Eritrean Music
 

Eritrean music, like the country, has had not much exposure to the outside world. In the whole history of the music of Eritrea, only a few musicians and singers have become famous in the world. This history of Eritrea music, however, is not long. It has been only around 50 years since the music has come to the fore.

Eritrea has had a troubled past. It was only in 1993 that it gained its independence from Ethiopia. Even after that, there has been only an authoritarian government which has not allowed much freedom of expression, not even private media houses.

Some Eritrean singers were banned by the Ethiopian government. The famous music exponents from Eritrea include Bereket Mengistab, Atowe Birhan Segid, Osman Abderrehim, Alamin Abdeletif, Yeman Baria, Tewolde Radda and Haile Ghebru. Most of the Eritrean songs which became famous in this era had to do with political freedom, love for the country, and such patriotic numbers.

The instruments which accompany popular Eritrea songs are the abangala (resembles a banjo), kraar (a stringed instrument), kebero (drums) and wata (resembles a violin). Many songs are suited for dance. The Eritrean tigre music has beats which allow the style of women shake their hair braids. Tigre and Bilen women dancers have this style of dancing while Tigrinya women move in a counter-clockwise direction, bobbing their shoulders in the rhythm of the song. Music is completely linked to dance in this country.

On YouTube, Eritrea music can be found. There are several popular Eritrea music videos on the site. Eritreanmusic.com is another site where you can listen to a host of songs from the country. It also introduces new singers and musicians. On the player on the webpage there, you can also listen to categories such as billen, amharic, instrumental and tigre music Eritrea.

Among the popular Eritrea music download happening every day, the category of Eritrean music Teshamo has been found to be a favourite. Among famous female singers of Eritrean music, Helen Meles is very popular.

Modern Eritrean music has been recorded since 1960. This music is evidently influenced by Western music. There are also influences of the countries that dominated Eritrea. Thus, we also have a particular kind of music called the Eritrean Ethiopian music. Amharic music has its origins in Ethiopia.

The music of Eritrea, otherwise, is very different from other African nations in the case of the rhythm. You can understand this when you compare Eritrean music mp3 to other African music mp3 files. In content too, there is a marked difference. For instance, Amharic songs are often love ballads and melodious songs but Eritrean songs are all about war, country, political expression and the like.