- This piece was first released in 2006 as a recording in Volume 21 of the Éthiopiques series from the label Buda Musique. The album is a compilation of Emahoy’s compositions, performed by the composer.
- The score of Homesickness has been published by Emahoy Music Publisher.
- Emahoy’s music involves a host of disparate influences, including her classical training, jazz, and the ancient pentatonic music of the Ethiopian Orthodox church.1
- Emahoy’s life story suggests many moments that could have produced homesickness. As a child she was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland; around the age of seven she was sent to an Italian prisoner of war camp with her family; she became very ill when she first left home to join an Ethiopian monastery; she currently lives in Jerusalem after fleeing religious persecution in Ethiopia in the 1980s.2
Sources
- Kate Molleson, “The extraordinary life of Ethiopia’s 93-year-old singing nun,” The Guardian (April 17, 2017), accessed November 24, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/apr/17/ethiopia-93-year-old-singing-nun-emahoy-tsegue-maryam-guebrou.
- “Meet Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gabru,” Emahoy Tsege Mariam Music Publisher, accessed November 24, 2021, https://www.emahoymusicpublisher.com/about-emahoy.
Cut IDs
21424