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Yemane Gebremichael (Barya)
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Remembering unique Eritreans in contemporary history
A
short
biography
Of
Yemane
Gebremichael (Barya)
source: youtube.com
Compiled
from the internet and edited
By
Mehreteab
Abay
Stavanger,
Norway
June 2013
Biography
Yemane Baria was born in Asmara, Eritrea in january 21, 1949 and died in Asmara
in 1997.
Yemane's songwriting strove to reflect what he perceived to be Eritrean
experience during the
Eritrean War of Independence. His songs were dotted with stories of love,
journey, hope, immigration, and liberation. In 1975, he was jailed for the
perceived political interpretation of one of his songs.[2]
A few years after the declaration of the independence of Eritrea, Yemane
moved to Asmara
and continued to release albums that reflected the new era of hope and national
prosperity, with a mixture of Eritrean and Latin melodies. He also sang about
the people involved in the movement towards Eritrean independence, and the
sacrifices of that movement.
Yemane was also known as the 'Eritrean caretaker',[3]
due to his reputation as being of a generous, down-to-earth nature, and for
sharing his place with newly arrived Eritreans. He is known for having helped
many Eritreans adjust to diaspora life in
Sudan and move to
better places in the Middle East, America, Europe, etc. He was also reputed for
his artistry and mastery of
Tigrinya, the most widely used language in Eritrea.
Yemane's albums included:
References
1.
^
Connell, Dan; Killion, Tom (2010). Historical Dictionary of Eritrea (2nd
ed.). Scarecrow Press. p. 552.
ISBN
0-8108-5952-1.
2.
^
Mussie Tesfagiorgis G (2011). Eritrea (Africa in Focus). ABC Clio. p.
255.
ISBN
1-59884-231-5.
3.
^
http://www.ehrea.org/Yemane%20Barya.htm
External links
·
How do you write about
passion, love, revolution, flawless poignancy, inexhaustible hope and painful
yearning for freedom? How do you capture the heartbeats of millions and channel
it through your soul and into the world? How do you become both timeliness and
timelessness itself? As for the answers to these questions, I simply don’t know.
The challenge I faced the moment I began writing this article, however, has more
to do with this question: how do you write about the person who captured all of
these complex elements during his short stay on this earth?
·
How do you write about Yemane
Barya, the prolific Eritrean griot?
·
Addressing these questions
will only create a series of articles I won’t dare venture into at the moment.
Neither will I navigate this piece to capture all that is Yemane. I will,
instead, bow out of the challenge and resort to writing not about the phenomenon
but about some of the elements of the phenomenon we have come to know and love
as Yemane Barya.
·
Love, depth, poignancy,
inexhaustible hope, painful yearning for freedom are some of the most common
residents of his soul. As gracious of a host he was to these residents, he was
never hesitant to put these very residents to work. With the sighs of anguish of
millions of Eritreans as his tank of oxygen, Yemane dove into the oceanic depths
of his own soul to search for the words and the melodies that would capture it
all. When he emerged, he shared his discovery not with a triumphant voice that
boasts of his talent but of the strong, beautiful and painful familiarity he
accrued from his journey inward. The familiarity about the reality looming
outside and around. What one hears when Yemane oozes out of the speakers is the
sound of sincere nativity that is birthed when the struggle of the human spirit
impregnates a sincere voice.
·
During an interview in the
early 1990s, when a journalist asked him where he gets his heartfelt lyricism
from, Yemane replied, “The source of my lyricism is based on the conversations I
have with people. It’s from the depth of these conversations that I get and
arrange it all. I could write something complex but if the common man cannot
understand what you are saying, then it is almost as if you haven’t written it
at all”. His understanding of the human nature, namely, the desire to be felt
and spoken to directly, helped shape the heartfelt messages he conveyed through
his music.
·
“Yemane eloquently captures
tragedy. He has a voice that reflects the oppression and wrongdoings unleashed
on the masses,” once remarked the legendary musician Berekhet Mengisteab who
characterized Yemane’s passing as a loss of unimaginable proportions. Yes,
Yemane was the people and the people are Yemane.
·
On January 21st, 1949, the
revolution that dared to be broadcasted arrived as a bundle of joy to Mr.
Gebremichael Bisirat and Mrs. Azeb Gebrehiwet. Yes, this date marked the birth
of the Eritrean griot whose revolutionary and defiant music would force him to
flee his beloved Asmara 26 years later. Yemane’s interest in poetry began to
bubble into the surface when he was in 7th grade at Camboni School. Soon after,
his interests expanded into music and theatre. As time progressed, Yemane found
himself gravitating into the world of performing arts; to the dismay and
relentless opposition of his parents. Completely overtaken by the passion that
gave him the power to defy his parents insistence that he should solely focus on
his studies at Kidisti Mariam, Yemane would eventually drop out of school when
he was only in the 9th grade. Although Yemane was an excellent student, he
simply could not resist his true calling. With his heartfelt approach to his
passion for music and his knack for moving lyricism, Yemane soon began to grip
the imagination of the youth in Asmera.
·
Yemane’s passion was growing
against the backdrop of hectic political unrest in an Eritrea that was gripped
by the feudalist system of Emperor Haile Selassie. Any vocal opposition against
the regime’s annexation of Eritrea resulted in dire consequences and any
Eritrean voice was closely monitored and heavily censored. It seemed inevitable
then that the combination of youthful vigor and strong commitment to the rights
of Eritreans would soon bring trouble to Yemane. The very first song Yemane
wrote, entitled “Lula” landed him in prison. The song’s content -about a man
whose soul mate was snatched by a cruel intruder- was considered to be a veiled
political message addressing the annexation of Eritrea by Ethiopia. Here
is a translated verse from the song “Lula”:
·
Harmoniously and in love/she
once lived with me A certain someone has taken her/and trouble has befallen me
He forcefully invaded her sending his subjects She was once with me but now he
has taken her to his country How dare he snatch her away from me How cruel he
is/to poke my eyes out like this
·
The practice of veiling a
political message as a romantic song was and has been a common practice by some
Eritrean singers. I believe this practice speaks for both the love many
Eritreans have for their country and the level of danger they are willing to
take to speak on behalf of the oppressed and the voiceless. Inevitably, fearing
the consequences of the revolution they carried out with their musical talents,
many singers have left their beloved nation and people for a life in exile.
·
The Eritrean judge, who was
deeply concerned about the possibility that Yemane could face death for his
lyrics, prolonged the case to buy time. Fortunately for Yemane and, in
retrospect, for the people of Eritrea, his case was dismissed when Haile
Selassie’s regime was unseated by Derg. Taking advantage of this chaotic time of
transition, Yemane Barya did what he always wanted to do but couldn’t (for fear
of endangering the lives of the people who bailed him out when he was jailed);
and joined the Eritrean revolution. In 1975, Yemane joined the Eritrean
Liberation Front (ELF) and underwent 3 months of military training. During his
time, since there was no electricity in the base, Yemane was performing without
a microphone. He later left for Sudan and then to Saudi Arabia; where he
continued his revolution through his wonderful deeds and music.
·
Yemane’s inexhaustible
kindness, generosity and love for his people is not something that is merely to
be pointed out with simple references to his powerful music. He was a man who
walked his talk. While in Sudan, he aided hundreds of Eritrean refugees cross
over into Saudi, Europe, the US etc. where they were able to make better lives
for themselves. “His generosity knew no boundaries!” says his mother Mrs. Azeb
Gebrehiwet, recalling the time when she visited him in Sudan.“He had a sack full
of sugar outside his door and a tea kettle with some cups. All who came to his
house didn’t have to be asked if they would like some tea, they felt so much at
home that they would simply go ahead and make tea as much as they please.”
Concerned that her son’s generosity was bordering foolishness during such a
difficult time when sugar was as scarce and as expensive of a commodity as
everything else was , his mother thoughtfully advised Yemane’s wife to at least
put the sugar inside the house. His wife replied matter of factly, “Aye adey! He
will simply buy another sack and put it out there again.” Yemane was not a man
of wealth, but he shared the little he had with his people. There are several
Eritreans who would recount about how Yemane personally helped them get to where
they are now. Yemane knew all it took to help his fellow men was nothing more
than the will to do so.
·
Even after independence,
Yemane never ceased to be the man who stood for the voiceless and the poor. His
sister, Ms. Asefash G/Michael recalls the time when Yemane, disturbed by the
economic hardships the poor faced, asked, “When will this people see a better
time?”. Curious, she inquired why he asked such a question. He replied, “How
great it would be if the poor and the wealthy could exchange places only for one
day! Each would see and understand the other’s reality. It breaks my heart when
the poor and the wealthy pass away without tasting each other’s poverty and
wealth.”
·
While the Sudanese,
recognizing the extent of his love for his people, affectionately called him
“The Ambassador”, Abo dikha or “The Father of the poor ones” was the title his
fellow countrymen gave him. After the Eritrean independence afforded him the
opportunity to finally return to his beloved Eritrea, Yemane continued his
philanthropic deeds by engaging in countless shows to fundraise for the Eritrean
tegadeltis who lost their limbs during the revolution. Off the stage, he was the
father figure for many mentally challenged youth who were treated as outcasts by
many members of the society. When this powerful griot and champion of love
finally left his earthly existence in 1997, the heavy grief felt by the
thousands who came to bid him farewell was further accented by the heart
shuttering cries of the poor and forgotten who called Yemane, their father.
·
On the same day of his death,
Yemane Barya was slated to start recording a compilation album with some other
notable artists. In addition to planning the remixing of his music in various
languages, he was also preparing to tour abroad. It is painful to lose someone
as inspirational and talented as Yemane was, but the lives of revolutionaries
are hardly lengthy. I suspect there’s a lesson in this fact that just may be as
powerful as the lesson in the purpose they serve. When he departed, the man who
lent the veins of his heart to Eritrea so that she can strum on them as if they
were the strings of kirar was only forty eight years old. Yemane was a
half-century old revolution that lives on even today.
·
I was playing the legend’s
tunes as I began to write this piece. Although appreciative of the acoustic
clarity affording me the opportunity to appreciate the sounds of the artist who
inspires me beyond description, there was something constraining and unholy
about putting Yemane’s music in my plastic, artificial and distanced ipod. It
almost felt as if I was defiling his timeless and pure voice, and I somehow
drifted into the past when I used to listen to Yemane’s purposely unmarked
tapes.
·
During the Derg’s era, it was
dangerous to get caught with his tape in hand. However, something in his music
and his words awoke a certain rebellion spirit, no matter how timid, quiet and
tamed. His tapes were dubbed and passed among my friends so many times that the
string would often break. I knew that my mother would go crazy if she found out
what happened to those tapes, so I used to glue those strings back up using her
nail polish. It was quite amusing to witness her become puzzled about how fast
the beat went from a single tempo to derb, skipping all of the noticeable
substance in between. Anyway, I was lucky enough to appreciate Yemane Barya’s
music the way I did and the way I still do. I could hear what he is saying and
what he meant because it is sang in the language I know very well. Nonetheless,
I couldn’t help but ask myself a question I already knew the answer to: why do
the young Eritreans in the Diaspora whose Tigrigna vocabulary doesn’t go past
the basics, love Yemane Barya’s music? The answer is obvious, he speaks to and
with their souls. No translation is needed. His voice tells it all and
wordlessly they nod back saying, we get you Yemane.
·
May our powerful griot rest
in peace. May we recognize, nurture and love our future griots; the griots who
speak for the voiceless, for the downtrodden, for those deprived of justice and
their God given rights!
·
Legends are destined, not
made. Purpose is sought after, not relayed.
·
Rest in peace Yemane Barya.
|
source: youtube.com |
source: youtube.com |
|
source: www.last.fm
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source: youtube.com
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The
monthly tigrinja journal of
had dedicated its December 1999 issue to the life history of the unique
Eritrean artist named Yemane Gebremichael (Barya). I have taken the freedom of
scanning the entire journal and placed it as appendix in my
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