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21 October, 2007
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP): American R&B diva Beyonce Knowles began her world tour in front of an audience of 5,000 adoring and hysterical fans in Ethiopia, a country usually unimpressed by Western music.
The 26-year-old Texan singer gave a spirited two-hour performance in the Ethiopian capital Saturday evening, to the delight of her fans, as part of the country's yearlong celebration of its 2,000th year according to its archaic calendar.
In September, when the country celebrated the beginning of the year 2000, Addis Ababa hosted L.A.-based hip-hop group the Black Eyed Peas in a new, multimillion dollar but temporary concert hall. The reception for the internationally popular group was tepid, if respectful.
That reaction was repeated for Beyonce's opening act, multi-platinum-selling rapper Ludacris, whose lukewarm reception portended a dull night.
But something about Beyonce seems to have struck a chord in Ethiopia, where even young Ethiopians are steadfast fans of tunes sung in the national language, Amharic, and the reception was hysterical when she came onstage to deliver a two-hour musical variety show.
In a country where many women wear simple white dresses with colored stripes at the hemline and sleeves, all made from local cotton, Beyonce's outfits were covered in sequins or shiny, space-age material -- from a modern interpretation of a hula girl with shiny black tendrils replacing the grass skirt to a high-necked Victorian-style top set off with a sequined diaper.
Despite -- or perhaps because of -- her outfits, many in the crowd appeared to genuinely enjoy Beyonce's performance, which included many ballads from her recent release, "B-Day.''
"Rap music doesn't suit Ethiopia,'' said local music promoter Michael Melake, 36. "Ethiopians need a melody. Rap music is all about the message and we don't identify with that. It's all about the black American experience, and we don't relate to that.''
Local nightclub owner Enoch Nicano, 30, provided a slightly simpler explanation for Beyonce's huge fan base in Ethiopia. "She's hot,'' he said, then paused to reconsider. "She's more than hot.''
Concert organizers were a little more delicate about why Ethiopians are so fond of the singer.
"Because she loves Ethiopia,'' said Mulugeta Aserate, a member of Ethiopia's millennium secretariat.
The singer seemed to convey that herself, showing genuine emotion before closing the show to deafening applause.
"I want to thank you,'' she told the screaming crowd. "You have been one of the best audiences of my lifetime.''
Beyonce continues her world tour to Romania, Turkey, India, Thailand, Indonesia and China.