EMAHOY TSEGE MARIAM GEBRU, Souvenirs (Mississippi Records; MRI201LP-C1, Europe 2024, Booklet, Gold Vinyl) LP NEW/NEW

LP - NEW/NEW - EMAHOY TSEGE MARIAM GEBRU, Souvenirs (Mississippi Records; MRI201LP-C1, Europe 2024, Booklet, Gold Vinyl), , Crows of the sky, please tell me What is found above the clouds? Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, Tell Me . The first vocal album by beloved Ethiopian nun,composer, and pianist Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru - profound and deeply moving home cassette recordings made amidst political upheaval and turmoil.These are songs of wisdom, loss, mourning, and exile, sung directly into a boombox and accompanied by Emahoy s unmistakable piano. Though written andrecorded while still living at her family s home in Addis Ababa, Emahoy sings of the heartache of being far from home, a reflection on the 1974 revolution andRed Terror in Ethiopia, and a presentiment of her future exile in Jerusalem. In the 21st century, Emahoy has become known worldwide for her utterly uniquemelodic and rhythmic style. Commonly misinterpreted as jazzy or honky tonk, Emahoy s music actually comes from a deep engagement with the Westernclassical tradition, mixed with her background in Ethiopian traditional and Orthodox music. These songs, recorded between 1977-1985, are different fromanything previously released by the artist. Rich with the sound of birds outside the window, the creak of the piano bench, the thump of Emahoy s finger on therecord button, they create a sense of place, of being near the artist while she records. Emahoy s lyrics, sung in Amharic, are poetic and heavy with the weightof exile. When I looked out / past the clouds / I couldn t see my country s sky / Have I really gone so far? she asks in Is It Sunny or Cloudy in the Land YouLive? Her vocals are delicate and heartfelt, tracing the melodic contours of her piano on songs like Where Is the Highway of Thought? Tenkou! Why FeelSorry?, a career highlight that closes out her self-titled Mississippi album (MRP-099), is revisited here with vocals. Originally composed for her niece, Tenkou,the lyrics clarify the song title we ve wondered about for so many years. Don t cry / Childhood won t come back / Let it go with love. Emahoy dreamt ofreleasing this music to a larger audience before her passing in March of 2023. - 2656089S *** In Stock In Our Shoreditch Shop ***