Emahoy Tsegue Maryam Guebrou - Jerusalem - LP, Comp - Mint (M)

Format:                      LP, Comp

Media Condition:     Mint (M)

Sleeve Condition:     Mint (M)

Country:                       US  

Record Label:              Mississippi Records

Catalog No:                  MRI-200

Released:                     14 Apr 2023

Genre:                           Jazz, Folk World & Country

Style:                             African

Tracklist:

A1. Famine Disaster 1974
A2. The Home Of Beethoven
A3. Jerusalem
A4. Aurora
A5. Quand La Mer Furieuse
B1. Have You Seen Assayehegn?
B2. Movement From Rainbow Sonata
B3. Woigaye, Don't Cry Anymore
B4. Farewell Eve
B5. The Pilgrim Song

Comments:
Factory Sealed, Brand Spanking New.

Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru lived to be 99 and died in 2023. She was old enough to remember Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia, which displaced her, first to Switzerland, where she and her sister were the first Ethiopian girls to be educated abroad, and finally to the Ethiopian Kidane Mehret church in Jerusalem, where she lived for the rest of her life. She both composed and played the keyboard on her own music, which has a mystical quality despite conventional Western harmonies. The music on this album, from rare releases dating to 1963 and 1972, has attracted a good deal of attention, and the album made classical best-seller lists in the spring of 2025. The music of Emahoy (the name is honorific) is perhaps unlike anything else listeners will ever have heard, marked by an entirely personal kind of encounter with the language of Western music within a transparent, flowing, dispassionate discourse with a touch of sentimentality. There is certainly something Ethiopian about it, but this is mostly at a deeper level; in its language, although not in its structure (hear the straightforward development of The Storm), it is Western. She plays piano and, rarely heard on recordings, a harmonium. Those intrigued by Emahoy, and there will be plenty after getting a taste here, can find more of her music if desired; the physical album, which has bonus tracks, or on the large Éthiopiques series of popular music from Ethiopia, which includes more of her secular music. Even here, listeners will get a taste of something unique in the musical annals.

YouTube Video/Audio:

Notes:

A1, B1 to B5 originally released on [r11849819 in 2012. 
A2, A3, A4 recorded in Köln, Germany and originally released on [r9873201 in 1972. 

Runouts are etched, lacquer cutting, plating companies derived from runouts.  160g vinyl.

Licensed From Emahoy Tsege Mariam Music Publishing, Inc.
Recorded At Löve-Studio
Lacquer Cut At Telegraph Mastering
Mastered At Record Technology Incorporated
Pressed By Smashed Plastic Record Pressing

Data provided by Discogs