Gigi

Ejigayehu Shibabaw, better known as Gigi, is one of the few singers from the Horn of Africa -- the first since countrywoman Aster Aweke, in fact -- to break through with a major-label release. Gigi grew up in rural Ethiopia, listening to traditional and church music, before moving to the capital, Addis Ababa, when she was 14. There, her musical horizons broadened, hearing the local pop music "and all kinds of American music we could get on the radio. After that I went to Kenya, and there I was exposed to a lot of different African music, a different kind of beat." Returning ho...