The first vocal album from beloved Ethiopian nun, composer and pianist Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru features profound and moving cassette recordings made amidst political upheaval and unrest. They are songs about wisdom, loss, grief and exile, sung directly into a boombox and accompanied by Emahoy's distinctive piano. Although she wrote and recorded the songs in her family home in Addis Ababa, Emahoy sings about the pain of being far from home, about the 1974 revolution and the Red Terror in Ethiopia, and about a foreshadowing of her future exile in Jerusalem . In the 21st century, Emahoy has become known worldwide for her very own melodic and rhythmic style. Often misinterpreted as "jazzy" or "honky tonk", Emahoy's music actually springs from a deep engagement with the Western classical tradition, mixed with her background in traditional and orthodox Ethiopian music. These songs, recorded between 1977 and 1985, are different from anything the artist has released to date. The sounds of the birds outside the window, the creaking of the piano bench and the tapping of Emahoy's finger on the record button give the feeling of being with the artist as she records. Emahoy's lyrics, which she sings in Amharic, are poetic and heavy with the burden of exile. "When I looked out/behind the clouds/I couldn't see my country's sky/did I really go that far?" she asks in "Is It Sunny or Cloudy in the Land You Live?" Her singing is delicate and heartfelt, tracing the melodic contours of her piano.
