Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-Chief
Last Modified: 20:07 PM EDT, 26 September 2009
TEL AVIV, Israel – I found this incredibly soulful vocalist while surfing the internet and happened upon a cool site that has all things Ethiopian and African. This video cycled through and the melody immediately attracted my ear.
Lately, I have listening and studying the phraseology, words, and rhythms of soulful singers like Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Les Nubians and Floetry; so when I heard this vocalist’s voice, I was certain that I had not heard the song and that it was not one of these sistahs.
I walked over to my computer to see who was singing and imagine my surprise to find that this is an Israeli Ethiopian vocalist named Malka Ingedashet.
A consummate researcher, I immediately trolled the internet in search of anything that could provide me with confirmation that this sister was indeed an Israeli and not American. First, I discovered a site where one can download a MP3 of her music, but more importantly, I was able to listen to all the clips from her album. It takes a lot for me to buy a CD, because the song promoted on radio, videos, etc., is usually the strongest cut and the rest of the tracks are fillers. I was pleased to hear that each and every track was as strong as the video below which is titled, “Under Your Eyes” when translated from Hebrew to English.
Her sister, Ayala is equally talented. It is incredible that G-d would bless one family with so much talent, such diversity of sound, an incredible story of survival and arrival, as well as the ability to communicate in Amharic and Hebrew which are some of the most ancient of tongues.
Upon further research, I found a wonderful piece written about her in The Jerusalem Post, titled “An Independent Aliya” by Nathan Burstein. I liked the fact that the writer chose to focus the article Ayala’s own Aliya (when a person immigrates to Israel) without getting into the politics of Judaism, Right of Return, or the issues surrounding the assimilation of Ethiopian Jewry. It is truly a piece about the artist and her art. I preface the video with this bit of information because some of the comments are unfortunately typical of how some people view Jews of African descent.
Ayala’s song titled Memaheret “איילה אינגדשט – “ממהרת which translates as “Hurrying Up” is equally intriguing. A reader was kind enough to provide me with a brief translation of this song which is “sung in Hebrew (like her other songs), but there are some short verses in Tigrigna.” ~ Rachel
Where are you rushing to, why are you giving up?
Doesn’t matter what will be tomorrow, live the now, that is what is left, stick to love, going with the flow is allowed
Leave something, leave some strength…
Not everything fits to your expectations
Don’t hide the light, raise your face
Your whole life is ahead of you.
Ayala and Malka have a another sister named Meri who is also a vocalist. Below are links to all three singers MySpace pages:
Ayala: http://www.myspace.com/alamtela
Malka: http://www.myspace.com/malcaingadeshet
Meri: http://www.myspace.com/meselesh
It is my hope that you enjoy the music, and should you desire to learn more about African/Ethiopian Jewry, conduct your own research and come to an informed conclusion.
Follow Nahmias Cipher Report on Twitter Twitter: @nahmias_reportEditor: @ayannanahmias
![Rehtaeh Parsons, a teen from Nova Scotia, was a gorgeous, kind, straight-A student with her whole life ahead of her. On Thursday, she hung herself in her bathroom. On Sunday night, her family took her off life-support. Approximately a year and a half earlier, in November 2011, when Rehtaeh was 15 years old, she was reportedly gang-raped by four boys, classmates of hers. The trauma did not end there. One of the boys reportedly took a photo of the act and circulated it among Rehtaeh’s school and community where, as noted, by Rehtaeh’s mother, “it quickly went viral.” Authorities reportedly investigated the sexual assault but claimed there was insufficient evidence to make formal charges. Rehtaeh’s mother recalls the investigation: They didn’t even interview the boys until much, much later. To me, I’d think you’d get the boys right away, separate them…. Nothing was done about [the photos] because they couldn’t prove who had pressed the photo button on the phone. [She was told that the distribution of the photos is] not really a criminal issue, it’s more of a community issue. Even though she was 15 at the time, which is child pornography…. The whole case was full of things like that. We didn’t have a rape kit done because we didn’t even know (anything had happened) until several days later when she had a breakdown in my kitchen. She was trying to keep it to herself. Tormented and bullied, Rehtaeh was forced to leave her school and tried to start fresh in a new community. Despite efforts, she continued to struggle, at one point checking into a hospital to cope with suicidal thoughts, anger, and depression. In an extensive post on a Facebook memorial page, her mother Leah Parsons described how the straight-A high school student became depressed and suicidal after the incident. “The person Rehtaeh once was all changed one dreaded night in November 2011. She went with a friend to another’s home. In that home she was raped by four young boys . . . one of those boys took a photo of her being raped and decided it would be fun to distribute the photo to everyone in Rehtaeh’s school and community where it quickly went viral,” Leah Parsons wrote. “Because the boys already had a ‘slut’ story, the victim of the rape Rehtaeh was considered a slut. “This day changed the lives of our family forever.” Rehtaeh, who was a 15-year-old high school student in Cole Harbour at the time, was repeatedly bullied at school and “suddenly shunned by almost everyone she knew.” “She was never left alone. She had to leave the community. Her friends turned against her. People harassed her. Boys she didn’t know started texting her and Facebooking her asking her to have sex with them. It just never stopped,” her mother told CBC.](http://ayannanahmias.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/rehtaeh-parsons-17-canadian-rape-victim-commits-suicide-3.jpg?w=45&h=45&crop=1){kind=small}
15/02/2012 at 14:17
Reblogged this on Milenanik3's Blog.