Eténèsh Wassié

Eténèsh Wassié (born 1971) is an Ethiopian jazz singer, renowned for her collaborative approach to music and performance.

Eténèsh Wassié
Background information
Born	1971 (age 53–54) Gondar, Ethiopia
Genres	Jazz
Occupation	Singer
Labels	Buda Musique
Website	eteneshwassie.wixsite.com/eteneshmusic

Biography

Wassié was born in 1971 in Gondar to an Ethiopian Orthodox family.^[1] She began performing in the 1990s in Addis Ababa in azmaribèt - a crossover between cabaret and the Azmari vocal tradition.^[1] She is renowned for singing in Amharic and is a leading blues singer in Addis Ababa where she lives.^[2]

In 2007 Wassié began a collaboration with Mathieu Sourisseau, which fused her knowledge of traditional music and his jazz guitar,^[3] known as Ethio-jazz.^[4] She performed at Seine-Saint Denis Festival in 2018, celebrating twenty years of Éthiopiques.^[5][6]

Discography

• Zeraf! (2007, album with Le Tigre des Plantanes)^[7]
• Belo Belo (2010, album with Mathieu Sourisseau)^[8]
• Yene Alem (2018, album with Mathieu Sourisseau)^[9]
• Hagir Fikir (2020, single with Ozferti)^[10]