QieNIt TV Talk ShowThe God Father of Eritrean Guayla: Bereket Mengesteab was born in 1938 in Hazega, spent his early life in the village farming, taught himself to play the Krar and took part in the musical events that were part of the local rural culture. In 1961 he moved to Addis Ababa and joined the Haile Selassie Theater Orchestra. He remained with the orchestra for over a decade and performed with them all over Ethiopia as well as Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, at the 1966 Festival mondial des Arts Nègres in Senegal, and at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico. He recorded his first singles during this period, nine singles for the Philips label. During mid-1970s Mengisteab was the only Eritrean artist broadcasted on the radio, his krar music and usage of the Tigrinya language assured his popularity. He has recorded about 200 songs out of a total of 250 songs he has composed over the past fifty years.
Leave a Comment