Yanna Momina
Yanna Momina | |
|---|---|
| Born | Yanna Momina Abass[1] 1948 Djibouti |
| Died | 2023 (aged 76) |
| Labels | Glitterbeat Records |
Yanna Momina Abass (1948 – 2023) was a Djiboutian singer and songwriter. Her only album Afar Ways was released in 2022, and she died shortly before her first planned international performance.
Biography
Momina was born in Djibouti in 1948.[2] She was Afar, an ethnic group that live in Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Djibouti.[2] Unusually for an Afar woman, Momina wrote her own songs.[1]
Momina's debut album Afar Ways was recorded in the hut where she lived in 2018, and was produced by Ian Brennan.[3] The album was released on Glitterbeat Records in 2022. Francis Gooding of The Wire called the album "intimate and crisp" and said that the folk pop sound of the guitar-backed tracks "hints at a complex modernist tradition that a single album can only gesture toward."[4]
Momina died in 2023 at the age of 76, one month before a planned appearance at the arts festival WOMAD, which would have been her first performance outside Djibouti.[1]
Albums
- Afar Ways (2022, Glitterbeat Records)
References
- ^ a b c Ian Brennan, "Obituary: Yanna Momina", Songlines, no. 190 (August/September 2023), p. 14, ISSN 1464-8113, retrieved 2 December 2025
- ^ a b Alex Rigotti (22 August 2022), "Yanna Momina – Afar Ways", The Quietus (review), retrieved 2 December 2025
- ^ Nigel Williamson, "Yanna Momina – Afar Ways", Songlines (review), no. 182 (November 2022), p. 55, ISSN 1464-8113, retrieved 2 December 2025
- ^ Francis Gooding, "Yanna Momina – Afar Ways", The Wire (review), no. 464 (October 2022), p. 54
External links
- Yanna Momina discography at Discogs