Gigi (singer)

Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw (* 1974 in Chagni, Ethiopia ) is an Ethiopian singer. She is married to the bassist and producer Bill Laswell.

Career

Gigi's origins lie in Chagni, in northwestern Ethiopia, where she was born the fifth of eight children and grew up. Her love of music by Aster Aweke established early on their desire, even to become a singer. When they all wanted in 1991 focus on the music, it came to a fight with her family and she fled to Kenya. After concerts with her own band in Nairobi in 1996, she returned temporarily to her family in Addis Ababa back before after first recordings and concerts in France as her idol Aster Aweke moved to California in 1998.

After two more traditional albums she succeeded there in 2001 with Gigi the breakthrough to greater awareness. The album was produced by Chris Blackwell, the founder of Iceland Records and her future husband Bill Laswell. With Gigi succeeded impressively, the traditional roots of the singer with the jazz sound of the studio guests as Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, David Gilmore and Pharoah Sanders to merge, but this caused a controversy in her home country. Another reason for criticism was the song Adwa, a lament for the fallen soldiers of the Eritrea - Ethiopia war. Traditionally, such songs are sung in Ethiopia only by men.

In 2003 he Laswell Dub remix of the album called Illuminated Audio. In the same year, Zion Roots appeared under the band name Abyssinia Infinite with family members Gigi and Bill Laswell on guitar and keyboards. The album was a return to acoustic folk Ethiopia and also used different instruments from their home.

2005 Gigi worked as a singer in the film Beyond Borders with Angelina Jolie, and also sang the duet with Maura Davies Running From The Light for the album Enter The Chicken of the experimental guitarist Buckethead one. This returned the favor the following year by investing in their album Gold & Wax on which, inter alia, Bernie Worrell and Robert Musso are also represented. Stylistically, the album is a continuation of Gigi.

Discography

  • Tsehay (1997)
  • One Ethiopia (1998) produced by Dereje Mekonnen
  • Gigi ( Guramayle ) (2001 )
  • Illuminated Audio ( 2003)
  • Abyssinia Infinite: Zion Roots ( 2003)
  • Gold & Wax ( 2006)

Investments

  • Future 2 Future ( 2001) by Herbie Hancock
  • Realize (2001) by Karsh Kale
  • Sacred System: Dub Chamber 4 ( Book of Exit) (2003) by Bill Laswell
  • Enter The Chicken ( 2005) Buckethead
  • Putumayo Presents: One World, Many Cultures ( 2006) ( compilation )
  • Light Years ( 2007) by Shin Terai
Island Records Discogs Integrated Authority File
301298
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