The ONE
Dereje MaKonnen

The man

Here we are in the year 2023 Degu, as Gash Selamino remembers calling you by, It seems like yesterday when we talked about the song: Some1 Save me.
”Your words in this song … ”, he paused for a second as if he was trying to gather energy to say what he really wanted to say to his younger brother who was waiting for every word.
”The part where you say: Can you see me? because I can’t see you, reaching out for me …” and then nothing. At about the same time, my sister came into our House 119 from planting more roses in the front garden.
He headed out to the living room and sat with my sister and started another conversation. I stood there. Still. I wanted more critique, more guidance, more hands-on from him. It is very rare that he stopped me, put his hand on my shoulder and then start to say something about songs I have written. He has heard few but not many as I wanted but I always settled for him just to put on headphones and sit around for a bit to listen to just under 3 minutes for any song.

See that picture above?
Do you happen to know the year? Maybe not. This image was found in a photo album. This is a gem of a picture. It could be circa around the time when he sat with the great Gash Tilahun Guessesse to arrange the song: ”Yetelash Yitela”
Readers, to be able to compose the Brass section which may be repetitive but it paints the canvas of the song ever so gently that you can focus on the song’s lyrics.
The lyrics … well hold on! let’s get back to the start of the evening when they met up to record this song. I have heard few stories about how the event unfolded. The 1-shot recording that it was back in the late 70’s when wrong notes were not accepted as it will ruin the whole take. This is before recording board where everyone recorded their takes.
To better represent this story, I will sit with Gash Selamino (on Guitar) and Gash Giovanni (on Bass) to put all of us at the same spot where they stood with Deej/Dereje.
As the evening progressed and turned into late night, the story of who instructed Tilahun to sing his heart out, to sing louder into the mic … this still send chill down our spines every time we hear the end of the 1st and 2nd verse.

the music

How do you approach music? How does it manifest? How is it created then arranged without over producing all components? How is it that with only the first 1-minute of a song, the audience’s memory automatically identifies a time and a place when you heard it first.

THE ETHIOPIA MUSIC SCENE 1978-1982

Dereje has worked with some of the great icons in the Ethiopian Music industry making some of their compositions unforgettable. “Some of the songs he arranged”, remembers H.T. pausing for a second or two, “some of these compositions had 2 intros before the melody started”.

The fresh new ways of arranging tunes, at the time, which were depended on the latest instruments available without any fear of how it will be received by the audience, but a true dedication to the final product with the belief that sometimes in the future, people will discover the artists albums and will, in disbelief, listen and search for more online.

THE USA MUSIC SCENE 1982-….

the legacy

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