Revival of Ethiopian Golden Era Songs - The Case of Seifu Yohannes

You may have heard "Yekermo Sew" one of the 3 instrumental sound tracks by Mulatu Astatqe featured in Jim Jarmusch's 2006 movie "Broken Flower".
Of course for many Ethiopians of my generation this & other Mulatu's instrumentals like "Meche Dershe" are familiar tunes that we grew up listening to in the 1970s & '80s. What seems to be forgotten by many Ethiopians however is that some of these songs - before they became instrumentals were performed by a one time rising star vocalist by the name of Seifu Yohannes who passed away much too early at only 26 years old.  He was one of the finest upcoming stars of the decade that is known as the Golden Era of Ethiopian popular music.  Seifu Yohannes had an impeccable brief musical career that has left an indelible mark on the musical landscape of Ethiopia.

What is known as the Golden Era in Ethiopian music: from mid 1960s to early 1970s was dominated by Ethiopian Government/Military backed large brass bands such as the Imperial Palace Guard Orchestra or Police Band or The Army Band. During this period, talented artists, lyricists & songwriters (trust me - there is a difference between the two), music composers & arrangers gathered around these bands were churning out well crafted songs one after the other.  These songs were being transmitted through the one & only radio station the country had, captivating the hearts & minds of Ethiopians all over the nation.

There were other less known non-military musical bands which were formed around the major hotels & night clubs of Addis Ababa & Asmara. Seifu Yohannes started his brief musical career as a vocalist in such bands. First as member of the 'Ras Band' and later as member of the first independent non-institutional band: 'The Soul Ekos' managed by Amha Eshete, the founder of the first independent label Amha Records.  In his short musical career, Seifu recorded hits such as Tizita (ትዝታ); Birtukan Terengo Mesay (ብርቱካን ትርንጞ መሳይ); Qonjitye (ቆንጂትዬ); Hanna (ሃና); Melewetesh Minew (መለወጥሽ ምነው); Yekermo Sew(የከርሞ ሰው);>Meche Dereshe (መች ደርሼ) and Ebo La (ኤቦ ላ ላ).  Six of these hits were produced by Amha Records.  It seems some of the songs were written by him and others by his friends: talented song writers & fellow band members such as Girma Beyene and Teshome Mitiku. Among those produced by Amha Records "Yekermo Sew" and "Meche Dereshe" were works of collaboration between Mulatu Astatqe who composed & arranged the music and Soul Ekos Band whose lead vocalist at the time was Seifu Yohannes.  After the premature death of Seifu, Mulatu later recorded instrumental versions of these songs alongside other popular tunes.  For various reasons, the instrumental versions stuck in people's minds and forgotten were the original recordings of those songs.  Many Ethiopians remember Seifu for one of the best renditions of Tizita (nostalgic longing - the best expression of Ethiopian Blues). Lately, the piece originally popularized by Seifu has become one of the favorites among Ethio-jazz bands & revivalists of the golden era Ethiopian music, such as the French group - Badume Band.  Here are some YouTube links to the popular or revived versions along side the originals by Seifu Yohannes.