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 Senait
Amine was born in 1985 in Dekemhare. Since her father joined the
armed struggle while she was young, her mother took her and her
younger sister to Sahel, the revolutionary base of the Eritrean
armed struggle. Being young, although she couldn’t remember life
in Sahel, she couldn’t forget the continuous Ethiopian planes’
bombardment of their houses.
After independence life became more miserable for the young
siblings. Their father had already died in the war for
liberation and their mother died while giving a birth. “We were
taken to the orphanage after the death of my mother. Life became
so much unpromising for us; we felt loneliness,” she said.
Senait was deeply interested in music and especially in singing.
She remembers the moment she used to sing the song of Fatma,
‘Lohata Keren,’ along with her father in Sahel. Having such
ambitions of being a singer, she was fortunate when she joined
the orphanage. There, she joined the centre’s band that
presented minor shows to visitors. “We used to present different
songs and cultural shows to those who came to visit us at the
orphanage,” she said in an interview she conducted with the
youth magazine, ‘Menessey’.
The second opportunity that helped her improve her singing
skills was joining the C.H. Band in 1997. The Band used to hold
its programs during Eritrean Festivals and other major occasions.
So, Senait was able to get public attention and to expose
herself. The musicians who were in charge of the band also
played an important role in helping the young singer become to
one of the promising young singers in the country.
Speaking about the biggest moments that enabled her reach her
current performance, she said it was the time she joined the
‘Aser Cultural Troupe,’ in 1999. “That was a turning point in my
career. When I joined them, Aser, were on a tour to students in
the national summer campaign in different parts of the country,”
she explained. So, she had the chance to sing songs of other
Eritrean singers on the stage.
The young singer was not only interested in singing; she planed
to learn the guitar and attended the ‘Asmara Music School’ in
2000. After four years, having completing her training, she
mastered the instrument.
The first song that gave her popularity was ‘kndey ykebr
bandieraki,’ a song that describes the huge cost Eritreans paid
in honour of their national flag. She sang the song along with
the young singer Feven Tsegay. “When I started to sing during
major national occasions, I became more confident. When you
receive acclaim from the audience or your fans, you feel more
responsible to improve your performance so as to keep
entertaining them,” she says.
Meeting her husband, Efrem, in the Aser Band was also one of the
main events that gave her encouragement when she joined the
Troupe in 1999. Her husband is also a musician in the Troupe.
“In 2006, Efrem encouraged me to release an album of my own. So,
since then we had been working on it,” she said speaking about
her recently released album, ‘Ajbeni’ (accompany me).
The single song, Ajbeni, was released some months before the
full album and soon became one of the best songs of the year and
was awarded the second prize in this year’s ‘top ten’ songs
during the national festival.
Speaking about the best moments of her life she said: “the time
I and Efrem got married and the time I completed my national
duties and returned to my profession.”
So much is ahead of this young singer. But, it won’t take her
long to put her name in the list of the top national singers,
such as Helen Meles. A good start is a big motive by itself.
Source: Menessey Magazine |
