Ejigayehu Shibabaw

Ejigayehu Shibabaw (1974), known as Gigi, is an Ethiopian singer of jazz, soul music. and afrofunk.

He was born into a peasant family, dedicated to coffee cultivation, who moved to Addis Ababa in 1984. Faced with his family's opposition to him pursuing a musical career, he fled to Kenya, where he formed his first group. He first performed in Nairobi in 1993. In 1996, returning to Ethiopia, she put together the theater group 'Salomon et Saba'. by Massimo Schuster, along with Fantahun Shewankochew and Wores Egziabher, and performed in several cities in East and Southern Africa. The group also visited France, where Ejigayehu and her companions recorded an album for the 'Maison des Cultures du Monde', titled Éthiopie / Chants d'amour (1997).

In 1998 he settled in San Francisco, California, where he recorded a new album, One Ethiopia, with electronic instruments. The album caught the attention of Chris Blackwell, founder of Palm Pictures, the label on which Ejigayehu would later record Gigi (an album that combines jazz, funk, dub and various African musical styles) and Radioaxiom: A Dub Transmission.

In March 2003 he published Illuminated Audio. That same year, in December, Abyssinia Infinite Zion Roots was published, in which Gigi sings traditional melodies, accompanied by acoustic instruments, such as the Kirar harp or the flute < i>washint.

Discography

• 1997 - Éthiopie/Chants d'amour
• 1997 - Tsehay
• 1998 - One Ethiopia
• 2001 - Gigi
• 2003 - Illuminated Audio
• 2003 - Abyssinia Infinite Zion Roots
• 2006 - Gold and wax
• 2012 - Zion Roots