'gigi' Shibabaw's Heart Takes Her To Palm Pictures

Ethiopian singer Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw could be bitter toward her homeland's male-dominated culture, but she would rather concentrate on bringing her country's music to the U.S.

"Ethiopian music was always very influenced by American music, particularly the big-band sound of Duke Ellington," she says. "Working with American jazz musicians along with Ethiopian, Indian, and Moroccan musicians seemed like the perfect direction to go in."

Gigi, due Tuesday (4) on Palm Pictures, was produced by world-fusion master Bill Laswell, and features jazz stars Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Pharoah Sanders. Shibabaw's lyrics are in the Ethiopian language of Amharic, but her messages of love, faith, and peace are universal. (Her songs are published by Rykodisc, ASCAP.)

Shibabaw left Ethiopia when her father forbade her to pursue a singing career. Although music is a powerful part of church life in Ethiopia, women and girls are not permitted to enter churches, nor can they sing there. When she was a young girl, her parents hired a priest to come to the house and teach her brother Ethiopian doctrine and songs in hopes that he would become a priest. She spent many hours hiding behind the couch learning the words and melodies herself and following her passion for singing.

"Ethiopian priests would train for seven years and totally dedicate themselves," Shibabaw says. "They do it for God. They are singing for life, and that's what I felt I had to do."

Shibabaw moved around Africa and released her first album, Stehay, in 1997. She then relocated to Oakland, Calif., finding her first of several Ethiopian communities in the U.S. Her search for a band led her to Washington, D.C., home of America's largest Ethiopian enclave. After gathering musicians, she made One Ethiopia, an album issued on the independent Barkans Records.

Shibabaw then worked on the soundtrack to the Disney film Endurance, about Ethiopian Olympic runner Haile Gabereselasse. She attracted attention after penning the theme tune for Adwa, a documentary that chronicled Ethiopia's Battle of Adwa.

"She's an extraordinary artist, with the potential to transcend her roots," notes Ian Secop, manager of Shelter, an indie shop in Seattle. "Her early work was a solid indicator of that."

Shortly after performing the song at the documentary's premiere in Washington, D.C., Shibabaw's New York-based manager, Addis Gessesse, sent a demo to Palm Pictures founder Chris Blackwell, who signed Shibabaw and sequestered her in Laswell's Orange Music Studio in New Jersey.

To promote Gigi, Palm Pictures is employing street marketing; a two-song sampler has been distributed this summer at African festivals and at concerts by such artists as Femi Kuti and Baaba Maal. Radio-wise, the label will focus on college stations, as well as on jazz- and world-music-oriented noncommercial outlets.

Chris Blackwell has high hopes for this record: "I think the collaboration between Shibabaw and Bill Laswell has produced a musical masterpiece that shows the direction that world music and jazz are headed in."