[6] Buying her first krar for only 25 cents, Asnaketch taught herself how to play and began performing in small bars and cabarets.
After a case of unrequited love, she grew depressed, stopped eating for three days, and was briefly chained to her bed.
Asnaketch went on a 16-week tour of Europe and America in 1987 on the behest of the military government to thank foreign nations for their help during famine-plagued years.
In 1995 Asnakech recorded the CD "Ende Jerusalem" for Acoustic Music in Germany with Begenna player Alemu Aga.
[2] In 1998 she received an award for lifetime achievement from the Ethiopian Fine Arts and Mass Media Prize Trust.
In 2003, Buda Musique released Éthiopiques 16: The Lady With the Krar, a compact disc which compiles Asnaketch's recordings from the mid-1970s.