The “HiStory” of  Inka Selatiia…DC Style

By Raphael

Indemn nachiu yagere goremsoch (and koredas)? My favorite Seleda editors have  “volunteered” me out again to write about a topic that has vexed and intrigued Ethi-Americans for 20 years…”going-out DC-style”…(Or to use a favorite “Englishmaric” word: “MewTat-ing”)…

Now, it is not clear how I got the honor…I suspect it has more to do with my longevity (i.e. Almot bai tegadayinet), than my hipness for I am now in my mid 30’s – A time when your youngest of nephews threatens to call you “GashE” if he see you in his favorite club…

No matter, I will try my best to give a bit of “HiStory” (as Michael J would say), and some more recent observations…

In the Beginning

Once upon a time back in the early 80’s “DCee Ethees” had limited options to go out…Sheba Kitfo Bet and Imama Desta had just closed, Axum was on it’s last legs, and Fassika and Meskerem where a store and post office respectively…A few hardy fools, and college kids, (yours truly included), would occasionally venture to Red Sea and try to dance to the rhythms of a few young musicians - while trying to dodge the hustling staff…Not exactly an ideal place to strike-up a conversation and gather prized “digits”…

If you were really brave (and had money), you went to a cool club on Georgia Avenue which was owned by an Ethiopian but which catered to the populace in general…It was one of those weird juxtaposed scenes where a song by Grandmaster Flash or Chuck Brown would be followed by a few bootlegged Ethiopian songs – to the delight of the Ethees, and the bewilderment of everyone else…

You could always – I mean always – start you conversation by saying “MechE new ye meTachiew?" …And continue on the same theme for 45 minutes – thereby buying time to figure out something cool to say…That’s the beauty of being new to a place…There was no cynicism. Only “wide-eyed” optimism…

…The attire… Left-over jeans from Addis, with some cheap stuff thrown-in…some folks also forgot to cut their ‘70’s Afros…

…None of that mattered…what was important was who was going to drive…(We quickly figured out that the non-drivers – while looking Chista, got to drink the most)…

Things changed when Asmara, Fassika and Meskerem, Trax, Kilimanjaro, and “Club X” came on the scene (I really forgot Club X’s name…That’s gratitude for you)…Many pages could be written on the first 3 clubs, but on order not to bore the younger folk, I’ll keep it short-‘n-sweet…

You went to Asmara to listen to Aster Aweke…The music was so good (and loud) that you didn’t feel obligated to talk (OK, OK, I know that’s not something the women want to hear, but us guys really feel pressured to talk on dates when we don’t want to)…BTW, this was before Aster’s “modern” phase, so please don’t visual a scene with a lot of screaming and “BeTam new yemiwedachiu”'s…

…When you got bored, you went to Fassika and Meskerem to listen to whatever – or whomever – might show up…This was the period when Ethiopian musicians finally were let out of the country (or defected), so you never knew who was going to sing…

…Next stop on the hip scene was Kilimanjaro – a converted garage with a Somali DJ…You had to be on good terms with the DJ – otherwise you would be stuck listening to West African music all night long (Something about that ukulele bugs me after 5 hours)…The other problem with Kilimanjaro was that it was so big you spent half the night trying to find that one lady you saw on the dance floor earlier in the evening…When you finally found her, “Yet nebersh?” was not a good way of starting the conversation…("Ye mn poliss TyaQE tabezaleh!!)"

…. If you were seriously “in-the-scene”, (or wanted to try things without the ensuing gossip), you went to Trax - a wild multi-dance floor club in the ghetto where shootings were quite common…(Or you went to the tamer Ibex)…

I still remember the awkwardness of the initial conversations there: “Waz your name??”… "Raf”… "You’re trying to pass for a skinny Mexican or something?” "No no, I’m Ethiopian”…”Hmmm…Whatever”…

What Waz That You Said About The Women???

…Uhhh…Nothin’…But in retrospect, I am struck by how polite everyone was to each to the fairer sex…(Yes, I know that rarely exists in our culture, but it did in DC)…There were weekly fights in the clubs, but there were no guns, and rarely was there any talk of “disrespecting” as a cause for a fight…(How did that awful word make it into our lexicon??)…

Looking back, I am also struck by how much less fashion conscious people were…Don’t get me wrong, you did spend money on decent threads, but my nephew’s $200 sneakers would have been inconceivable and would have looked stupid…

What was also fascinating (and still true today), was the love-hate relationship we had with out -of-towners…Folks would show and always say… "Innante ye DeeCee sewetch... CHferra bcha new m'tawQoot 'Serious' athonum??”…This would invariably piss us off, because nobody was putting a gun to their head to have some fun…”Go back to Iowa if you what to be alone…ya know what I mean???”, would be our retort…

So Sparky, What Was Next???

The ‘90’s of course…A time where my peers and I accepted the magic “30” rather ungraciously and faced the consequences…

… "MechE new Senjo yeCHererskew?" … "Uhhh…Yezare amist Amet… "Ingdiaw Joni'n tawQewale'ha?" … "Jonnni?? HuletE wedQo iNa gar neber"…

This exercise in “time travel” was not limited to the men…I personally know a friend who would get pissed off when ex-classmates would announce infront of her that they were only 28…(She would gently remind them that she was the youngest person in the class and that 28 meant that they were 14 when they graduated high school)…

Eventually the wild-eyed optimism was – of course – long gone…In fact, I can still remembered the time when my friend and I got cussed-out for asking some women “Tmhrt keCHeresh behuwala mn mareg jemersh?" …Since I worked in a parking lot at night, I didn’t see the problem with this question, but apparently a lot of folks were developing some serious “Complex”…(Funny how THAT word has made it into our lexicon)…

On the bright side, Kilimanjaro was replaced by the smaller Boukem and the cool Zanzibar…Zanzibar brought back a lot of the fun from the ‘80’s…A lot of relationships were made and broken in that place…The nay sayers were back too… ("Kezia behuwala ke abesha gar aligafam!!!)…No matter. We had fun..

However the simple one-liners were long gone as well…Leaving folks  a bit bewildered an to how to approach each other…("Esti astewwawQeN…" became a favorite plea by guys)…

2000 was when I should have given up DC clubbin'…As Chris Rock always says, "You don’t want to be the oldest person in a club…"

Yet, I’ve hung in there, so let me give you some of my thoughts…

For one thing, when Ethee’s who grew up here began clubbin' the generation gap began to get readily apparent…There seems to be little respect for each other…(All that gangsta rap seems to have really worked)…

On the bright side, young Ethee’s still love jamming to Ethiopian music, (screamin’ Aster being their favorite), and are equally cool fitting in around town…(Republic Garden and Boukum being fine examples)…

As I prepare to hang-up my DC dancing shoes, (sorry, but I really can’t dance in Air Jordans), I must say that being around the DC scene for about 20 years has allowed me a peek into a truly cross-cultural experience…

…Regrettably, (as I am finding out), you can’t find this experience in California or even other cities like Atlanta and Dallas…For that alone, I am grateful…

‘Til next time…

Raf