PREORDER - shipping on or around February 23, 2024
(Note: If you order this record alongside other items, your whole package will ship together on Feb 23. If you want the rest of your package to ship sooner, please make two separate orders).
Includes unlimited streaming of Souvenirs
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 5 days
Purchasable with gift card
$27USDor more
Streaming + Download
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
$10USD or more
Cassette + Digital Album
4 panel J card, comes with download card of audio and pdf of booklet
Includes unlimited streaming of Souvenirs
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 5 days
Purchasable with gift card
$15USDor more
MRI-201 Art Edition (Gold)
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
*GOLD VINYL*
hand stamped covers. paste on glossy photo, limited to 50 copies.
A portion of the proceeds of the limited art pressings will be donated Make the Road NYC, who work to build the power of immigrant and working class communities to achieve dignity and justice
Includes unlimited streaming of Souvenirs
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Sold Out
MRI-201 Test Pressing Edition (Black)
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
*BLACK VINYL*
hand stamped covers. paste on glossy photo. limited to 50 copies.
A portion of the proceeds of the limited art pressings will be donated Make the Road NYC, who work to build the power of immigrant and working class communities to achieve dignity and justice
Includes unlimited streaming of Souvenirs
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
PREORDER - shipping on or around February 23, 2024
(Note: If you order this record alongside other items, your whole package will ship together on Feb 23. If you want the rest of your package to ship sooner, please make two separate orders).
Includes unlimited streaming of Souvenirs
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Sold Out
MRI-201 CD
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
4 panel wallet, comes with download card of audio and pdf of booklet
PREORDER - shipping on or around February 23, 2024
(Note: If you order this record alongside other items, your whole package will ship together on Feb 23. If you want the rest of your package to ship sooner, please make two separate orders).
Includes unlimited streaming of Souvenirs
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
“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 and recorded while still living at her family’s home in Addis Ababa, Emahoy sings of the heartache of leaving her beloved Ethiopia, a reflection on the 1974 revolution and ensuing Red Terror in her homeland, and a presentiment of her future exile in Jerusalem.
In the 21st century, Emahoy has become known worldwide for her utterly unique melodic and rhythmic style. Commonly misinterpreted as “jazzy” or “honky tonk,” Emahoy’s music actually comes from a deep engagement with the Western classical tradition, mixed with her background in Ethiopian traditional and Orthodox music. These songs, recorded between 1977-1985, are different from anything 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 the record 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 weight of 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 You Live?” Her vocals are delicate and heartfelt, tracing the melodic contours of her piano on songs like “Where Is the Highway of Thought?”
“Tenkou! Why Feel Sorry?,” 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 of releasing this music to a larger audience before her passing in March of 2023. We are proud to release this music, in collaboration with her family, now, in what would have been her 100th year.
LP comes with a 16-page booklet full-color booklet. Gold cover first edition, pressed in both black and gold vinyl editions.
credits
released February 23, 2024
All songs composed and recorded by Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, Addis Ababa, 1977–1985
Reissue produced by Cyrus Moussavi
Co-Produced by Thomas Feng
Album Design by Sam Wenc
Typesetting and Graphic Production by Dan Fried
Back cover image painted by Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru
Lyric Translation by Ermias Zemichael
Additional Translation by Saba Ukbai
Tape Digitization by Albina Music Trust
Mastering by Timothy Stollenwerk at Stereophonic
Licensing by Adam Holofcener
Label Coordination by Maria Barrios
Licensed from Emahoy Tsege Mariam Music Publisher
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