New releases last four weeks: Jazz

Review: Souvenirs is the first vocal album from Ethiopian nun, composer and pianist Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru. It was recorded between 1977 and 1985 in a lo-fi setup in her family home in Addis Ababa shortly before she was exiled to Jerusalem. Playing the piano and singing through a boom box, Gebru captured the solemn mood of the time as she faced the prospect of leaving her homeland to escape the upheaval brought about the 1974 revolution in Ethiopia. Her playing fuses Western classical with Ethiopian traditional and Orthodox music, while her Amharic lyrics touch on the tumultuous situation she found herself in, in profoundly poetic ways. The accompanying 16-page booklet offers translations of these words, so the message can land for listeners beyond the powerful impact of the recordings themselves.