Music Yared

Anbessa Gebrehiwot and Haftu Reda are Eritrean and Ethiopian musicians, members of a culture that stretches across colonial borders to encompass regions in both Eritrea and Ethiopia. Both are musicians skilled in traditional knowledge of the krar and the masenko, stringed instruments that can be found in various incarnations in this part of the African continent. Both are now living in Melbourne, Australia, members of a diaspora that have travelled the world in search of a life free from human rights abuses, civil war and famine. 

Originally a civil engineer in his home country, Haftu Reda travelled to Australia in 2013, leaving behind a wife and four children while in an attempt to find a place for his family to settle. He worked for five years, working various construction jobs to save the fare for visas and travel for his family. 

Back home in Ethiopia, Haftu had predominantly performed at weddings and parties, telling the old stories for friends and family. He met Anbessa Gebrehiwot only when he came to Australia, and he knew him, in Haftu’s words, ‘from the TV’. Anbessa had been a professional musician back home, touring with a famous singer and travelling all the regions with a well-regarded band. He is a quiet man, but an unmistakably gifted songwriter and singer. When he sings, his words swell into a powerful and thrilling vibrato, filling a room and carrying with it the hearts of many in attendance. 

The pair met their third member, Dale Gorfinkel, at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne, where they struck up a friendship and have since gone on to form what is now Music Yared, a contemporary ensemble performing something that is part traditional, part late-night dancefloor fillers!