Talk:Getatchew Mekurya

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Birth date[edit]

I am wondering about the birth date of Mekuria. What are the sources for 1937 being the correct date? The Ex claim it was 1935 and on that same page claim he was 73 in 2004, making a birth date of 1931 likely. Mark in wiki (talk) 11:29, 7 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

In the page history I found that I myself added the date 1937, but I have no idea where I got that from. If you google for "Getatchew Mekuria + born" you will find a lot of mentions of 1937, but I suppose the majority of those were taken from the Wikipedia-article itself and so cannot be used as a source. The most reliable birth dates I feel are on www.theex.nl and bimhuis.com, which I have now both included as references. Feel free to add info or to improve upon my googling! :-) Apologies for any confusion. Mark in wiki (talk) 13:02, 7 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

His obituary in the New York Times says: "Getatchew Mekurya was born on March 14, 1935, in Yifat, Ethiopia." They can make mistakes too, but the NYT is generally pretty reliable on non-paid obit stories. VanEman (talk) 16:13, 12 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Contradicting sources about what he played first[edit]

The wire source is based on gallery documents provided by the The Ex (band) which he worked with the last. https://www.thewire.co.uk/galleries/gallery-getatchew-mekuria-s-life-in-music says he started with the washint flute and then sax, no mention of masenqo and krar.

Other source thereporterethiopia says he started with the masenqo and krar instrument and then the sax and clarinet https://www.thereporterethiopia.com/content/king-ethiopian-saxophone-passes-age-81

I'm trying to get a source from paywalled NY times article, hopefully they can shed some light on the earlier part of his life/career. Dawit S Gondaria (talk) 21:08, 17 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Update, received NYT article. Basically The Wire comes with new information in a gallery with texts about his earlier life not earlier published, the source is Terp the label behind The Ex (band) that worked with Getatchew Mekurya. The Wire claims nobody in Ethiopia has seen these pictures or knows the whole history - just lack of media. The issue is it contradicts other earlier sources such as the reporter ethiopia mentioned earlier and a paywalled NYT article which can be viewed at https://www.proquest.com/docview/1780023669/C93A85DF12A344A1PQ/1? on his early life what he played, and the wire/terp also reveals new info as far i can see not mentioned elsewhere such as hearing the sax on the radio and based on that deciding to go for the sax, or being an actor in the 50's. How reliable is the Wire? Dawit S Gondaria (talk) 22:58, 17 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]