From riding bus aisles to performing on global stages, Blén’s journey to her debut EP has been quite a ride. Blén’s love for music started early, in a pretty unlikely spot: sitting in the aisle during a long bus ride to her mom’s hometown down in southern Ethiopia. She was only a kid when, moved by Aster Aweke’s new album, known as the “Queen of Ethiopian Pop,” she got up and sang for a bus full of strangers.
The passengers started clapping, and even though she laughs now thinking about how surprised they must have been, that moment ended up setting the path for her whole life. At 27, Blén is finally stepping into a dream that’s been years in the making. Her debut single and title track, “Sèkèn,” is already out, along with the haunting “Tèkètèlègn.” Now, she’s getting ready to drop her six-song debut EP in the next few months.She says, “It feels unreal.”I had this dream, and now I’m actually making it happen.
Music has always played a big part in her life.She grew up with Ethiopian artists’ cassettes and DVDs of Western pop stars like Beyoncé and Shakira all around her, and she was always the one performing at family coffee ceremonies. When she was 12, she showed her early songwriting talent, and her uncle-in-law, who’s a musician, gave her a guitar. That’s what got her started with her first studio recordings. Blén kept her dedication strong throughout her teens and into her young adulthood.
During the summers, I saved up to pay for guitar, piano, and vocal lessons, all while working towards my degree in computer engineering. After graduating in 2020, she helped start Bana Records, a label made to support music with Ethiopian roots but a global outlook. She built the kind of space and network she wished she had when she was starting out. While she was busy building the label, her own music kept growing and shaping itself, laying the groundwork for the EP Sèkèn.
All those years spent working creatively and strategically have molded Blén’s sound into something confident, honest, and truly grounded in Ethiopian musical traditions.Her latest track, “Tèkètèlègn,” is a love song where she asks her partner to trust her instincts.She worked together with her friend and well-known artist Esubalew Yetayew to write the song, which carries the rich, layered lyrics typical of Ethiopian songwriting.Blén directed the cinematic video herself, honoring iconic Ethiopian women and showing her dedication to telling stories that people can relate to.
If Sèkèn sums up the last five years of her life into a single project, then “Tèkètèlègn” marks Blén’s moment of truly stepping into the career she’s been building—starting from performing as a child on a bus to now influencing the future of Ethiopian music.
