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It was 8 in the morning and I was rushing to get to my work place. I was running by the streets of Harnet Avenue. I decided to take a rest as I was panting. While I was taking a rest I took my phone out of my pocket to check if I could make it to work before 8.20 a.m. That’s when I realized it was the 19th of January. “Wow, it has already been a year!” I started to reminisce about the past. I looked around and found myself around Bahti Meskerem. That place suddenly made me nostalgic because last year at the same time and date that same place was crowded with people wearing white clothes.
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“From us, by us, within us, we have all the power and resources to be recognized internationally”
Music composer, Mussie Mokonen (Chinez)
Born in 1993, Mussie Mekonen, better known by his nickname, Chine, got introduced to music just right when he started talking as a child. By the time he got to be a 4th grader, little Chinez started to play musical instruments. He was inspired by his musician parents, both freedom fighters, knew his ways around studios and got a four-year music lessons starting from the 8th grade. After he graduated from the music school he went to Sawa. Since 2009, he has produced music for almost all Eritrean artists, whose songs have become famous and gone viral, earning the singers a good name here and abroad. After all those years of staying in the studio, he finds it hard to know how many works he has produced over the years.
Share Editor’s note: Around the world, 2020 has been turbulent, challenging, and a year truly unlike any other. This article, reviewing the period from January to April, is the first in a three-part series that looks back at some of the important events and developments that unfolded in Eritrea over the past year. Parts II and III will be published in subsequent editions of Eritrea Profile.
January
The first month of 2020 in Eritrea began like other years, with festivities. In Asmara, colorful cultural and musical performances were held at Cinema Roma on New Year’s Eve. President Isaias Afwerki also made a public statement conveying his best wishes to Eritreans for the year ahead.