Asnakech Worku: Asnakech
Richard Gehr on January 23, 2019
Ethiopian singer, actor, dancer and instrumentalist Asnakech Worku did it all. On the relatively modest 1975 recording Asnakech (Awesome Tapes From Africa), however, Worku sings and plays the lute-like krar alongside keyboardist Hailu Mergia (currently enjoying a late-life artistic renaissance) and a drummer. Her krar weaves insistent patterns over Mergia’s pentatonic organ chords as Worku sings about macho men, double dealers and true love. The remastered cassette also contains a couple of enthusiastically delivered patriotic songs of the sort that Ethiopia’s military government required popular musicians to record.
