In most African cities, if you happen to stand long enough in the middle of any major intersection, you are bound to hear a local or imported version of the Continent’s most popular music genre, Reggae. A happy coincidence led us to similar instances that had our ear glued to Anthneh Minalu’s song, “Wayo”. Anteneh is an up and coming and promising artist out of Addis Ababa and his debut single “Wayo” already took him to Lagos for the AFRIMA Awards being nominated for most promising New Artist and Reggae song of the year.
“Wayo”, a socially conscious and reality driven song, took more than 6 months for the video concept to come up and find a way of re-editing the musical production to a relatable global sound. We believe the delay in the song’s release couldn’t have been for a better reason as the world and Ethiopia have enhanced the openness and further emphasized on opening doors to a diversified culture and better understand songs like “Wayo”.
“Hulu yemaymola alem / Le godolo / sew endet yeramedal / Sewen tilo”“In an ever ending world of un-fulfillment/ never complete / how can a man walk straight / by dropping others at it’s feet”
The concept of the video was something we thought to keep simple, but in reality, it became a little more. Originally, an idea of having a split screen of a well to do and not so well to do kid and following their day was something we thought could give Wayo Justice. After reviewing the video, a good friend brought up a great point, which character is really the “well to do” and the disadvantaged? At this point we tend to think of it as “alternate survival tactics”. We will let you make your own conclusion.
