Helen Meles -Soulful voice which sends strong vibes all over

Helen Meles -Soulful voice which sends strong vibes all over@ Eritrean Festival Holland 2010

Helen Meles' biography is the story one of the biggest African stars of the early 21st century. She established herself as a talented singer, bona fide diva during her two decade long musical career. She has become one of the biggest selling Eritrean artists of all time, and has captured the hearts and minds of Eritreans and neighbouring African countries alike.

In her early years, Helen Meles joined the EPLF (Eritrean People’s Liberation Front) at the age of 13. Like many Eritreans, both her parents were also fighters of the Eritrean liberation struggle.  Her friends describe her as a free-spirited and rebellious individual who was not afraid to show her ‘other’ sides of her personalities.

Helen has two sisters named Aster and Senait, and an older brother named Mikael (better known as "wedi Meles"). Like Helen, her older brother Mikael Meles was also a fighter and a singer, who was one of the first students of biet tmhrti sewra of the EPLF.  He would end up being heavily wounded in the pitched battles of the 6^th Offensive in 1982, he was almost given up for dead and his comrades were ready to bury him when another comrade insisted that they first take him to the frontline’s hospital, where he was saved and through the excellent medical care fully recovered his wounds and returned to frontline duty after four months.

Many of Mikael Meles’s comrades recall his exceptional intelligence and amazing heroic feats and describe him in glowing terms not only as a brave warrior, but also as a gifted and sensitive artist who composed many songs and acted in several skits on stage. One of his memorable songs, “abiet SnAt abiet qoraSnet,” whose lyrics have hidden meanings of the heroism and martyrdom of his comrades on the HalHal Front, was later redone by his younger sister Helen Meles in her first CD release.

A few days after meeting his sister Helen in 1990, Mikael, who by this time had risen to be the leader of a bren (heavy) machinegun platoon, was wounded in the battle to liberate Massawa, and martyred from enemy’s aerial bombardment while on his way to the hospital. 

In 1998 BBC interview, Helen recalled the reaction of many Eritrean women from traditional communities when they first joined the battlefields. Helen Stated: "It was very difficult for them; even wearing trousers was strange and they were shocked when they had to share a blanket or bed with the men". However, by the end of the war for liberation in 1991 the lives of Eritrean women had changed so much they were determined not to go back to their traditional old roles.

Helen is a highly passionate artist who reads and is responsive to her own feelings, a trait which is not clearly exhibited in many artists, especially those from the fighter community. One can feel the throbbing of her soulful voice which sends strong vibes all over. Her beauty is mesmerising and it can be described by her proud and majestic posture and her profile can be sketched by her captivating facial expressions while doing her dance routines.

Strangely, if one is not familiar with her history, she does not exhibit any indication of the harsh life she led in the battlefields of Eritrea in her looks. Indeed, she was a combatant with a strong touch of music in her. Although somewhat camouflaged, perhaps carefully depicted, she seems to elegantly include her past experiences in her some of her songs. Helen's expertise lies in popular music which encompasses a wide range of styles of both local and international origins. She takes Tigrinya music to a different level by mixing traditional and modern music which is influenced by European, Arabic and African music. For instance, (only junior to the Creator) can be described as one of the most interesting songs from the ‘ResAni’ CD because of its new style which Helen introduces in the song – a mixture of South African beat accompanied by a gospel-like sound.

Helen can easily be compared to the diva of the Eritrean music scene of the sixties and seventies, Mrs Tberh Tesfahunegn, who instilled a strong patriotic feeling in many young Eritreans of the time. Both Tberh and Helen sing from the heart and their musical styles, although separated by decades of events and technological developments, are interestingly similar. It is vague how deep Helen’s knowledge of Tberh is, as there exists a generational divide between them.

One can feel that there is a controversy in her style, as opposed to her lyricists’ and composer/producers’ input in her songs. It is bit confusing to tell whether they complement each other or simply tear each other apart beautifully. Whether they are at odds or complement each other, the end product is highly interesting. It would be interesting to see how Helen Meles’s confident demeanour, her untamed passion, her eloquent language of the heart, and most of all, her powerful voice can yet again transform Eritrean music into another level in the coming decade. Helen Meles has surpassed being Eritrea's top diva and is only matched by South Africa's Yvonne Chaka Chaka as Africa's greatest female singer. Helen has just returned from 4th Sawa Youth Festival. Yet again she will perform on the 1st of October at the 9th Eritrean Festival Holland 2010 in Rotterdam. For more info please visit www.shanet-eritrea.com

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