Sew Lesew
A little more than a year has gone by since Gili Yalo released his phenomenal, self-titled debut solo album, which was one of eleven African albums to receive a 5-star review by Songlines Magazine in 2018. "The whole thing has a strut to its step," writes Jim Hickson. "With Yalo singing in both Amharic and English, his band cooks up a whole range of retro flavours, from golden-age Ethiopian horns and old-school synths to the classic R&B rhythm-section sound. [...] It’s a fantastic album; play it loud and you will feel like the coolest person alive. After Gili Yalo, of course."
The Tel Aviv-based singer of Ethiopian descent continues to wow audiences across the globe, including a fabled performance at last year's Trans Musicales festival in Rennes, followed by several more live shows in Israel, Portugal, Poland, France, Austria, USA, Canada, Hungary and Turkey. He will be back in France later this week in Annecy on February 28th, in Rouen on March 1st, in Coutances on March 2nd and finally in Boston, USA, on March 28th, where he will also perform his new single "Sew Lesew", releasing worldwide today. It's the first single off his forthcoming EP "Made in Amharica" and was produced by Niles City Sound (the Grammy winning team that worked on Leon Bridges' "Coming Home" LP).
"'Sew Lesew' is a song about being a human being towards another human being. Its lyrics reflect the issue of immigration and refugees, borders and discrimination of newcomers. The topic is an important one for Gili Yalo, whose own life path was marked by the challenges of migration. 'Operation Moses' was the covert evacuation of Ethiopian Jews from Sudan during a famine in 1984. These Ethiopian Jews fled from their native land on foot to refugee camps in Sudan. Together with his family, Gili Yalo made this perilous trip, walked through the desert towards the 'Promised Land' and sang to his beloved ones. The single reflects Gili Yalo’s concern about the contemporary crisis of human relations in Israel and around the world," reads the description introducing the release's official music video created by Nadav Direktor, which you can watch below.
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