Senait Mehari
Biography
She was born in Asmera in the Province of Eritrea in Ethiopia on 3 December 1974 (exact year is unknown, it may be some years earlier or later) to an Eritrean father and Ethiopian mother. When she was six years old, her father sent her and her two elder half-sisters to the Eritrean Liberation Front as "Students of the Revolution". Three years later her uncle took the three girls to Sudan, where they lived with him for three years. When Senait was twelve years old, her father, who emigrated to Hamburg, Germany, sent for them writing songs around this time. She also wrote a sequel, Wüstenlied („Desert Song”), about her visit to Eritrea. It was published in May 2006.
She released her first album, Mein Weg („My Way”) on November 11, 2005. The first single Hey Du („Hey, You”) is a romantic song. The theme of the album is autobiographical –the song Wenn die Nacht („When the Night”)- is about her dead grandmother; Kap Gheza is about a child who feels unloved, and Libbey is a love story.
Her autobiography Feuerherz ("Heart of Fire"){{cite journal |last=Tembo |first=Nick M. |year=2017 |title=Unhomeliness, unending phobias and liminality in Senait Mehari's Heart of Fire |journal=Literator: Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies |volume=38 |issue=1 |doi=10.4102/lit.v38i1.1298 |url=https://journals.co.za/doi/10.4102/lit.v38i1.1298|hdl=10019.1/104127 |hdl-access=free }}{{cite journal |last=Odhiambo |first=Tom |year=2009 |title=Lost African Childhoods: Two Narratives of War and Slavery from Africa in Mende Nazer's "Slave" and Senait Mehari's "Heart of Fire" |journal=Jenda |issue=15 |url=https://www.africaknowledgeproject.org/index.php/jenda/article/view/517}} was published in 2004.{{cite book |last=Berndt |first=Katrin |year=2009 |chapter=Shared Paradoxes in Namibian and German History |editor-first1=Sissy |editor-last1=Helff |editor-first2=Daniela |editor-last2=Merolla |title=Transcultural Modernities: Narrating Africa in Europe |publisher=Rodopi |page=350 |isbn=9789042025387}} In February 2007, the 'Zapp' TV show on Germany's NDR channel accused Senait of fabricating some of its contents, notably that she served as a child soldier in Eritrea.{{Cite web | title=NDR Fernsehen - Fragwürdiger Medienstar - Wie Senait Mehari als Kindersoldatin Furore macht | url=http://www3.ndr.de/ndrtv_pages_std/0,3147,OID3691026_REF2488,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930065359/http://www3.ndr.de/ndrtv_pages_std/0,3147,OID3691026_REF2488,00.html | access-date=2025-01-08 | archive-date=2007-09-30}} She denies the allegations.{{cite news |date=20 February 2007 |title=Autorin Senait Mehari: Klage gegen NDR geplant |trans-title=Author Senait Mehari: action against NDR planned |work=Der Spiegel |url=https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/literatur/autorin-senait-mehari-klage-gegen-ndr-geplant-a-467534.html |language=German}} The book has been translated into several languages. A homonyme film adaptation has been released in 2009.
Music career
She worked as a songwriter and background singer before launching her own career. Inside Germany her singles Leben/Aura became big hits in Germany in 2001. Aura was re-released early 2005 in new versions before of the release of her album. A nice tune, called Hiwet is available from her website feuerherz.{{Cite web| title=Feuerherz | author=Senait Mehari | language=de | trans-title=Fire Heart | url=http://www.feuerherz.com/feuerherz/index2.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040925015808/http://www.feuerherz.com:80/feuerherz/index2.htm | archive-date=2004-09-25}} Her song Herz aus Eis ("Heart of Ice") placed fourth in the German preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest of 2003.
Personal life
Senait is now living in Berlin.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.senaitmehari.de/ Mehari's official homepage]
- [http://www.feuerherz.com/ Official website to her book]
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Category:German autobiographers
Category:Musicians from Berlin
Category:21st-century Eritrean women singers