Derrik Jordan: Music
Aliwu Mix
(SuperString Theory - SuperString Theory Goes To Senegal)
Words by Helen Kerlin-Smith, music by Derrik Jordan, Helen Kerlin-Smith and Barou Sall
This is the first song that I recorded for SuperString Theory Goes to Senegal. It began in Senegal in 2006 when I recorded Barou Sall playing his hoddu and singing a very ancient song called Aliwu Loume. I pasted pieces of that over a beat and played my electric violin to it. Then I got Helen Kerlin-Smith from Ethiopia to sing on it. There is definitely some magic here. Helen sang this when she was only 16. Her vulnerability is there but so is her command and deep emotion. She is singing in Amharic, the Ethiopian national language.