Misekir (or Miseker)
means Witness in Amharic, so tells us Akel Dama in one of the comments below
the clip. Ethiopia’s Fikreaddis Nekatibeb’s song by that title, which we have
here, is a love ballad for the ages, though sung only in 2015. It is, over and
above that, a truly remarkable auditory performance; a relentless melody backed by a
talented band of two: a pianist with nimble fingers and a fine clarinet player.
The
audience we see in the clip is sparse and scattered around a quaintly furnished
Bar and Restaurant. It looks like an after-dinner group of like-minded folks
with many connections. It’s an exclusive crowd, hurriedly put together. In
number, it’s nothing compared to the nearly 8.5 million YouTube views which Fikreaddis
already had at the end of the third week of May 2019.
Here’s
how the song launches, with loving lines, into the ether:
“Witness
– let there be a witness and let my breath be heard.
Let my
answer be heard for the kind of love you showed me.
Who
can I possibly be for the thoughtful one?”
The rest is for the viewer/listener
to find out – and savor – and soar, in spirit, with. The beat will get you,
whoever you are, there. There’s an encore even, which
stretches the visible song to 9:55 minutes of an unforgettable blend of vocal
and played sounds.
Sings
Fikreaddis Nekatibeb, further:
“With
my eyes, with my own eyes
With
my eyes, I saw love with my own eyes”
What a lilting, lyrical treat!
