For weeks before last Saturday, the media was abuzz with announcements about the coming of Beyonce and Ludacris from America to perform at a concert in Ethiopia with the best of local artists.
Billboards set forth larger-than-life images of the two American singers. But of the Ethiopian singers that were going to perform the same evening in the same concert hall advertisements were downplayed from the outset.
Beyonce's picture dominated the billboard with Ludacris's small photo pushed to the bottom left corner - in the periphery of sights when the eyes focus on the center. As on the billboard, so in the concert hall and after wards Beyonce basked in the warmth of attention.
Even though Beyonce and Ludacris were coming here, the billboard heralding the event was not dubbed "The Beyonce and Ludacris Experience" but "The Beyonce experience."
At 9:30 pm on Saturday evening, Beyonce Knowles climbed to the stage. Five, four, three, two, one! Beyonce sang, danced frolicked and brought the 80-thousand-dollar hall tumbling down. The audience was thilled. Then came on stage local singers. But, who was going to have that brief, Beyonce experience diluted by commonly heard local songs. One by one, the audience filed out, it was reported.
From Sunday morning on, it was heard everywhere how terrific "Beyonce! Beyonce! Beyonce" had been on stage the previous night. Even Ludacris was eclipsed. Did he perform on Saturday evening?
A singer's right to sing is by no means reciprocated by an obligation on the part of the audience to listen to a song.
Any sound wave within your earshot can register on your auditory nerves and you can not help hearing it. However, not every auditory stimulus is given notice. Some are even consciously ignored even while they clamor for attention, while we strain to hear even the faintest of sound barely at the threshold of hearing when it is appealing to our taste. The same thing is true for the other senses. There seems to be an unwritten law guiding everyone to choose and listen to what they like.
The 80s and early 90s are very recent in terms of the number of years but seem to be in the dim, distant past because of the innumerable changes in science, technology and several areas of human life that have been occurring with break-neck speed. In those days most products, especially entertainment, were home-made. And they were good. Western music was in short supply. But this day of globalization is a time of variety and proliferation. Therefore, local music finds itself pitted against international music, especially western music. And the audience is choosy.
The audience's taste for music is developing and diversifying. Local music does not seem to be catching up. Remix is flowing while creativity is ebbing. Amharic lyrics are sung with African or Carribean or Reggae beat.
This is the MP3 age. Reggae, Latino or music of any genre is downloaded within minutes, copies multiplied and distributed among millions of listeners. So, when such pieces of music are available in their purity, how are local songs, that merely imitate their styles going to survive the competition?
Very recently, a story has been circulating in the city about a night club incident involving Zeritu. Eye-witnesses claim she was in a situation that made her feel she was not going to be able to conquer the audience's attention. Everbody seemed to engage in conversation, practically ignoring her when she stood on stage ready to sing. Would they hush and listen to her song or would they rather dance to Yambule, she asked and with that she stormed out of the club.
If this turns out to be a true account of how night club goers reacted to Zeritu's presence in their midst, it is a sure sign that the audience are unlikely to endure listening to music out of politeness and respect for the artist.
Arsenal and Liverpool are more popular here than Giorgis and Buna. If the DSTV or any other channel is banned from transmitting European football to Ethiopia, is that going to inspire support and love for Ethiopian football in the hearts of Ethiopian fans? No way. Ethiopian football has to match up to viewers' expectation so that the Addis Ababa stadium may be graced with their presence and cheer.
Just like football, Ethiopian music is falling out of favor with the audience, being supplanted by pop. No wonder we are threatened by cultural invasion.
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