In 1984 Aron Kibreab made his way to the United States. He settled in the
west coast near the San Francisco Bay area. Aron quickly became immersed in
education and attended San Jose State University where he graduated with a
degree in Accounting. Aron’s love for music and his Eritrean culture drove
him to play with a group known as KANA ERITREA which was encouraged to
perform by the late Saleh Meky former Minster of Health of the State of
Eritrea. As most of you may be well aware Minister Meky was a long-standing
community member of the Bay area Eritrean community. Along with a couple of
friends Aron formed the group and started to play for audiences throughout
the west coast.
Aron whose passion for the old traditional Tigrinia culture became his
specialty improved his skills in the Traditional Krar. He was able to
combine his strong ability to master words with the many traditional beats
that attracted his listeners. With simply his voice and Krar, musicians
like him are the unplugged artists who tell our collective stories through
their songs. Their music conveys many great messages of love, happiness,
moments of inspiration and can also often be a call to action in the form
of protest songs. They can even rally audiences around historic causes such
as movements like the Eritrean struggle before and after independence.
I first met Aron at an annual soccer tournament held in California in the
early 1990’s. As a part of the host team at the time, Santa Clara’s Worira,
who also happen to be the current defending champions of the ERSFNA
(Eritrean Sports Federation in North America) in 1994, I heard a rap song
in Tigrinia that was titled simply “Sport” and I was blown out of my mind.
As a matter of fact I played Aron’s song in the booth in between games to
get the crowd involved. The song was produced for the annual sports event.
However, Aron’s first love was to make sure that children of the diaspora
were not losing sight of their culture and language. It was with that in
mind he also produced one of the very earliest video tutorials for the
Tigrinya language that was ever produced. The video was a hit and to this
day its remnants can be seen lurking the “YOUTUBE” circles. Aron then moved
to Las Vegas Nevada where he lived for many years. He was able to put
together children of the community and had them perform on many occasions
including a festival in DC where I had the pleasure of seeing it along with
a huge audience. His canny ability to work with kids allowed Aron to go on
an instant to any city and work with children on developing a strategy for
a show dealing with culture.
While some of you may take time to look at his past work, Aron has also
come up with a new CD, which will make you proud. The album titled
“Keebdana Elen” loosely translated “To drive us crazy” in a musical sense
is one of the best works of the year in my opinion. It’s better for the
audience to judge and I can almost assure you that you will not be
disappointed. Ten songs including the very famous “Awlo” “Meseley”, “Sini
Tseba”, “Mesikaley do” and other great wedding songs which was a
collaboration effort with other song writers, musicians and traditional
folk story tellers are on the album and it is sure to be a collectors item.
It is a nice CD to have at home for any occasion.
Meanwhile, Aron has also produced a new book titled “Tigrinia & English in
10 days” which can come in handy for children of the diaspora as well as
for anyone willing to learn Tigrinia in a short time. It is also a great
gift set for anyone especially those traveling to Eritrea. Aron took his
time and worked on it by consulting many different people. The book is a
great start for anyone wishing to understand new words but also veteran’s
speakers who may want a quick glance to make sure that they are
communicating the right words. Aron has also been open for suggestions and
would love to get feed back from his audience.
Both for his book & CD Aron Thanks the support of all Eritreans and wishes
his community throughout the world and within Eritrea nothing but the best
as he embarks on more educational projects that have been his passion for a
long time. He has invited everyone to join him on his celebration this
coming weekend on Saturday Fe. 27th, 2016 at the ECCC (Eritrean Cultural &
Civic Center) on 6th an L streets in Washington D.C starting at 7pm. Along
with the Eritrean music association of North America this will be an event
that celebrates the work of Aron Kibreab who has been a great advocate for
maintaining our culture and allowing future bright generations to
understand and learn their culture and the BAHLI of their forefathers.
Congratulations to Aron Kibreab on a Job well done and every Eritrean
should encourage this type of work as it only benefits our people
collectively.
Received on Tue Feb 23 2016 - 02:16:53 EST