It was not only unusual but completely unprecedented for an American like me to get up there with traditional entertainers and perform
Charles Sutton,
traditional musician, Mesinko player

Charles Sutton, an American, to the amazement of many Ethiopians, plays the Mesinko, a single stringed-traditional music instrument and sings Amharic songs quite well.

He performed on stage with his Ethiopian fellow traditional musicians four decades back under the Orchestra Ethiopia band. Now, four members of the band have teamed up again and released a CD.

The proceeds from the sales of the CD was contributed to the Institute of Ethiopian Studies (IES) at the Addis Ababa University on Thursday.

Bruck Shewareged attended the donation ceremony and had a moment with Charles Sutton. Excerpts:

How did your association with Ethiopia and Ethiopian music begin?

First let me speak a little bit about my background. I was born in New York City in 1942 and grew up in Columbus, Ohio. I attended a local secondary school. Then in 1960, I joined Harvard University as a freshman. After two years, I took a two-year-leave of absence from Harvard to study music at Washington D.C. and Berkeley College of Music in Boston. Then in 1964 I went back to Harvard and finished my education with a degree in English, and I joined the Peace Corps.

At that time, English teachers were in demand and I was sent to Ethiopia. After a brief training programme in which we learned Amharic and various things about Ethiopian culture and tradition, I was sent with the other members of my group to Addis. Many of us went to the provinces. I was assigned to what was then Haile-Sellassie I University (HSIU), now Addis Ababa University, at Arat Kilo Campus in the Science and Engineering College where I taught freshman English.

At the time Orchestra Ethiopia and the Creative Arts Center in general were very active. I saw a poster for a concert by Orchestra Ethiopia. I attended the concert and I was very much captivated by it. I was enthralled by the music and decided to learn an instrument for myself just for my amusement.

I went there Tesfaye Gessesse was the general manager. Tesfaye Lemma was just coming in as a supervisor. There was also the late singer Aster Geberemariam. That was in the fall of 1966. So I began taking lessons with Getamesai Abebe in Mesenko. After I studied for some time, Tesfaye Lemma, who by that time became director of the orchestra, invited me to play with the orchestra. That’s how my association with Orchestra Ethiopia began.

You also sing in Amharic. How did you manage that?

It was not easy for me to do what I did, which is not all that much. In those days, fourty years ago, I practiced for four to five hours a day in my spare time. Getamesai was teaching me how to play Mesenko. I was studying Amharic with a secondary school student. It came along with the rest of the culture. Because of my interest in Ethiopian things and because of my enjoyment of them it became easy to absorb them to the degree that I could. It didn’t seem unusual to me. It seems it was all a pleasure to do. So what you enjoy, you can do easily.

Why were you particularly interested in Mesenko? Why not other instruments like Kerar (a guitar like, five stringed musical instrument)?

A lot of people asked me what I was thinking of the Kerar because I play guitar and piano. I thought that the Kerar might be related to what I already knew and it might be easier for me than learning a bonus instrument like the Mesenko.

But when I saw the musicians play, I decided otherwise. The guy that played the guitar was Gezahegn Ayele. He was a good player. But he was not that well. He was somewhat infirm.

When on the other hand, I saw Getamesai and met him, I realized that he was a very capable person. Many musicians, be it here or in America, might play good music but they may not be good teachers because it takes a special gift to teach. I could see that Getamesai had this gift. He was a young man and I was his first student. It was because he impressed me that I decided on the Mesenko. I said, “I have got to learn from this guy.” Since, then he has been my life long friend.

What was the reaction of the audience when you fist played here?

I had no doubt as to what it would be. It was not only unusual but completely unprecedented for an American like me to get up there with traditional entertainers and perform. But the reaction was extremely positive. There was a lot of clapping and cheering. Every time I sang a verse, they clapped. After that, I realized that they liked what I was doing. Every time after that the orchestra would appear, I would perform with them.

Actually, many years later, Tesfaye Lemma told me that this was his strategy to draw attention to traditional music, which at that time, was being eclipsed by the modern music with the Kebur Zebegna (Imperial Bodyguard), Army and Police orchestras.

Even to get in with them on the same programme was difficult for Orchestra Ethiopia. Sometimes people used to say, “Oh, get out of here, we don’t want this and so on”. So, having an American play, was a sort of returning some prestige or attention to the traditional ways. I enjoyed doing it. I met a lot of people and performers. I met Tilahun Gesesse and others that have been my friends till today. It was fun or me. It was useful for Orchestra Ethiopia. So it worked out well.

Have you ever performed for foreign audiences?

Yes, I did. In 1969, I took Orchestra Ethiopia on a six-week tour to the USA during which we performed in twenty American Cities. We were on national television. The show was seen by fourty million people.

And their reaction was …?

Their reaction was very good. They were almost all Americans.

If you take Ethiopian musicians to the United States now, you will find many Ethiopian viewers. Back then there were almost none. There were few students. They were there for a couple of years and then they came back. There were very few diplomats, basically. But there were no Ethiopia restaurants. It was a very different scene in those days because there were very few Ethiopians. But the Americans enjoyed the music very much.

Some would described Mesenko as the single-stringed version of the violin. Would you agree to that?

That is true. They have similarities. But I would say the Mesenko is more similar to a cello. You know why? It's because you hold a cello between your legs just like an Azmari in tej-bet liquor house holds the Mesinko between his legs.

What distinctive features do you find in Ethiopian music? In your opinion, what makes it different from say, Western music, which I’m sure, you’re quite well acquainted with?

To me, it has a certain poignancy to a kind of a sad feeling; that’s not to say there are not a lot of very happy music like wedding music. The music I first heard had a very pointed sad quality.

And the “Kegnitoch,” the modes, are different from ours. I think, the modes like Batti and Tizeta have somewhat similarities to ours. But the Anchihoye-Lene and Ambassal modes have pitches arranged in a way that are unusual. That gives the Ethiopian music special flavour that we are not used to.

You came back to Ethiopia after a very long time. Can you tell us in some details about what you are doing now?

I’m here in connection with our project called “Zoro-Getem” (Reunion). This is a CD. Getamesai, my teacher, came to the United States at my invitation to attend his son’s wedding. Melaku Gelaw, Kerar and Washint player, was already living there for ten years with his family. Tesfaye Lemma, the former director of Orchestra Ethiopia, has been living in Washington DC in a nursing home as he is quite ill.

After the wedding, we got together and we just decided we would make a CD for our own pleasure, as a memento of ourselves. In fact, there were few other members of the Orchestra left.

There was a very good music studio there, a recording studio of Abiy Solomon. We did the record with him. We got cooperation from Epharem Girma, who did the layout. He has graphics design organization called Plum Graphics. Mekonen Ayele took all the pictures we needed. We got cooperation from a lot of your people.

When did you decide to give the proceeds from the sale of the CD to the Institute of Ethiopian Studies (IES)?

We didn’t decide right away to give the money to IES. From the beginning, we thought we would do something like this but it was a matter of finding the right organization.

Actually, it was Tesfaye Lemma’s suggestion. He said, “This is a very worthwhile organization. It doesn't have a lot of funding. So our contribution will make a difference,” I remember him saying that.

I thought it was a very good idea. Anyway, we decided that we met at this University. So, as a token of our appreciation and our memory of the old days, it would be suitable for us to give the proceeds to the University. It was Tesfaye who said that IES was a specially deserving institute from the Orchestra Ethiopia’s point of view because it preserves Ethiopian culture. It would even help to preserve our work with the orchestra. So, practically speaking, it is an important choice, and I think, a good choice. After that I wrote to the director of the institute at that time.

At the time, the acting director was Dr. Yonas Admasu. Right way, he accepted the gift. He wrote to me a nice letter saying, “We encourage you. Please do what you can. We will be happy to accept your gift”

We sold USD 9,000 worth of CDs. It is being sold. It is going to be distributed in Addis Ababa, starting next week at the different stores and hotels.

How much did you contributed so far?

Today (Thursday), Getamesai and I, on behalf of all four of us (band members) presented a cheque for 100,000 birr to the institute.