Mississippi Records & Dada Strain Present:

An album release celebration for
Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru's "Souvenirs"
&
"la espalda y su punto radiante" by sinonó
(Isabel Crespo Pardo, Lester St. Louis, Henry Fraser)

Featuring the piano of Thomas Feng
and very special guest LARAAJI

Wednesday, March 13
St Mark's Church on the Bowery, NYC
Doors: 7:30 pm. Music starts promptly at 8 pm.
$20 adv / $25 doors

Thomas Feng will play compositions from Emahoy’s original sheet music, LARAAJI will embark on a meditative journey sampling Emahoy’s work on the electric zither, and sinonó (Isabel Crespo Pardo, Lester St. Louis, Henry Fraser) will perform poemsongs from their debut album.

about the artists:

The late EMAHOY TSEGE MARIAM GEBRU was an Ethiopian Orthodox nun and composer whose piano pieces are beloved by people around the world. Born in Addis Ababa in 1923, Emahoy studied classical music in Europe and Egypt, underwent a profound spiritual awakening, and spent a decade in contemplation as a barefoot nun in the mountains of Ethiopia. She left Ethiopia in 1984 for exile in Jerusalem, where she lived at the monastery at the Church of Kidane Mehret.

SOUVENIRS is Emahoy's first vocal album, songs of longing and exile recorded by the artist on a boombox at her family home in Addis between 1974 and 1985. Emahoy long wished to see this material released to the wider world, but passed away in March 2023 at age 99. We celebrate her and this beautiful music in what would have been her 100th year.

sinonó is a brief submergence, a string of choices, a container for the communion of rigor and failure. This NYC-based trio, featuring Isabel Crespo Pardo (voice), Lester St. Louis (cello), and Henry Fraser (bass), performs graphic scores and poem-songs composed by Crespo. Their affinity for melody, metaphor, and abstraction draws them into familiar yet surprising environments, crackling with aliveness.
https://linktr.ee/sinono

Thomas Feng is a pianist, composer, and musicologist. As a pianist, he performs principally works of modern and contemporary literature, including new works by living composers and several works of his own. Notable engagements include premieres of solo works by Eve Beglarian, Salina Fisher, Reiko Füting, James Newton, Kurt Rohde, Nicky Sohn, and Sam Wu; ensemble performances with Da Capo Chamber Players and Wild Up; and appearances at Monday Evening Concerts and TIME:SPANS. He is also an accomplished flutist.

LARAAJI, born Edward Larry Gordon, is a prolific musician who specializes in live performance of music for piano, zither, and mbira. Born in Philadelphia and growing up in part in New Jersey, Laraaji studied composition and piano at Howard University, an HBCU in Washington D.C. then moved to New York City, where he began to play zither as a busker. During his time playing at Washington Square Park in the 70s, Laraaji was becoming deeply interested in the spiritual traditions of South and Southeast Asia and the Himalayas and at the same time developing an improvisatory and meditative technique for performing. After his recognition in part through Brian Eno, Laraaji began to release his music and performance on cassettes for meditation and redoubled his spiritual practice with the help of teachers such as Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati.