Concert Pianist
There are many ways to serve your God and others. Sometimes the focus is on one or the other. Sometimes, the focus can blend those two goals at the same time. Such a journey is the story of EG’s life.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
EG was born in Ethiopia. Her father was a mayor in their hometown. Her mother was a homemaker, well known within their community.
CHILDHOOD
At age 6, EG was sent to a boarding school in a different country. There, she saw a concert by a blind pianist that made a strong impression on her.
“It remained in my mind, in my heart,” she said. “After that, I was captivated by music.” So, she began studying violin and piano.
EDUCATION
When EG returned to her native country, she attended a ‘secondary school’ – the equivalent of an American high school. Several times, EG and her family were deported to a different country due to war, involving multiple relocations.
Eventually, while still a teenager, EG accepted an offer to further her music studies in Cairo, Egypt, where she soon realized that the hot, humid climate did not agree with her. So, she returned to her home country, working for a time as an assistant within the government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
FIRST CAREER CHOICE IS NEVER A BINDING COMMITMENT
EG was accepted into The Royal Academy of Music in London and seemed on the way to a career as a concert pianist but that career prospect somehow ‘fell through’ for reasons never disclosed by EG.
SECOND CAREER CHOICE – NUN – NEVER BINDING
Whatever the reason(s) for not proceeding as a concert pianist, it or they were felt deeply by EG, who then decided to proceed with a spiritual reassessment of her life. As a result, EG opted to spend her next 10 years in a hilltop monastery in Ethiopia.
“I was barefoot for 10 years,” Sister EG reported later during an interview. “No shoes, no music, just prayer.”
Ten years into her life of solitude and prayer, EG self-decided it was time for another reassessment of her life. This time, she chose to return to her love of music.
(Editor – EG’s story was not the basis for “The Sound of Music” film and play but some parallels are noted.)
YOU MAY ALWAYS RETURN TO AN EARLIER CAREER CHOICE
Sister EG decided to combine her love of music with her passion for caring for others by focusing on music education. Her talent as a pianist was quickly reestablished, attracting the attention of several influential music producers.
A French musicologist and producer, who had been releasing albums of Ethiopian music, made a collection of EG’s solo pieces.
“Honky Tonk” and “nun” are words not often seen in combination, but in 2017, when the BBC broadcast a radio documentary about the pianist and composer Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou, (“EG” within this story), “The Honkey Tonk Nun” was the title of choice.
It was a testament to the music she made, both before and after she became a nun, music that drew on her classical training but seemed to partake of rhythm and blues, jazz, and other influences. The relatively few who discovered it knew they had found their way to something singular.
American musician Norah Jones said, “This album is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard: part Duke Ellington, part modal scales, part the blues, part church music. It resonated in all those ways for me.”
The documentarian Garrett Bradley used Sister EG’s music in the soundtrack of “Time,” her acclaimed 2020 film about a New Orleans woman’s fight to get her husband out of prison. A film critic, writing about that movie and its soundtrack, called the music “the sonic equivalent to infinity – untethered by conventional meter or rhythm, as if EG’s piano holds more keys than it should.”
CAREER SATISFACTION
“Sister EG brought a beautiful new sound into the world that is rooted both in the Western classical music heritage and in the Ethiopian music heritage,” said a musician who had worked with EG. “Her music speaks in a highly spiritual dimension. The sound she brought to the world is modest, gentle, deep, serene, sorrowful yet full of love and faith, with surprising dramatic enigmatic twists and turns.”
Another recording by EG inspired a different commentator: “First, there is a lot of classical technique in there, particularly in the interplay between the right and left hands. You might think you’re listening to a sonata for those first few seconds because there is so much harmony between the right and left hands. But then it becomes immediately clear that she’s improvising, so the genre signals jazz.”
“When she played piano, it felt like she had tiny ears at the tips of her fingers. Such a sensitive touch. Her piano touch was a true miracle.”
EG played the piano for multiple recordings, donating the proceeds to the poor. Eventually she left Ethiopia and settled into an Ethiopian Orthodox monastery in Jerusalem, spending the rest of her life there.
___________________________________________________________________
This career story is based on an obituary written by Neil Genzlinger, published online within the New York Times on 4/4/23.
