallah Abubaker who had played with Ma.Te.A. (Asmara Theatre
Association) and Rocket Band in the 1970s. Sami Berhane also recorded
his album Nabra Aykonen in Saudi. Idris Mohammed Ali and Bereket
Mengsteab on the other hand recorded their music in the Sudan.
During this period most music composers were self-taught and had
revolutionized traditional beats blending them with contemporary
popular genres. Tewelde Redda’s unique guitar skills invoked bluesy
influences in his music. A big portion of what was produced during
those years relegated the traditional Eritrean guayla beat to the
backseat. Yemane Barya’s Zemen album, for instance, consistently
employed rhythmic grooves of bass line and drum foreground in most of
the tracks. This it appears, was the result of intensive
improvisations and training which musicians like Abdallah Abubakar
perfected with full knowledge of funk music.
The content of most of the music produced at the time, as much as they
touched upon romantic issues, they raised Eritrean national
consciousness. While some symbolised Eritrea as a female lover they
had lost, others represented Eritrea as a home they missed in order to
escape censorship of the time.
Computerized recordings
In the early 1990s, the Eritrean band Adulis used a four-channel
mobile analogue mixer to record its music such as Adey Adeya. For
artists who could not work with the analogue equipment, the only
option was to travel outside the country to neighbouring countries
like Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, a studio owned by Tekle Tesfazghi’s Studio
played an important role in recording albums by Eritrean musicians.
Fitsum Zemichael’s Lidya album produced in 1994 is one work produced
at Tesfazghi’s studio.
Recording studios with 16-channel mixers mushroomed in the late 1990s
when Admas Studio was established by Nahom, Natnael, Yoel and Lilly
who were Eritrean returnees from Germany. Admas thus recorded albums
by Yemane Ghebremichael (Mesob Ade, 1994), Aron Abraham (Deki Hade
Ruba, 1995) and Dashim Misgna (Liwam, 1995).
Yemane Kidane’s and Mega Mix studios[i] came to be at the forefront
from 2000 onwards. While Mega Mix studio continues to operate, Admas
studio is out of the picture as it has turned into a bar. Mega Mix
Studio, established by Isaac Abraham in the mid-1990s (now operated by
Paulos T.Berhan), began producing works such as Dawit Teklesenbet’s
1996 album dubbed Shilan. The studio is also credited for producing
popular Eritrean music since early 2000s.
These music studios, employing digital systems, introduced a trend of
recording which stresses individual skill instead of working as a
band. Individual musicians recorded their parts separately without any
prior training together as a band. This has given significant room for
creative arrangement of the separately recorded instruments and voices
for songs. However, it minimized collaborative band works which would
certainly have honed the skills and styles of musicians.
Yemane Kidane’s studio produced a couple of Helen Meles albums such as
Resani (2003) and Halewat (2006) that were arranged by Muktar Saleh.
Muktar’s unique composition of guayla beats emphasised saxophone as a
bridge, as is the case in Helen’s ‘Fikri Hamime’.
In the past it was common for artists to use krar as a bridge. Even
after Muktar left the country more than five years ago, this trend
continued to be employed and with time it ended up being overused and
thwarting the creativity of those who followed his footsteps. The
trend however enabled Aron Berhe (aka Satir), Eritrea’s best known
saxophonist of the 1980s to leave his footprint on every song that was
released. It also appears that music with modern beats, which Eritrean
musicians were famous for four decades ago, has been abandoned opting
for repetitive guayla songs which are hard to differentiate from one
to another.
In recent years, studios established by aspiring individual musicians
include Tesfit Studio, Thomas Medhanie, GG (Ghideon), and Huruy Studio
which are making strides in music production of the country. These
individuals were previously musicians themselves; and the fact that
some of them played more than one musical instruments helped them
produce better arranged music.
A typical example is Temesgen Gebreslassie’s (alias Taniqo) first
album Wela Aykeseb (2004) which was arranged by Thomas Medhanie. The
tracks in the album are mainly love songs and most of them arranged
with modern beats. The album was a change from what had been common
and was able to get the Raimoc Awards[ii] of 2004.
Other notable productions in the last decade are Yohannes Tekabo’s
Fewsi Libi[iii] (2008) and Eritrea’s Got Soul[iv]. Eritrea’s Got Soul
was produced by French musician Bruno Blum in collaboration with a
dozen of Eritrean musicians. From the diaspora, Fitsum Zemichael has
stood out penetrating the international market with his compositions
of various music genres that blend traditional beats from Eritrea and
Ethiopia as demonstrated by his 2014 album Shabu (Love is universal).
Apart from the productions inside Eritrea, in 1991 Abraham Afewerki
released his first album Kozli Gaba which is believed to be the first
Eritrean music album to be distributed on digital format and recorded
by a major record label in Europe – Virgin Records.[v] Abraham
replicated his unique productions which blended traditional beats and
the western influences of his first album on all his five albums. His
last album Semai was released in 2006 before he passed away while
working on a video of a song.
Distribution
Asmara-based studios are active only in recording music but have
neither online presences nor distribution mechanisms. Many musicians,
however, are partnering with online platforms such as LYE.tv, Halenga
Records, Ella Records, ATA and Amen Entertainment to reach their
audiences outside Eritrea.
Conclusion
Music production in Eritrea has shown significant strides in terms of
appropriating modern instruments. Recording separately as introduced
by the various recording studios has affected the quality negatively
as cooperative band work was discouraged. The creativity that could
have come about from cooperative work and improvisation is no longer
possible.
Additionally the current crop of artists solely employ traditional
beats played by synthesizers and electric instruments leaving little
to no room for innovation.
Received on Wed Sep 21 2016 - 20:40:58 EDT