Eritrea lies along the Red Sea. It has an archipelago. It’s half-circled by Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Sudan.
The area has been home to humans for a million years. There are records of trade with ancient Egypt. Aksum, a kingdom which existed for almost a millennium until 940 A.D., erected the largest obelisk in the world. It still stands.
What is known as modern Eritrea passed through different hands, including a Christian dynasty and the Ethiopian and Ottoman Empires.
Italy established a colony in the late 1800s. They built factories and laid train tracks. Mussolini declared Eritrea part of the Roman Empire’s rebirth.
After WWII the Allies couldn’t decide what to do with Eritrea. At the urging of the United States, it was federated with its neighbor, Ethiopia.
The Eritrean Liberation Movement was formed in 1958 to promote independence from foreign rule. In 1961 the Eritrean Liberation Front began an armed struggle for freedom. In response, Ethiopean ruler Haile Selassie dissolved the Etririean assembly and annexed the entire country. What came to be called the Eritrean War of Independence lasted 30 years.
The Eritrean People’s Liberation Front, the music of which we hear from this circa 1980 cassette, defeated the Ethiopean army in 1991. Eritrea is now ruled by the EPLF. Since 1993, they have had one president, and they have never held elections.
Side one of this cassette, along with more information, can be heard here.
This cassette was found in a box, along with live bootlegs and commerical releases, belonging to the collection of my father, jazz bassist Charlie Haden.
Victory to the masses!
Eritrean Revolutionary Songs N. 5 (Side Two)