Washington, D.C., March 11, 2009 – Singer Abonesh Adinew, nicknamed Abiti, performed traditional Ethiopian music at the Voice of America (VOA) today, sharing her passion for her native culture with listeners of African Beat.
"Wherever you go, you cannot forget where you are coming from," said Adinew, 38, who came to live in the Washington, D.C., area decade ago. A native of Haikoch and Butajira in Southern Ethiopia, Adinew performs professionally in the United States and around the world.
Adinew said her goal in performing is to educate the world about Ethiopia. A singer for 20 years, she sings in different Ethiopian languages with musical selections from various ethnic groups.
On African Beat, Adinew's opening song, Baleageru, talks about the countryside and the people who live there. Her first album, which has the same name, was a best seller in Ethiopia.
VOA's African Beat, first broadcast in 2006, is a daily one-hour music program showcasing various styles of music popular throughout the African continent.
The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. Government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts approximately 1,500 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 134 million people. Programs are produced in 45 languages.
For more information, call VOA Public Relations at (202) 203-4959, or e-mail askvoa@voanews.com.
