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From: Mansour Nouredin (fwd@dehai.org)
Date: Tue Sep 28 2010 - 00:08:26 EDT
EriAm Sisters: Putting Vision, Compassion and Determination Together
By Mansour Nouredin
Sep 22, 2010, 12:04am
On September 18, 2009 Denis Law, the Mayor of Renton, in Seattle
Washington, proclaimed September 21 as the EriAm Sisters’ Day.
The mayor bestowed this honor on the group not only in recognition of
their extraordinary musical talent and contribution, but also because
of the humanitarian activities the sisters have carried out during
the last four years. They were also awarded with the ‘Key to the
City.’ The EriAm Sisters were among the semifinalists at the famed
NBC’s reality television series, America’s Got Talent.
“The nomination is the first of its kind in the city’s history and
has been a propelling factor to the trio’s career,” said Mr.
Mulugheta Abraham, father of the three singers.
In a single year, they have performed in 64 shows,the proceeds of
which went to several charity groups.
The EriAm Sisters, who were labeled as the next Destiny’s Child by
Piers Morgan, one of the judges of America’s Got Talent, is an all-
girl music band composed of three sisters: Lianda (17), Salina (15)
and Haben (12).
The Eritrean-American musicians, who officially embarked on the music
career in 2006, grew up in a music environment.
“We were born and grown up around music,” says Haben Abraham. “Our
parents’ interest in music was instrumental as it influenced us to
identify our talent early on,” she added.
Indeed Mr. Mulugeta, who is a production manager at Boeing, has a
long background in the music industry and is an accomplished artist
with two albums to his name.
Since their childhood, the EriAm sisters liked to sing songs along
famous cartoon shows like Barney and Friends, yet they never thought
taking up music as a career.
”It was Haben who started it all,” says Mr. Mulugheta
“Haben always wanted to be on the ‘spotlight.’ On her birthdays for
instance, she would always want to sing in front of guests. It wasn’t
until her elementary school music teacher told us about her talent,
that we started paying attention to her skills in music,” he went on
saying.
“As young children, we used to listen to and sing a lot of Tigrigna
songs,” said the girls. “We would sing at home, during dinner, at
birthdays and family gatherings. The song ‘Semira, Semira Gual
Asmara’ was one of our favorites.”
The EriAm sisters did not confine themselves in giving rendition to
songs that were not theirs. They also composed their own lyrics.
Diary, a single written by Haben, has stayed number one for 4 weeks
in Alabama 105.7 FM radio station in 2007.Last year, the EriAm
Sisters released their debut album, which was produced by John Silva,
Kevin Gardner and DJ Freestyle, the official DJ of Timbaland and
Justin Timberlake.
For the last two years, Haben, Salina and Lianda have wowed crowds
with their stage presence and extraordinary performances across the
nation. "My sisters are the key to my success," says Haben. "We work
together and even gave nicknames for each other, I am the vision,
Lianda is the compassion and Salina is the determination".
As Eritreans, the group, ever since their first performance at the
Eritrean Festival in 2007 in Seattle, they began to get involved in
Eritrean community activities. They say that the Eritrean community
in Seattle has been very supportive in their music career.
The EriAm Sisters visited their country for the third time in July
2010. During their stay in Eritrea, they performed several
performances along with the EriArtists, an Eritrean Diaspora musical
group, during the fourth Eritrean Youth festival.
“Now, that we’ve first-handedly experienced our country’s situation,
we decided to work hand-in-hand with our Eritrean compatriots for the
best of our country,” they underlined.
”We really had a great time in Eritrea. The adventurous bus ride from
Asmara to Sawa, which was accompanied by rain showers, was simply
fascinating,” Salina pointed out.
”The graduates of the 23rd round of the national service, especially
the women, were really motivating. We were really proud,” they said.
“Those young men and women are struggling day and night for the
betterment of our society and hence we owe them a lot.”
During their stay in Asmara, they visited the Asmara Orphan Center.
Speaking about their visit, Lianda said that it stimulated them to
establish a foundation to help those innocent kids with “heart
touching smiles.”
“We were so moved by the loving and caring kids that it was hard to
leave the orphanage. It was truly an unforgettable experience,”
Salina noted.
“I adore children, and my senior project will definitely deal with
orphans,” Lianda added. Lianda, whose name means love in Greek, wants
to be a pediatrician by profession.
Beside their musical career, the trio is striving to excel on their
studies. Their mother, Mrs. Tiblets Melles, said that despite the
hectic schedules they have, the girls are accomplishing well and
scoring good grades in their studies.
When it comes to picking a career, Salina wants to be an
entertainment lawyer while Haben prefers to be a writer. In regard to
their parents, Haben said that they were very supportive from the day
one. And the credit for our humble accomplishment goes to them, she
noted.
In their musical career, the trio wants to amplify the Eritrean
culture, hairstyle and tradition so as to relay positive image of the
motherland. “That is how we maintain our attachment with Eritrea,”
they added.
With regards their future plan, the girls said they would continue
performing music and signing deals with producers. “We will keep
writing songs, performing and representing Eritrea” they said.
In the occasion of the 1st Anniversary of the EriAm Sisters’ Day,
they will give a benefit concert on September 26th, the proceeds of
which will go to Passages Northwest, a nonprofit organization that
helps inspire courage and leadership in girls through the exploration
of the arts, sciences, and natural environment.
The bright future awaiting these talented girls has been vivid from
the very start. As a sign to their ever-growing talent, many major
companies like Sony, Universal, Mercury Records, Paradigm Motion
Pictures, and Epic Records have been showing interest in the girls
and asking them to sign contracts.
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