The celebrated Ethiopian singer Gigi has made two beautiful songs that would give her a status of a legend in Ethiopian music. These two pieces of music are about Adwa victory, and the Abay (Blue Nile) river.

If Ethiopians could name a single most influential event in their country’s history, most certainly, they would single out the victory of Adwa against the colonial power of Italy which makes the country one of the only two African countries never to be colonized.

The outcome of this battle ensured Ethiopia’s independence. The 1896 victory also made the country beacon of freedom to all black and oppressed people of the world.

On the other hand, the Abay River was source of designation for Ethiopians because, for long, they were unable to utilize their precious gift of God for development though now this reality has once and for all changed following the commencement of the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). But Gigi made her legendary song before the commencement of the construction.

Ejegayehu Shibabaw, better known by her stage name Gigi, is one of the most recognizable faces in Ethiopian music. As a singer with breathtaking voice and an extraordinary music writing gift (both lyrics and melody), Gigi has captured the artistic side of Ethiopians with her legendary music that cross ages. She is one of the most successful contemporary Ethiopian singers worldwide.

Different sources indicate that Ejigayenuh was born in Chagni, Ethiopia, in 1974 as the fifth child in a coffee growing family of ten that moved to the capital Addis Ababa in 1984.  She has described learning traditional songs from an Ethiopian Orthodox priest in the family home. At a very early age, GiGi decided to become a singer.

Her decision to become a singer was highly contested by her traditional and religious family. To make her dream a reality, Gigi had to run away from her country, to Nairobi, Kenya. She was only 19 years old at the time.

Her first album, Tsehay was released in 1997. In 1998, Gigi moved to the United States. She settled in California and started recording her first album with Dereje Mekonen. Gigi wrote all the ten songs in the album, and performed with her sensual voice. The album titled One Ethiopia brought Gigi to the lime light, recognized and loved by many Ethiopians. The strength and the message of the lyrics as well as the originality and cultural appropriateness of the melody singled out Gigi as one of the best creative musicians in the industry. The album draws the attention of Chris Blackwell of Palm Pictures which led her to meet the renowned musician Bill Laswell.

Gigi recorded seven albums for the expatriate Ethiopian community, but it was her 2001 album, titled simply Gigi, that brought her widespread attention. Palm Pictures owner Chris Blackwell, had years earlier introduced reggae to the mainstream through his former label, Island Records. Blackwell and Gigi’s producer (and later, husband) Bill Laswell, decided to use American jazz musicians (including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Pharoah Sanders, and others) to accompany Gigi on the album.

The result was a fusion of contemporary and traditional sounds. The album was a critical success internationally and generated controversy at home for such a radical break with Ethiopian popular music.This release was soon followed by Illuminated Audio, an ambient dub style remix of the album by Laswell.

2003 saw the release of Zion Roots, under the band name Abyssinia Infinite. Bill Laswell played guitar and keyboard, and several of Gigi’s family members contributed vocals. The album was a return to a mainly acoustic sound for Gigi, incorporating instruments such as the krar and the tabla. The track “Gole” is in Agaw, the language of Gigi’s father’s village.

Gigi’s voice can be heard in the Hollywood film Beyond Borders (2003), in which Angelina Jolie portrays an aid worker during the 1984 – 1985 famine in Ethiopia.

She has also appeared in “Running From the Light” in Buckethead’s Enter the Chicken (2005). Her 2001 song “Guramayle” appears in the 2006 documentary God Grew Tired of Us. It plays over opening and closing credits.

According to Billboard, Gigi has a keening voice negotiating richly ornamented melodies. With help from producer Bill Laswell, Gigi’s eponymous debut for Palm Pictures assimilates a wealth of influences (Indian and Arabian music, funk, jazz) to create distinctively pan-global pop music.

Loping rhythms interlock with Gigi’s call-and-response vocals as synthesizers and saxes (the latter provided by jazz titans Wayne Shorter and Pharoah Sanders) float above the knotted melodies. Although every track bears Laswell’s high-tech imprint, the electronic elements are deployed with a subtlety not often heard on his recent productions. Gigi’s vocals are never less than intense, even in the comparatively romantic setting of “Abet Wubet.” Not since Mahmoud Ahmed’s “Ere Mela Mela” in the ’70s has Ethiopian music had such an engaging musical ambassador.

Here are the literal translations of the first few lines of the songs Abay (Blue Nile) and Adwa, which are dedicated for the Blue Nile, locally known Abay and the famous victory of Adwa. These are among her music that Gigi wrote and performed to make her a legend.

Abay

An eternal beauty

That doesn’t dry out for eternity

Since the ancient times, and the conception to Adam

Has been flowing from its source in Paradise

The magnificent!

The pride and blessing of a country

The magnificent

Nile!

Adwa

Son of man, the honorable 

It is an honor to be a man,

A man has died to save a man,

When he honors a man,

Called by the kindness, the love, the glory,

A farewell with glory, for man dies to save man.

The freedom that I enjoy today,

Is the fruit of martyrdom, of blood and bones of man,

Many fell in the land of freedom,

Speak Adwa, speak, and bear witness,

Speak, my land,

How I stood before you today

full of pride, glory, joy, love,

The Ethiopian Herald April 16/2020