Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru - Jerusalem

Selling out immediately when first released a few weeks ago a short while after her passing at the impressive age of 99, we're fortunate enough to have sourced a handful more copies of this astonishing never-before-heard/near-impossible to locate collection of solo piano pieces by the remarkable Emahoy Tsege Marian Gebru. Hard to overstate the emotional gravitas of these compositions, which flow with a Satie-like stateliness while radiating an indescribable sense of kindness and goodwill that likely stems from Gebru's lifelong work as a nun. The two previous Mississippi collections of her work showcased similar qualities, so what's most notable here is the first Gebru recording to feature her singing voice, apparently a presage to a full vocal-led record later in the year. On this evidence, that can't arrive soon enough, such is the unadorned purity to her delivery (that's a life in the church, I surmise). And on the matter of the church, Mississippi have sequenced the record so that the first half covers the more ceremonial, religiously inclined work, the second home recordings that feel less devotional, emotionally more opaque. Intent notwithstanding, the results remain uniformly moving, intimate and naked, the window to a loving, sometimes melancholic soul. BIG STUFF.