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Tuesday 30 October 2012

Teddy Time 2

Last time out we featured a couple of songs from the new album by Teddy Afro, the current king of Ethiopian pop. But unsteady rests the crown on the head of Teddy. There is no shortage of young pretenders wanting to steal it away from him.

Among them is another Teddy - the rapper Teddy Yo. One of the tunes I heard most frequently when I was travelling round Ethiopia was this very tasty hit from him and his good mate Ziggy Zaga (who I assume chose his name as some sort of misguided tribute to the Spice Girls).

"Sawa Sawelegn" - Ziggy Zaga featuring Teddy Yo

To give you value for money, here are a few more Teddies. Messrs Pendergrass and Thompson you are probably familiar with. Teddy Chilambe was big in Zambia in the 1980s. And I will let you work out for yourself where Teddy Palmer comes from.

"Turn Off The Lights" - Teddy Pendergrass

"You Made It" - Teddy Thompson

"Imilongo" - Teddy Chilambe

"Nobody Loves Like An Irishman" - Teddy Palmer

Here are Mr. Zaga and Mr. Yo with a few of their close personal friends.



It will no doubt be pointed out that they nicked the song from Flavour over in Nigeria - which is a fair charge as you'll see below - but then Flavour himself based it on the old Cardinal Rex Lawson classic so let's not get too precious. (According to Wikipedia, Flavour had a hand in the Ethiopian version as well, but whether that is true your guess is as good as mine).


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