Faytinga - Numey [2000] [eritrea]

   R   E   U   P   L   O   A   D   

Dehab Faytinga

         Faytinga comes from the Kunama people, one of Eritrea''s many tribes, where women enjoy equal rights with the men. Her father was war hero Faïïd Tinga, and at the age of fourteen she had already joined her country''s armed struggle for independence from neighbouring Ethiopian rule. Faytinga grew up surrounded by her uncles and aunts singing and playing instruments, in accordance with the Kunama tradition. Her dream was to be a singer, and it came true when she was sent to entertain the troops at the front, using her songs as a message of hope and determination. 

         Faytinga composes her own material as well as performing work from well-known Eritrean poets and composers, playing the krar, a small lyre, in accompaniment to her songs. An accomplished and elegant dancer as well as talented singer, Faytinga is a leading figure and source of inspiration for the men and women of her country. In 1990 she undertook a tour of the United States and Europe as a member of an Eritrean group, touring for the first time as a solo artist in 1995 when she released her first album on cassette. It took until 1999, and an appearance at the Africolor festival, before she recorded her first CD. 

       Unlike many leading female vocalists from Europe, Africa, Asia and yes, even the Americas, Faytinga is her own auteur, not the creation of an ambitious marketing-savvy producer. 

       She adapted the ritualistic songs "Numey" and "Kundura" from traditional lyrics and music, and she also integrates the verse of Eritrean poets Agostino Egidio, Arodi Tulli, and Agostino Petro into fresh and metrically varied music fleshed out by the tastefully sparse arrangements of Joel G., who blends traditional instruments and female chorus. Brought in to the Studio Adamas in the capital city of Asmara in April of 1999 to help arrange and engineer this compelling recording, Joel G. leaves no stamp of external ego upon these smoothly crafted studio sessions.

       Faytinga's aural vision of Eritrea, from ancient to modern manifestations, is well worth making time for. As a battle-hardened ambassador of peace and creative growth, with the artistic intuition to make expressive use of her country's multi-lingual elements, she recalls another young woman at the far end of the Red Sea, Phalestinian poet-diva Aml Murkus. Murkus, whose own debut recording AML/HOPE presents an Arabic canvas of a historically rooted new nation being born, similarly stresses the creative potential of a bio-regional cultural scene that includes all tribes, rather than excluding those on the wrong end of nationalistic, rather than, racial or tribal enmity. Let us hope Faytinga is the harbinger of an Eritrean cultural renaissance.

01. Faytinga - Numey (3:29)

02. Faytinga - Milobe (3:31)

03. Faytinga - Amajo (4:00)

04. Faytinga - Lagala Fala Fesso

05. Faytinga - Kundura (3:24)

06. Faytinga - Aleyda (4:36)

07. Faytinga - Alemuye (4:14)

08. Faytinga - Milomala (4:15)

09. Faytinga - Asamen Gana

10. Faytinga - Salada God (4:27)

Faytinga:  vocals 
Arbisha:  percussion

Hassan:  krar

Wasi:  wata

Kahsai:  krar bass

Arodi:  bengala

Chachi:  krar bass (Track 4 & 5)

Adengo, Ahmed, Jacob:  Backing Vocals (Track 8)