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Faytinga and Temesghen Yared from Eritrea sing the Resolution Song

In January 2022, Abbey Wright invited me to represent my country and participate in the “Resolution project“. She asked me to develop an Eritrean version of the “World on Our Shoulders” song, also called the “Resolution Song”. The Resolution Song brings together voices from all over the world in a demonstration of global unity and a call for action to protect the planet. The project aimed at sharing a compilation of versions from every country in the world on Earth Day (22 April).

Having very limited time to do that, I coopted reknowned Eritrean singer and musician Temesghen Yared and poet Shishai Shumendi to work on this great endeavour. Shishai translated the lyrics into Tigrinya (see box below) and adapted them to the melody. Temesghen was responsible for revisiting the original melody with an “Eritrean musical style”. He also provided backing vocals and did the studio recording and mixing.

As a result, the album titled “World on Our Shoulders (Resolution Song)” released on 22 April includes our song along with 16 other versions. We are very proud to be featured in this album, and hope to be able soon to produce a music video, if funding for that can be raised.

Useful links:

Lyrics in Tigrinya for the song "World on Our Shoulders"

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Kunama song – Release of Goda Anna Remix

The 2019 remix of my Kunama cry song “Goda Anna” (Goda Anna Inba Anana) first published in my 2003 album “Eritrea” has been published and is now on my YouTube Official Artist Channel and Deezer. It will be available soon on other digital music platforms. Some of the lyrics for this “Remix”, which are about people who passed away because of the war and all those in sorrow who cry “blood”,  were modified with the help of Dungol, a Kunama elder. As indicated in a previous post, this song has been selected into the 2019 Unsigned Only (UO) Music Competition, whose results will be published in September.

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Album Numey – Songs now available on YouTube

The 10 songs of my CD “Numey” first released in 2000 are now available on this YouTube playlist. In this CD produced in Eritrea, Faytinga sings in her father’s language – Kunama.

The Kunama people are living in the South West of Eritrea. Recent linguistic analysis indicates the Kunama language to be at least 8 000 years old. The Kunama community has an extremely egalitarian ethos and traditional customs are still widely practised. One such practice is the Kundura celebrations held every year in some villages. This festival is a pivotal celebration combining reverence for the Kunama ancestors and rites of passage for the youth. The “Kawena” epic song is the main musical form celebrating the death of an elder, male or female, as the Kunama consider death simply a transition, albeit bitter for the surviving family, and a joyous expectation to meet all ancestors in a wonderful afterlife. The songs “Numey” and “Kundura” on this CD are directly inspired from the Kundura traditional styles. The Kunama love music as it plays an important role in their daily life .

(source: Numey, CD booklet)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8v903XBz0DrVtrFW0NCETs0rDVsUC9aa