Name and spellings
Alemayehu Eshete is the spelling most English-language news reports use. Buda Musique’s Éthiopiques CDs and The Guardian write it with accents, Alèmayèhu Eshèté, and YouTube’s automatic music catalogue mixes the two. BBC News Amharic writes his name አለማየሁ እሸቴ; Discogs’ listings of his early singles write ዓለማየሁ እሸቴ, with a different first letter. He was widely known by a nickname: The New York Times and The Guardian call him the “Abyssinian Elvis,” Ethiopia’s state news agency ENA the “Ethiopian Elvis,” and The Guardian also mentions “the Ethiopian James Brown.”
Introduction
Alemayehu Eshete (1941–2021) was an Ethiopian singer and songwriter who became a star of Addis Ababa’s club scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Guardian’s obituary describes him as one of the stars of Ethiopian music’s “golden age,” singing mostly in Amharic and blending Ethiopian styles with American R&B, funk and soul. Most of the songs on his best-known reissues are credited to him as both composer and lyricist.
Three documented points explain why new listeners still find him. In 1969 he recorded “Timarkialesh” for Amha Eshèté, a young record-shop owner who, according to The Guardian, was defying a state monopoly on record sales; The Guardian says he was the only leading singer willing to record for him. Buda Musique later devoted two volumes of its Éthiopiques reissue series to him. And when he died in 2021, Ethiopian Monitor’s report on his funeral identified him as the singer of “Addis Ababa Bete” and “Temar Lije”; ENA wrote that “Temar Lije”, a song about schooling, encouraged many listeners towards modern education.
Biography: a sourced chronology
Dates are Gregorian unless marked E.C. (Ethiopian calendar). Where sources use the Ethiopian calendar, the conversion is shown; where reliable accounts disagree, both versions are given.
- June 1941: born in Addis Ababa. The Guardian gives June 1941 and Addis Ababa, and BBC News Amharic also says he was born in the city. Discogs gives Jimma as his birthplace; ethio.music follows the obituaries. BBC News Amharic says he spent his first years in Dessie, and The Guardian says much of his childhood was spent in Wollo province.
- School years. He attended the Christian Training Institute, a boarding school in Addis Ababa, where he sang in the choir and began listening to Western music. Elvis Presley was his idol, according to The Guardian, and BBC News Amharic says he sang English-language songs by Pat Boone, Bill Haley and Elvis.
- Early 1960s: the Police Orchestra. The Guardian says he was 20 when Colonel Rètta Dèmèqè spotted him singing in Addis Ababa clubs and enrolled him in the police orchestra. BBC News Amharic dates his entry to 1955 E.C. (1962/63) and says he stayed until 1961 E.C. (1968/69); ENA says he had been performing since 1960. The exact starting year is therefore uncertain.
- 1969: “Timarkialesh” on Amha Records. The Guardian describes this 45 rpm single as officially illegal when it came out, and a hit. Discogs lists it as the Amha Records single “Timarkialesh / Ya Tara”, dated 1969. Amha Eshèté continued as his producer.
- 1971–1974: the singles on Éthiopiques 9. The release notes of Éthiopiques 9 date its tracks from 1969 to May 1974 and credit the 1971–72 recordings to the All Star Band and the 1973–74 ones mostly to the Alèm-Girma Band. The Guardian says he founded that band in 1972 with his friend Girma Bèyènè, a composer, arranger and keyboard player, who is credited with arranging most of the album’s tracks.
- After 1974. The Guardian reports that after the 1974 revolution curfews ended the Addis Ababa club scene and many musicians left the country, but he stayed in Ethiopia. BBC News Amharic lists other groups he sang with after the police orchestra, including the Roha, Shebele and Ibex bands and Mulatu Astatke’s band, without dating each one.
- 1992: Addis Ababa. Apple Music lists this ten-track album as a 1992 Shanachie release; Discogs credits it to Alemayehu Eshete and the Wallias Band. It includes a new recording of “Addis Ababa Bete”.
- 2000–2007: Éthiopiques. The French producer Francis Falceto began the Éthiopiques series in 1997, according to The Guardian. Volume 9, devoted entirely to Alemayehu Eshete’s 1969–1974 recordings, came out on Buda Musique in late 2000 in France and in 2001 elsewhere, according to MusicBrainz and Apple Music. Volume 22, More Vintage 1972–1974, with Girma Bèyènè, followed in 2007, and his songs also appear on other volumes, including volume 8, Swinging Addis.
- 2008: London and Glastonbury. The Guardian reports that an Éthiopiques revue played the Glastonbury festival in June 2008 after a concert at the Barbican in London, and describes him joining Mahmoud Ahmed, Mulatu Astatke and the saxophonist Getatchew Mekurya for a finale of “Addis Ababa Bete”. A Guardian photograph shows him with Éthiopiques at the Womad festival in 2009.
- Later recognition. He spoke about the era in the 2017 documentary Ethiopiques: Revolt of the Soul, which The New York Times quotes. BBC News Amharic reports that he received the lifetime achievement award at the fifth Leza Awards; it does not give the year.
- 2 September 2021: death in Addis Ababa. The New York Times says he died on 2 September at a hospital in Addis Ababa, and BBC News Amharic gives the same day as Nehase 27, 2013 E.C. One Addis Ababa outlet, Ethiopian Monitor, dated the death to the following day. The New York Times, The Guardian and ENA give his age as 80; BBC News Amharic says 79. Ethiopian Monitor reports that he was buried at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa on 7 September 2021.
Spelling note: his song titles appear in several Latin spellings (for example “Timarkialesh” and “Timarkyalèsh”, or “Temar Lije” and “Tèmar ledjé”). This page uses the spelling of the source cited, and the label’s own spelling for each recording below.
Start listening
These five picks are ethio.music’s editorial suggestions, separate from the sourced chronology above. All play from the official, automatically generated “Alemayehu Eshete – Topic” channel on YouTube, supplied by the releasing labels. Each is embedded, with a plain link underneath.
1. “Timarkyalesh” (1969). The 1969 Amha single that The Guardian describes as officially illegal at the time, and a hit. At just over two and a half minutes, it is a quick way into his early sound.
Listen to “Timarkyalesh” on YouTube (official Topic channel)
2. “Addis abeba bete” (1971). The opening track of Éthiopiques 9, recorded with the All Star Band, and the song The Guardian describes as the finale of the 2008 Éthiopiques show in Britain.
Listen to “Addis abeba bete” on YouTube (official Topic channel)
3. “Eruq yaleshew” (1973). A recording with the Alèm-Girma Band, which shows the band he co-founded with arranger Girma Bèyènè.
Listen to “Eruq yaleshew” on YouTube (official Topic channel)
4. “Tchero adari negn”. From Éthiopiques 8, Swinging Addis. The Guardian names this song as an example of his James Brown influence.
Listen to “Tchero adari negn” on YouTube (official Topic channel)
5. “Addis Ababa Bete” (1992). The later recording from the album Addis Ababa. Play it after pick 2 to hear how he revisited the song two decades on.
Listen to the 1992 “Addis Ababa Bete” on YouTube (official Topic channel)
Selected work and related links
Releases, with dates as sourced above:
- “Timarkialesh / Ya Tara” (Amha Records single, 1969)
- Éthiopiques 8: Swinging Addis 1969–1974 (various artists, Buda Musique)
- Éthiopiques 9: Alèmayèhu Eshèté 1969–1974 (Buda Musique, 2000/2001)
- Addis Ababa (1992)
- Éthiopiques 22: More Vintage 1972–1974, with Girma Bèyènè (Buda Musique, 2007)
Related links:
- Alemayehu Eshete in the ethio.music Artist register
- Mulatu Astatke: artist profile
- Mahmoud Ahmed in the Artist register
- Explore: legends of Ethiopian music
- Alemayehu Eshete – Topic on YouTube
Sources
- Alex Vadukul, “Alemayehu Eshete, Singer Known as the ‘Abyssinian Elvis,’ Dies at 80,” The New York Times, 28 September 2021. NYT obituary
- Robin Denselow, “Alèmayèhu Eshèté obituary,” The Guardian, 10 September 2021 (amended 29 October 2021). Guardian obituary
- BBC News Amharic, profile of አለማየሁ እሸቴ, 3 September 2021 (birth, schooling, police orchestra dates in E.C., bands, Leza award, date of death in E.C.). BBC News Amharic profile
- BBC News Amharic, tributes after his death, 3 September 2021. BBC News Amharic tributes
- ENA (Ethiopian News Agency), “Renowned Artist Alemayehu Eshete Dies at 80,” 3 September 2021. ENA report
- Ethiopian Monitor, “Artist Alemayehu Laid To Rest At Addis Ababa’s St. Trinity Cathedral,” 8 September 2021. Ethiopian Monitor report
- Éthiopiques 9 release data and tracklist (MusicBrainz); the CD’s original-release dates, bands and arranger credits as transcribed by musicbase. MusicBrainz release
- Credits and notes of Éthiopiques 9 (musicbase transcription of the CD). musicbase credits
- Discogs, Alemayehu Eshete discography (Amha Records singles, 1992 Addis Ababa, birthplace entry). Discogs discography
- Apple Music, Addis Ababa (1992) and Éthiopiques 9 album pages. Apple Music album
- YouTube, “Alemayehu Eshete – Topic”: descriptions of the five recordings above (label, album, ℗ line, release date), checked 2 November 2026. YouTube Topic channel
Last fact-checked: November 2, 2026.
