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From the Ashes of Our Homes

by Gabriel Teodros

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1.
We made a home and it went up in flames But our bodies are something the fire did not claim On that day We were just making plans to stay And then our house burned down While everything changed Y'all, I am not the same Got loved ones who made it to an early grave I got loved ones who shouldn't but they carry the weight It's nobody's fault, but some want somebody to blame Usually the mirror is the place that they aim But I don't want to lose nobody else to shame Our house burned down, we lost it all in a day Bare feet in the street, we were all we could take That was more than enough, just that we made it out safe Without a house but a village we would find our way Never felt loved like we did the next day Sometimes you run and life is all you can take We're breathing in an era where the air isn't safe It was COVID, and the smoke had covered the whole state From tear gas to wildfires the worlds ablaze Change is so sudden, here nothings the same Years pass but the trauma remains Compounded into levels it gets hard to explain Some days you give thanks for the rain And work to build a home out the ashes again We made a home and it went up in flames But our bodies are something the fire did not claim On that day We were just making plans to stay And then our house burned down While everything changed We made a home and it went up in flames But our bodies are something the fire did not claim On that day We were just making plans to stay And then it all burned down While everything changed
2.
What is home when it turns on you? Yo, my house is on fire Homelands on fire Neighborhoods on fire The whole world's on fire Damn I was outcasted at an early age A child of conflict in so many ways At night, thieves of life roam streets til the light Let off a violent lullaby, what's normal is horrifying I wish I had an alibi, but I was in the midst Of a whole war zone called growth in the 6 Where you don't ever feel like your city wants you to live Children, carry guilt for surviving this prison Made of city blocks where they predicted we'd be victims It took vision, plus a mother's intuition One-way travel just to see something different I left like she left, on the eve when a war crept Before the time when most of our folks fled There was probably less than thirty Habesha then It's multiplied now by tens of thousands How cycles repeat when we reach the Southend We were forced here, now we can't afford the housing So my folks keep scattering around the map "Back home" means the opposite of where you at The ones you left tell you quietly, don't come back Rumors of war in the motherland I'm struggling in this other land My brother's got a gun in hand But I don't want to run again, no Rumors of war in the motherland And we can't get no money in And you see what the hunger did We do what we can for the fam I'm a Southend-made, Beacon Hill-raised, Child of the District, these neighborhoods claim Bones of my loved ones who've passed away Some were shot down even during a plague A few decades gone, and the song don't change We couldn't stop it then so we carry the shame These groups in more ways than not are same Keep each other just close enough to aim Reflections blood-stained, communities share pain Nobody wins when a life's taken away So young, mothers bury their sons and wonder Why did we leave where we're from to come under A new kind of fire where the country doesn't love us Police don't protect us, they lock our babies in chains We love 'em with all we got, pray they make it home safe Never once feeling like a citizen of these states Rumors of war in the motherland I'm struggling in this other land My brother's got a gun in hand But I don't want to run again, no Rumors of war in the motherland And we can't get no money in And you see what the hunger did We do what we can for the fam What is home when it turns on you? Is it still home? Was it ever home? You know now that home is where the hate is, where the heart knows no peace and so it goes, falling to pieces. Try to keep it together as you run for cover, as you rush to gather essentials for your escape. Go and keep going. And dare to look back at the devastation. Be still and remember that dust is the source of life.
3.
If I could show you what my home really meant In the time before hellfire swallowed it You'd get a sense that nothing's permanent Even here, things could go so quick Humankind, I think we're all so sick But in the rubble still beauty exists It's been a war in my homeland for more than I've been alive, all them years combined Even in times of peace it was lies Under the surface some tribes were denied I always knew we had a sense of false pride But the stolen land, and the lost lives Were something new to me I used to see the country beautifully But never truthfully Youthful and free, you could say naive Child of the east, raised in the west They only tell you bout their best and leave out the rest Who got sacrificed, who got left And who's still suffering yet Lake Tana sunsets where my soul cries I've been longing for this moment for my whole life And I've been wanting all our people to be alright But I'm feeling like I'm getting hit from all sides Addis nights, rocking mics in the stage lights I've been longing for these moments for my whole life And I've been wanting all our people to be alright But I hear them bullets flying now from all sides You could tell a tourist by the scuffs on they shoes On dirt roads they haven't learned how to move I'm far removed from knowing what's true About a country where the news is only one view But I know enough to know I don't know enough And neither does anyone who's not in the midst Of a region where they're in danger of getting hit Ethiopia has never been a monolith We got Oromo and Amhara and Somali folks We got Tigrayan and Sidama and Gurage folks Indigenous nations, at least 80 more of those Growing up I only knew about who stayed close Lived 30 years before the day I ever came home And who we met then helped me heal my soul up It wasn't the same country my folks spoke of Now there's a reckoning of what we know to be us Lake Tana sunsets where my soul cries I've been longing for this moment for my whole life And I've been wanting all our people to be alright But I'm feeling like I'm getting hit from all sides Addis nights, rocking mics in the stage lights I've been longing for these moments for my whole life And I've been wanting all our people to be alright But I hear them bullets flying now from all sides Tigray I dream of returning to you next time to stay, and reclaiming what was lost when I first fled. I dream of who I might've been holding hands with who I've become, inspired and in solidarity. I dream of the spirit of my mother, long buried, rising in recognition and impossible reunion. I dream of chasing my brothers, gathering and keeping them safe, whole and alive. I dream of climbing to Grandma's roof to get a closer look at God. I dream of us, blessed and brave. I dream of us, festive and free. I dream and dare expect.
4.
I don't know what I'm doing I just play I play chords like a church song That scale I was raised on And the memories hurt some I can't shake it it's in me still All of the pride and shame instilled Accents, I was raised to feel True meaning when our words just fail I know we are scarred and the love is real My Amharic's not what it used to be Get excited when a few words come to me It's like playing these black keys I can't call the notes, but it's therapy We long to connect I guess, even when home is a wreck And stretched across continents, we left and left I'm always leaving, but dreaming to stay All of these relics and keepsakes Adorn our necks like lost faith Of crosses that we don't pray to Just to celebrate what made you Cry out loud, let the rain heal For a home that isn't so pain-filled What we can't see but we may build Dreams get made like they're make-believe Make-believe And I may conceive a world in my mind that I may achieve I may achieve What I reach up for as I'm falling down Down, falling down Though my closest friends, they are still around Around my way it's the same, I guess Homeless hunting for cigarettes Kids on the court trying to see who's best Arms raised up, we don't know who's next We don't know who's next Please help us live And if you choose to give a damn I will show you who I am Just to show you who I am So these days I get up early Stroll from Yonge to Berkeley Hold my chest from the biting cold Every moment it writes our souls And we don't know the path But it's our path to stray I might go, I have to say Just how much a laugh can say A laugh can say
5.
We are live in the belly of the beast A two-headed monster I'm a child of the East Africa, my family were all refugees Scattered round the planet over continent and seas Some of us landed in land that just wasn't free Found contradiction where we tried to find peace Real ground friction, that'll make you find a piece It sounded so different, they were selling us a dream Some of us were force-conscripted into beef To become the face of another person's grief Some of us in homes to which others hold keys We're not treated equally We are not here peacefully We repeat everything That is unhealed here Victims are us and we victimize others At the same time With the same line they used on us Occupied Palestine Where the soldiers show up and they look like us All of us got our own blood-stained hands for something While the same state would just kill us for nothing Here on stolen land there can never be justice Like a rock in a slingshot The last hope when your options are all gone Against an army and a twenty-foot wall Under all these apartheid laws My cousin's a different kind a second-class citizen The worst kind of warden in this prison He'd be locked up if he isn't Their enemies are not different Life in the belly of the beast A two-headed state, way they operate and think We are separated now by continent and sea And over here they talk about "the land of free speech" Until you critique Zionism or police You can boycott something based on your beliefs But if you're talking Israel, then they got beef They even passed laws against organizing meets That mention BDS, just depending where you be We pay all these taxes to build a war machine That takes Palestinian land and ways of being I know it's depressing They say it's a different oppression But a story is the most potent form of a weapon They create fear to keep us all in suspension While they made the whole world's biggest open air prisons Listen, this isn't religion This is just capitalism And if our oppression's connected Then our freedom is too, so let's get it Like a rock in a slingshot The last hope when your options are all gone Against an army and a twenty-foot wall Under all these apartheid laws My cousin's a different kind of second-class citizen The worst kind of warden in this prison He'd be locked up if he isn't Their enemies are not different If we want to get free, then Palestine must be If we want to get free, then Palestine must be If we want to get free, then Palestine must be If we want to get free, then Palestine must be
6.
My heart is a world. In it Tigray is free. The land neither besieged nor looted. The air clear of strikes and slaughter. Our bodies no longer battlefields. Our love the only thing burning.
7.
Black love I don't gotta explain too much My folks got my back like no one does Something bout loving you in our native tongue Opens up possibilities and heals where I'm from I love the way my name feels in your mouth I hope I hold yours as delicate and proud I wonder if the ancestors smile when they see us Something bout your happiness feels like freedom Black love is always, always there for you Black love is always, always there for you Black love is always, always there for you For us, for us Black love is always, always there for you Black love is always, always there for you Black love is always, always there for you For us, for us I sang about the quest on the first take Projected where I'd find love in a new way Landed on the motherland in February Still shaky from the jump But my soul was good to undertake what was to come New era and a new day Clean slate to start again with my family 18 years separated, no more shadowboxing Holding on to thoughts that weren't mine Time to get real with the storyline A vision of my father in the eyes of all his brothers Laughing at the kitchen table, teasing one another The aunties making sure that everything's in order Chilling in the living room, chatting up for hours Needed some connection that I didn't know I needed Needed a reflection of myself that's deeply seated Needed to find what I was told was long gone The future is bleak when you don't know where you're from Now moving forward Open-hearted conversations Healing in so many spaces Breaking down and picking up the pieces Bunna sipping, practicing tradition Quietly observing, catching up and navigating All that's in between worlds My head high, the more I discover What it means to be a member of the team Realizing that everybody had lost Mending what I thought and what it was Black love is always, always there for you Black love is always, always there for you Black love is always, always there for you For us, for us There was nothing like the first time that I touched home Saw every side of life right there on Bole Road Got to rock a show with Mulatu in the front row And then shared bunna every morning for the next week Connections were deep My Amharic, weak But I wasn't afraid to speak Saw friends become family I didn't want to leave I still can't believe it But one by one, my close ones started leaving I started seeing pictures of a different Addis And didn't recognize any of the places I've been I started making this album to remember In January 2020, but that November A war popped off Now I feel dismembered I got good friends with family members missing I got some friends that act like nothing's different And some wave flags like they celebrate the militants I just mourn my idea of home And this, too, is a pain that our parents have known How they all got through it, y'all, I just don't know But I don't think any of us can do it alone Black love is always, always there for you Black love is always, always there for you Black love is always, always there for you For us, for us For us Black love is always, always there for you Black love is always, always there for you Black love is always, always there for you For us, for us Black love is always, always there for you Black love is always, always there for you Black love is always, always there for you For us, for us
8.
And this is the hardest part Finding our way through the dark Your love is the spark Let's go from the start And this is the hardest part Finding our way through the dark Your love is the spark Let's go from the start From the ashes of our homes The passion in our bones This madness we have known All goes to catacombs All we hold is memory All we are is centuries of energy that molded everything From thoughts and prayers To places we have settled We created, then we jetted Don't know where we are headed Still tryna stay connected I’m a refugees son, that had to learn how to run Who struggled to express it with a colonizers tongue I once made peace with the place that we come from Before the war drums beat again My people move their feet again We’ve only known what freedom is in moments of this life Moments we hold precious, so much they become our guides I’m finding my way out of the darkness again This trauma and pain lives in our body and brain And we can’t work through what we can’t even explain There’s ways that we can grow But we may never be the same And this is the hardest part Finding our way through the dark Your love is the spark Let's go from the start And this is the hardest part Finding our way through the dark Your love is the spark Let's go from the start Lord knows I grieve well Well, well Pull my car over, let loss feed me my medicine I always mean well Well, well But feeling trapped when I trap ghosts inside my head again We had extra passion but compassion was on Dexatrim Who I was with her will never get my breath again Who I have become is who I’ve been invested in Invest in him, he tryna give my best See me as I really am, and not as you expect But I must do the same And I been looking at our movement through a fugue of pain Torn between where I am wanted and I’m needed since they’re not the same I hope I’m not insane I just wanna love him I just wanna love you Wanna love them For you to feel me When we not touching Only rap was easy Everything else took some struggling And I’m not running And this is the hardest part Finding our way through the dark Your love is the spark Let's go from the start And this is the hardest part Finding our way through the dark Your love is the spark Let's go from the start
9.
Octavia taught us To be a phoenix we must First burn I first learned How growth hurts How love works Through heartbreak And time it takes To heal Faith to know that it will And when it does We love deeper than the pain we feel My wings revealed in fire I had to walk through And all the trauma from the burns I had to talk through It took a lot of us to process all the losses We are still on it trying to assess all the causes A fire that’s raging since before we came of conscious Or even took a breath at all We’re living through them Parables Sowing Talents for a cause How do we imagine what comes after all our buildings fall? And walk together for a vision in our art Here we listen heart to heart Spark matches in the dark Illuminate these pathways that we made that’s off the charts Fire takes Fire gives Fire always plays a part There's some kinds of life that's only made out of fire We're a nomadic tribe made of lovers and of fighters A phoenix wings first must burn before it flies up Assata taught me, Octavia taught us There's some kinds of life that's only made out of fire We're a nomadic tribe made of lovers and of fighters A phoenix wings first must burn before it flies up Assata taught me, Octavia taught us Assata taught me It's our duty to fight It's our duty to win Don't let them steal your light The flame within Your power, your passion The fire to burn oppression To make it through the drought And the man-made recession Stop giving concessions Your spirit is real Collective a spark The fire to heal The deeper we feel The greater the zeal The less we conceal The more we reveal The freer we feel Now that's a real deal I want to live life Life beyond the fight I want to live right Life that honors light Brought me through night See how the sun shines Never denies Beauty that lies deep in her eyes Rise in the sky With rhythm and rhyme We'll set the world right It's beauty from ash Candles we light Vigils at night The darkness it swells And threatens demise The people must rise The phoenix inspires The fire this time There's some kinds of life that's only made out of fire We're a nomadic tribe made of lovers and of fighters A phoenix wings first must burn before it flies up Assata taught me, Octavia taught us There's some kinds of life that's only made out of fire We're a nomadic tribe made of lovers and of fighters A phoenix wings first must burn before it flies up Assata taught me, Octavia taught us
10.
"There have been tears of sadness But let's balance it with all the joy Are you crying for real? Stop it" Ceremonial drives, I’m a miss em Most albums, you got the first listen This one is different Funerals are for the living I want them to know your heart I want them to know all the different parts Of our worlds that shouldn’t get along but did And all the sacrifices you made for the Hid All the sacrifices you made and hid For your loved ones to grow and have a safe place to live In the ways that we wish we did All of the grace you’d give Side-eyed and smirking with An open mind at the same time, surprises Characters, voices, comedic timing I remember we all shared one ride then For years, you redefined what home meant To see and be seen, in wholeness We are lucky if we feel that in moments Some went so far through them doors you opened I’m just thankful you knew you were loved On the day you left us I’m thankful you knew you were loved On the day you left us Ceremonial drives, I’m a miss em Most albums, you got the first listen This one is different Funerals are for the living "That's essentially what it is, right? We love each other, and we help each other And are there for each other through good times and bad Whether we ask for it or not, you know what I'm saying? We always have this wonderful family And these wonderful people that have our backs, regardless Thank you for having my back And my sister's back And this restaurant's back And Hidmo's back And Hidmo's back, oh shit, oh shit" We'll just keep on living We'll keep pushing on Grateful for your love Grateful for your love We'll keep on living We'll just keep on living We'll just keep on living Grateful for your love I'm so grateful for your love So grateful for your love I'm so grateful for your love So grateful for your love So grateful Many hours All the conversation You saved my life I'm grateful I'm so grateful Hope I make you proud I'm grateful Hope I make you proud I'm grateful "Hey what's up Jenny, it's Gab hitting you up I got your text, and I was gonna text you back but I was like, ahh let me hit you up I hope you are doing well And keeping your mind strong and creative And full of positivity in this time And yeah, hit me up when you get a chance Peace" I am so grateful I am so grateful I will keep on living I will carry on I will carry your love Forever And ever And ever I miss you so much
11.
Spacetime 02:59
I don't know if home is in a place or in a time Or in a combination that lives somewhere in our mind Maybe we don't know it until we leave it behind Or maybe it's a moment, the moments that always shine I walk through my city like an old ghost Whole neighborhoods and memories I hold close They've been erased, buffed, repaved, and bulldozed But I carry in me everything that made it before Still standing like the hope that comes after a war Traumatized like, what was all that fighting for? We lost lives, I didn't have time to mourn I didn't know that these moments they would be so short My home is with the people I've been writing this for Without a place on the map to say it's ours anymore From rented homes to suburban tombstones I roam It's just echoes of my folks in the stories that's shown I know the essence and the soul that they trying to clone For every neighborhood block that we see get sold These moments that made it, that we hold so sacred Have always been about the people more than the places I don't know if home is in a place or in a time Or in a combination that lives somewhere in our mind Maybe we don't know it until we leave it behind Or maybe it's a moment, the moments that always shine I don't know if home is in a place or in a time Or in a combination that lives somewhere in our mind Maybe we don't know it until we leave it behind Or maybe it's a moment, the moments that always shine My city is new, so I try to be too Comb through the avenues like a tourist would do It's still hard on my heart, I'm trying to soften some parts Smile when I cross a familiar face at the park I think life is in moments, we only get so few I can’t carry your weight, and still be able to move So who am I to tell you you should share in my blues? You never took a single day to try to walk in my shoes And if you did it would break you, so just stay thankful This is for the people that can claim what I've been through I slept on a bus, when I couldn't make rent due And came home to plates of injera and lentils I was never alone, that was all in my mental Lies that my pride said, I try to stay gentle With me, and with you, all I know that is true The best things in life always end too soon I don't know if home is in a place or in a time Or in a combination that lives somewhere in our mind Maybe we don't know it until we leave it behind Or maybe it's a moment, the moments that always shine I don't know if home is in a place or in a time Or in a combination that lives somewhere in our mind Maybe we don't know it until we leave it behind Or maybe it's a moment, the moments that always shine
12.
Some Family 02:51
It's not an easy song to write But the story wouldn't be complete without this one Some of the fires that shape our lives They're not the loud and explosive kind Sometimes it's a slow burn When friendships fall apart, it's a rip in the heart It's worse than a breakup depending how far Histories involved, this album and all I got some new info, I had to make a call You didn't want to talk about it at all Now I remind you of the truth that you run from You know I know what you won't admit to no one I wasn't judging, just wanted a discussion Thought you were a close one, but you stay running I guess some folks would just rather talk about nothing Have fun on your own then, I hope you heal some For you and the family that you don't want to see I don't know why I thought you would be better to me I guess 20 years wasn't what I thought it would be Maybe some trauma goes so deep you can't see My doors been open but I know you won't reach Some family you are born into Some family is who you choose The past can't dictate how we move But if we don't learn from it, watch what we do Some family you are born into Some family is who you choose We all lose loved one way too soon What's worse, when some choose to lose you Big homie, I patterned my life some In ways that I learned from you as young one I remember you showed love when nobody was then There's doors that have opened cuz of songs that we made when We struggled to pay rent, man back in the days it Always meant something to connect I made sure to represent The whole crew in interviews, albums and events But the whole truth isn't something that I knew yet When it came to real spit, you would run so quick And you don't owe it to me, but this is not a friendship You told the world we were family, but this isn't it I got no response to the olive branches I sent I'm in mourning, tryna find the lesson in this But sometimes heartbreak is just what it is Our friendship may no longer exist But I hope you heal, and connect with your kid Some family you are born into Some family is who you choose The past can't dictate how we move But if we don't learn from it, watch what we do Some family you are born into Some family is who you choose We all lose loved one way too soon What's worse, when some choose to lose you Some family you are born into Some family is who you choose We all lose loved one way too soon What's worse, when some choose to lose you Some family you are born into Some family is who you choose The past can't dictate how we move But if we don't learn from it, then we all gon lose
13.
This is what comes after In more ways than one After the fire and the ashes were gone It took time to build desire up to write a new song So much destruction, so much went wrong These objects we all thought were sacred are gone Love is the foundation we've been building upon And with that still solid, we are carrying on This is new growth after all our old things burned Like a ceremony, but we were forced to learn The way forests thrive with the small fires Gotta clear space for some things to grow higher And if we don't, this consumes us all I'm in the city now, watching all these ashes fall Thinking 'bout what grows when the time comes 'Cause the climate got a whole human crisis Capitalism has got us sick, we gotta fight it Until the day that we can all stand united, after the fire After the fire took away our place After the flames burned all our thangs After the ashes fell like the rain After the pain we grew in a new way After the fire took away our place After the flames burned all our thangs After the ashes fell like the rain After the pain we grew in a new way After the fire stopped blazing from the bombing of our island I wonder if my Nana started smiling Did she feel liberated by the end of Japanese violence? Or feel conflicted by the invasion of American tyrants? It's amazing how a flame can be used to abuse Or be worked with lovingly to help forests renew And if only we knew what our ancestors would do As the empire falls, look to the past for the truth Innovate new tools, infusing prayer and intuition The poetics of the elements, revealing premonitions Time moves in cycles The land is insightful New growth thrives right after a typhoon There's wildfires in my birth land And rising tides in my homeland They say it's only getting worse And we plant new seeds every time we touch a mic and notepad After the fire was treated like a relative After the flame was seen like a medicine After the ash was applied to our face After the pain we found a new strength After the fire was treated like a relative After the flame was seen like a medicine After the ash was applied to our face After the pain we found a new strength It's like we lifting up the hood I ain't no mechanic but the little engine could Holding on some gasoline and rolling up the wood Shango in the trees like, homie wish you would Leaning on Orishas so I put it in m'Oshun Sent us back to hell, but they said it was no room Hero to a villain, guess we living in Dune I ain't really in the mood I be staring at the moon We the only people who ain't even got a name But the whole world eating off of African pain You can peep the averages Reading Middle Passages Word to Pocahontas' Daddy They called us some savages too But see me I know the truth So even when I say I'm Black That mean Indigenous roots From Seattle to Mogadishu Don't try to make an issue Naw I ain't the mayor But they know that we been official How we travel waters but they saying we can't swim? Why my cuddy gotta take a plea when the case slim? Even when we hot, we can lie, can't win Wanna be free but the city is caged in Real life After the fire, I ain't had no friends left After the flame, I was lost on impact After the break, had to let that past go After the pain, knew it wouldn't last though After the Nu Growth, there was an NRG After the first SOW, there was a trilogy The fire next time gon' come for the industry When it all fades, all we got is the memories We rose from the ashes of our history When the darkness comes to light But despite this fight, the future is bright We gon' be alright
14.
We made it out the fire together Been all around the world and said vows together My today, my tomorrow, and forever We lost things but it’s you I treasure We built up a whole new home that’s better Than the one we fled from We’ve been tested by so much But at the end of it all home is your touch To my best friend I still crush on Who I laugh everyday with, five years strong Loving you is so easy, when the world goes wrong We still find a way to live a beautiful song With no drama at all, just a place of calm And sweetness that has stayed a balm Plus all the real talk they’d expect from us The best part of my last five years is us I mean every single moment that we shared my love My love, my love, my love, my love You and me We made it out the fire together Our love, our love, our love So serene Let's be the love song that we want to hear It’s a magic that’s hard to capture Your pen gets closer, let’s write these chapters We might learn French and move out to Paris Build a whole new home that we learn to cherish I never knew our 40’s would be so live I’m excited to see all the ways that we might thrive What happens when the books are what you really want to write? Plus those unknown crafts that I know you’re gonna try You inspire me to listen to the voice inside And don’t just settle for what happens in life We gon work through any of our strife Like we have love, every single time I want to love and keep growing with you Want to keep a home where kids will want to visit us too So let’s be the Black love song that we want to hear Until we’re old and we’re gray and the day that we’re out of here My love, my love, my love You and me You and me Our love, our love, our love So serene So serene You know, love is that space to recoup and rejuvenate And have peace and calm even in really tough times And everything that we've been through these last few years That has deepened the safety that we've built around each other And the comfort and the calm that we've built around each other Our relationship has gotten easier As the world around us has gotten harder Because we have dedicated more time and energy into building that for each other And it really makes me feel like we can survive anything And that we can find joy in any time And it's such a beautiful and simplistic view of love that I never thought was possible It's elegant in its simplicity And it makes you feel almost invincible Yeah
15.
My body is the vessel Stressed beyond it’s threshold All we had to care for when we fled our burning temples I’ve been hard on mine I’m tryna teach my mind how to be gentle I got scars that shine Weight I carry could make me resentful But this weight I carry carried all my hopes and held my mental This weight I carry carried me in love and I am thankful This weight I got married in is worth cherishing We age different Made it through apocalyptic scenes Live to honor all of our lost friends and family It isn’t easy, but there’s a beauty in surviving this I see the reason every time I see our kids And it’s an act of trust to love ourselves the way they love us The way we love them, we can not lose touch To build a safe place for them, we need a safe place for us It’s a home that’s more than home, more than close ones you know A safe place to grow Heal our hearts and ease our souls A safe place for us, from the ashes of our homes A safe place for us, from the ashes of our homes A safe place for us, from the ashes of our homes A safe place for us, from the ashes of our homes The child in me Still feels it all We ran from bombs and fires and guns From a dream we could not touch Now I'm grown With babies of my own I heal myself so I become A home to the ones we love From the ashes of our homes Battles long, will it ever pass? For safety for our own, must reborn I heard Phoenix laugh Felt it in my bones Flesh gets old while my fingers grasp A feather made of embers In your winter, remember it can’t last That is if you grow We escaped from places made our own And now my tongue is native to a language safe has never known I treasure those Who strain to make those feathers glow But what I’m severed from makes me afraid to feel we’re ever close Forever closed The numb felt like the love the world would never show And in my numb became the gun that pieces homes Or keeps from whole By putting holes in peace we prayed Preyed by beasts with fangs Who make you beast who scream in pain And thus we burn the homes we used to dream to make I dream to take that fire and make a thing of grace To ease the pain our parents couldn't even name To increase our gains We need the weight Don't need to wait To keep our home from the ashes We must be the safe I earn/urn my ashes by the things I face From the ashes of our homes A safe place for us, from the ashes of our homes A safe place for us, from the ashes of our homes A safe place for us, from the ashes of our homes

about

Gabriel Teodros is a musician and writer from South Seattle who first made a mark with the group Abyssinian Creole, and reached an international audience with his critically-acclaimed solo debut Lovework. He has been setting stages on fire ever since, all across the US, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Ethiopia and South Africa; often in combination with workshops on creative writing, music, history, science fiction and media literacy.

His latest album, From the Ashes of Our Homes, opens with a reflection on the day Teodros and his spouse, Ijeoma Oluo, fled from an actual house fire, and expands to a full-length meditation on the loss of home and safety so many of us experienced these last few years as a result of wars, the pandemic, the climate catastrophe, and more - and how do we build something new from the ashes of all of our collective homes.

Picking up where 2018's History Rhymes If It Doesn't Repeat (A Southend Healing Ritual) left off, Ashes is another collective exercise in moving through trauma, this time made in connection with Teodros' long-standing partner in rhyme Khingz (of Abyssinian Creole), who's new album A Safe Place For Us was created in concert with Ashes. The two albums each tell a story on their own, and a greater story when you play them back to back. Other vocalists on the LP include Meklit, Aisha Fukushima, Sarah MK, Nikkita Oliver, Rell Be Free, Dakota Camacho, Ian Kamau, Jennifer Johns (who collaborated on a heartfelt dedication to both Rahwa Habte and Gift of Gab), and narration by Tigrayan poet BeeLyn Naihiwet.

Ashes also sees Teodros’ introduction to the world as a producer, alongside key musical contributions from Northwest legends like Vitamin D, Ahamefule J. Oluo, and more.

Ashes was preceded by 2020’s COVID-era lost tapes compilation What We Leave Behind, 2018’s History Rhymes If It Doesn't Repeat (an album that made NPR say "Gabriel Teodros is one of the bravest rappers currently working in Seattle"), and 2014’s Evidence Of Things Not Seen, a James Baldwin-inspired collaboration with Aotearoa-based producer SoulChef that was described by critics as Teodros’ strongest album yet, after a decade of notable releases that also include Colored People's Time Machine, Children Of The Dragon, and CopperWire's Earthbound.

In 2020, Teodros launched the show Early on KEXP 90.3 FM in Seattle, which he hosted 5 days a week for the next 3 years, eventually passing the show on to make more time for his own music, and to co-teach a class in the University of Washington’s Honors department titled Lovework, an Unfinished Syllabus, named for Teodros’ 2007 LP and inspired by the work of bell hooks.

For more information log on to www.gabrielteodros.com

Official videos
Spacetime: www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3e4FSUnw8I
You and Me: www.youtube.com/watch?v=olplt_l0ZuA
Open Letter: www.youtube.com/watch?v=di2ZnTpaPE8

credits

released September 23, 2023

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all rights reserved

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