351: Sitotash, by Shewandagne Hailu

Shewandagne Hailu (Ethiopia)
Sitotash (2013)
15 tracks, 72 minutes
Spotify ∙ iTunes

You can’t escape pop music. After all, it is, by definition, popular. Wherever you go in the world, you’re going to hear the biggest pop of the moment, and it’s usually all cut from the same stylistic cloth. In Ethiopia, things are no different. Pop music is absolutely everywhere – booming out of taxis, buses, cafés, and mobile phones from every direction. And if you’re big in Ethiopia, you’re huge.

In August of 2013, Addis Ababa belonged to Shewandagne Hailu. His album Sitotash had just come out and his face was on billboards and posters all across the city. Also, I was there. Of course, one of the first things I did after familiarising myself with the general layout of Addis was to hunt out some music, and my expedition led me to a stall on a main road that was just floor-to-ceiling CDs. With so much choice and no idea what I actually wanted, I took a shot in the dark and asked the bloke who was presiding over his stock if he had any jazz. Having already seen the adverts all over, I wasn’t too surprised when the guy confidently slapped a copy of Sitotash down onto the counter.

Nor was I particularly surprised when I’d returned to London, stuck the CD on to discover it wasn’t jazz at all – I mean, look at that cover. In fact, I recognised it. When it got to the track ‘Siberber’, I knew why: it had seemed like every single radio station in Ethiopia was playing that track as every other song, to the extent that it essentially became the soundtrack to my whole time there.

And what does it sound like? It’s pop! Cheesy, cheesy pop. You know the sort. All sorts of keyboard sounds, electric guitars in Brian May-mode, disco beats, loads of reverb, key changes. There’s quite a strong reggae lean to most of the tracks, too, which is quite common in Ethiopian pop. And that’s the thing. There’s no mistaking Ethiopian pop, in the same way as there’s no mistaking Ethiopian jazz or reggae or electronica or metal. There’s something that’s so unmistakably Ethiopian about it. Not just the language, either. Usually it’s in the melodies: traditional Ethiopian music deals with a unique set of pentatonic scales called qiñit, and those scales are used across the musical spectrum, making the music instantly recognisable. Sometimes that’s not the case though, but even when Shewandagne Hailu uses eight-note scales in a western major-or-minor key, his music still sounds as if it could be made nowhere else but Ethiopia. How that happens…well, I have no idea. But I love it.

Pop music is all over the world – some of it is actually good! – but that doesn’t mean it all sounds the same. It comes in different flavours wherever it comes from, and Ethiopian pop has one of the most distinctive (and tastiest) flavours out there. And if you want yours with extra cheese, Shewandagne Hailu is your order.