Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru Clouds Moving on the Sky (2024)
Although clouds seem to be as light as feathers, a typical fair-weather specimen can weigh something between one and two million pounds (500 to 1,000 tons). This weight is due to the large amount of water droplets that constitute the cloud.
Think about this the next time you see clouds moving on [sic] the sky. And make sure to turn on today’s song while watching the big fluffs. The listening experience, and the life story of the woman who composed the song, is just as sensational as the thought of millions of pounds floating above your head.
The creator of the song is Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, an Ethiopian woman who got to be known as the piano-playing nun. Born in 1923, Gebru was an acclaimed musician in her youth. At one point she even performed for Emperor Haile Selassie. However, Gebru’s life changed dramatically after she wasn’t allowed to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London under mysterious circumstances.
She gave up music and for the next decade, she lived a secluded life in a hilltop monastery. After her new home had to close due to the patriarch's death, she returned to her family in Addis Ababa and gradually resumed playing the piano, composing idiosyncratic pieces that are equally influenced by ancient Ethiopian music and Western classical music. In the 1980s, Gebru fled Ethiopia due to the persecution of her religion under the dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam. She relocated to Jerusalem, where she lived and worked—as the first woman—for the Ethiopian Orthodox Patriarchy until her death in 2023.
Before her passing, Gebru focused on publishing her work, editing bags full of manuscripts with the help of musician Maya Dunietz. Her debut vocal album Souvenirs, recorded between 1977 and 1985, was released in early 2024. It opens with today’s song—the beautiful and somehow feather-light “Clouds Moving on the Sky”.
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