Barya Yemane

Yemane Barya was born in Asmara in 1949, when Eritrea was under British military administration following the end of Italian colonial rule during the Second World War.

In 1952 Eritrea entered a federation with Ethiopia under arrangements established through the United Nations. During the following decade relations between Eritrean political institutions and the Ethiopian central government became increasingly strained. In 1962 the federal arrangement ended and Eritrea was incorporated into Ethiopia.

An armed Eritrean independence movement had begun in 1961 and developed into a prolonged conflict involving successive Ethiopian governments and several Eritrean organizations. Music became an important part of the cultural environment surrounding this period. Songs about love, separation, exile and loss could also carry political meanings understood by local audiences.

Yemane began his musical career within this atmosphere. In 1975, after the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie and during a period of intensified conflict, he joined the Eritrean Liberation Front. He later lived in Sudan and Saudi Arabia, becoming part of a wider Eritrean diaspora created by war and displacement.

The conflict continued throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Ethiopian government forces lost control of Eritrea in 1991, and an internationally observed referendum was held in 1993. Eritrea subsequently became an independent state.

Yemane returned to Asmara after independence. His career therefore spanned several distinct periods of Eritrean history: British administration, federation and incorporation into Ethiopia, decades of armed conflict and finally the establishment of an independent Eritrean state. These experiences form an important background to the recurring themes of exile, belonging, loss and hope in his music.