Alison: This is All Of It from WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. Now, an All Of It released a Listening Party for the artist Berhana.

MUSIC - Berhana: Like a Habit

You try to break me like a habit

Now with the damages I can't tell the truth

You're moving crazy, so erratic

Wasting my time, oh, hard to say

Alison: The Atlanta singer-songwriter, now in his 30s, connects with his Ethiopian roots, touching on the experiences of second-generation immigrants and the East African diaspora at large. He incorporates Ethiopian jazz melodies, '90s neo-soul, vintage house, and modern Afrobeat. Berhana gained notoriety in 2018 with his song Grey Luh from the 2016 EP Berhana. It was played on Donald Glover's comedic drama, Atlanta. Now today is the release stay for his new work, Amén, a Nomad's Dream, Berhana joins us now. Welcome. Nice to meet you.

Berhana: Nice to meet you. Thank you so much for having me.

Alison: Let's talk about that very first track, very first track, and it's a bit of a prelude. It's 45 seconds. What's the backstory on Amén, this prelude?

Berhana: Yes, Amén, that intro track is, I feel like really represents what it was like for me growing up in a first-generation household with me and my mom. My mom's banging on the door, telling me, "Are you doing your homework? Are you not playing video games? You better not be playing music again," and then I turn up the music and drown her out and it fades into this. It's almost like revisiting those experiences, feels like a dream. I felt like it set up the narrative really nicely.

Alison: Well, let's take a listen.

MUSIC - Berhana: Amén

Dun, dun, dun dun. Dun, du—

Amén? Amén. Amén.

What are you working on in there?

Come here. Are you working on your homework?

What's with the music? Come here.

Are you playing video games? Amén.

Just wait on it. You will see.

I'm going to send you to boarding school.

You will see. I'm going to do it.

I'm going to do it. You will see, Amén Berhane.

Alison: Love knowing the story behind it. Now, I got the visual of mom's at the door. Part of the album's title is written in the official language of Ethiopia Amharic, and it translates to a nomad's dream. How does that factor into the theme of the album? A nomad's dream?

Berhana: Yes, well, I feel like texturally. Like I said, even with that first track, a lot of these experiences feel like we're revisiting them through a dream. There's something about the quality of the album. When I even listened to it, it feels very dreamy. The character of the Nomad was this idea of this character that can bring home with them wherever they go. I'm first generation. My family is from Ethiopia. I was born and raised in Atlanta, but I live in LA. I'm far away from home.

I felt, especially over the past couple of years this sense of like, "Oh, I need to bring home with me wherever I go," because it's not so close, and people are getting older and I've lost people in the past couple years and I feel like all of that really lights a fire inside you to really want to connect and hold on to something that feels so important.

Alison: My guest is Berhana, the name of the album is Amén. It is out today, we're having a Listening Party. Let's listen to another track called Gone. I'm going to let you say the full title, so it's pronounced correctly.

Berhana: Yes, it's Gone (Abebe Bikila). It's named after an Ethiopian marathon runner, who was the first African to win gold in the Olympics.

Alison: What was it about his story that inspired you or motivated you to write?

Berhana: Yes, he's a real legend in Ethiopian history, and my mom used to tell me about him all the time when I was a kid. What's unique about his story is not only was he the first African to win gold in the Olympics, he was standing for someone else. The shoes he was given didn't fit, and he ran barefoot and he won. He won barefoot in Rome, Italy which was also very significant because of just the past Ethiopia and Italy have with each other. Yes, it was always something. I always said my mom has a photo with him when he came to her city. I just felt like it'd be cool for other people to know about this.

Alison: This is the song Gone.

MUSIC - Berhana: Gone

Go- Go - Gone off the goose

Gone off tequila

Abebe Bikila, I lost both my shoes

Talked with my dudes, they say I can't read her

Say I don't need her, but nobody do

Gone off the goose, Abebe Bikila

Gone off tequila, I lost both my shoes

Talked with my dudes, they say I don't need her

Say I can't read her, but nobody do

Gone off the

Uh

Whole song feelin' like an ad-lib

So gone niggas off the atlas, yuh

Blacked out spinnin' off his axis

Attendants keep giving me Tullamore Dew

Waking up drunk in a pool

Looking for something to prove

Hope I don't crash

Random bitch sharin' her stash

Louisville Slugger to match like

Girl, think fast

I can't tell you how it happened

I caught feelings out in Africa

Old hoes running out of traction

Can't remember where I put my Adidas

Notes off-key

Shoulda never let her build her hopes off me

But it's no white flag

Think I could still get her back

Wait, can you help find my glass?

Bitch, I'm gone off the goose.

Gone off tequila

Abebe Bikila, I lost both my shoes

Talked with my dudes, they say I can't read her

Say I don't need her, but nobody do

Gone off the goose, Abebe Bikila

Alison: That's a song Gone off the album Amén. My guest is Berhana. That story is so moving that you told about the African runner who wasn't even supposed to be in the race in the Olympics and didn't have shoes that fit, so we just went for it. Can you think of a time in your career when you just saw your moment and you went for it?

Berhana: Yes. I think in the very beginning of my career, I went to film school, I thought I was going to be writing for television and film. Music was something I loved and always did, but it was something that was just for me. One of my friends from the jazz program at my school, he really wanted to do a song with me, we did it. Just this kind of a one-off and it did well. That made me want to put on my own music. I put out my first song, which was called Janet, first song I recorded, and ended up doing really well.

Then that moment, I had this feeling of, "Okay, I have all of this setup here, but it feels like there's somewhere else I'm supposed to be heading. There's a light that I should be following." In that moment, I was like, "Yes, I'm going to go for it. I'm going to see what this is about." I don't know if you can compare it to running barefoot in the Olympics, but it's what I got.

Alison: Oh, you might have been as equally as scared. On your first album, HAN, which came out in 2019, you drew inspiration from the Japanese artist, you can hear Takahashi who passed away earlier this year. What was it about his work that influenced you and meant something to you?

Berhana: Yes, Neuromantic is one of my favorite albums. I just feel like the textures of his work, the sense, his creativity, and also his daring nature, how he's really willing to push himself through whatever. You could listen to a lot of his music and it doesn't sound necessarily like the same genre. As you know, a lot of genre-bending and today's age, but back then, I'm sure it was much scarier to do that, and he did it so effortlessly. His songs are so infectious. Yes, I really love what he does.

Alison: Did you record your last album in Japan? Is that correct?

Berhana: Yes, about half of the album we recorded in Tokyo.

Alison: There's another connection in here that involves New York City from what I understand, the Atlantic describes a time when you're in New York City, and you had to learn a lot about Japanese culture because you were working at a restaurant in East Village.

Berhana: Yes.

Alison: Tell us about that experience and what you learned.

Berhana: Yes, it was a job that when I took it it was just because it was a job, I needed something fast and I couldn't get a job anywhere else, but it ended up being this restaurant where they make you speak Japanese, you have like a 15-minute chant you have to do every day. I knew nothing about the culture before going into it. Then I was so inundated with all of it at once. I fell in love with it. In a weird way, reminded me of my own family and my own culture. Yes, and that just sparked something within me and I had to go, I had to visit.

Alison: My guest is Berhana, the name of the new album is Amén. Let's listen to another song off the album. This one is called Don't Go. It has a bit of an Afrobeat vibe. Let's take a listen. Music - Berhana: Don't go

I've made my bad decisions

Dark sin opened my eye

Just pray like "God, forgive them"

Cause I've stumbled 'pon new light

Broke through in the night like thieves

So bright but it feel so righteous

I'm taking in all the sides

Can't explain I'm honest, honest

Call this out of body

Sacrifice the nihlist, nihlist

Just to feel you on me

I'm taking in all the sides

Cause I don't wanna waste time

Oh, do, do, do

Do, do, do do

Don't go, don't

I want it all, all, all

See God and I done chose

So I need you to know

That I don't take this lightly

Can't believe it's real

Never found one like this

Need you for myself

And I don't want nobody

Don't want nobody else

I want you here beside me

Need you all the time

Don't go, go, go

Alison: It's an All Of It Listening Party for Berhana. The new album is called Amén. It's out now. We're actually having a technical difficulty, his line dropped, so we're going to play another track from the album while we can get Berhana back on the line. We're going to play a track called Anansi. It's a dance song midway through the album, it's track 6. A lot of people might think of Anansi the spider when they see the title of this song. People know it's one of the popular animal tricksters from West African mythology. Let's take a listen.

Music - Berhana: Anansi

Knew that it was something when I tried to up and run

But couldn't let it go

Thought you wasn't ready but it's getting hot and heavy

And we all alone

Runnin' through the night, high

Hard to get you out my mind

I don't know what you want

But imma find it out

Just a touch, I'm up, high

Hard to get you off my mind

I don't know what you like

But I'll find it out

Time

I watch it ticking down, down, down

Alison: My guest is Berhana. The name of the album is Amén. Today is its release day. So many different influences on this album, so many different sounds and vibes. One of the things I wanted to ask you about was the Ethiopian Jazz that's referenced on the album. For people who don't know the difference between Ethiopian Jazz and New Orleans Jazz and Afro-Cuban Jazz, how would you describe the sound?

Berhana: It was coined by this artist Mulatu Astatke, one of my favorite artists, and it's a fusion, which is one of my favorite genres. It combines Ethiopian traditional scales with jazz and sometimes Latin elements as well. It's really a fusion of the two, that's what makes it unique.

Alison: I know that you did some deep dives in record stores in Ethiopia. What were some of the records that you came across that really caught your attention and that inspired you in some way?

Berhana: Mulatu by Mulatu Astatke is one of my favorites. Ali Birra, Mahmoud Ahmed, Alemayehu Eshete. All of these artists in their own way, oh, Emahoy Maryam Guèbrou who's one of my favorite favorites, and Hailu Mergia. All these people found ways in which to incorporate our culture in their own way. It felt like there was always a fusion of worlds happening, whether it's Alamayo, fusing it with Elvis in old rock, or it's Mulatu with jazz, or Emahoy, the spiritual nature she brings from her classical background.

I think all of those artists were able to bring themselves in such a unique way into their works, and you can really hear that.

Alison: We're going to go out on the song, Someday. Can you set this up for us?

Berhana: Yes. Someday is one of those songs that has a lead line at the end that does feel very Ethiopian. To me, it's the part in the album that feels like the turning point in the narrative to all those lost moments when it's like, "Oh, I need to turn this around." To me, it's a prayer. It's like a prayer sent out to someone I lost, and just for direction and some guidance. Yet to me that's the turning point in the album.

Alison: Let's go out on Barhana's song, Someday. The album is called Amén. Happy release day.

Berhana: Thank you so much. Loved being here.

Music - Berhana: Someday

Someday it's going to swing my way

Someday, I hope

Someday it's going to swing my way

Someday, I hope

Someday it's going to be my day

Someday, I hope

 

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