Tigray Tears – The World Stood By (Toy Gun Murder, 2025)
On Tigray Tears’ The World Stood By, a cast of exiled Tigrinya-language singers transforms raw anguish into stripped-down, soul-deep protest. Recorded by producer Ian Brennan in Addis Ababa and Amhara during the fragile aftermath of Ethiopia’s civil war, the album offers the testimony of a community severely affected by the conflict.
Each voice belongs to someone displaced by the two-year war between Tigrayan forces and the Ethiopian military, a conflict that left an estimated 600,000 dead and more than two million uprooted. While charges of ethnic cleansing mounted, much of the world turned its gaze elsewhere. The album’s title is no exaggeration; the silence was deafening.
Many singers wrote songs with titles that double as headlines: “No Matter Where I Am, I Miss Tigray,” “What Is the World Saying About Tigray?,” and “Remembering the People We Lost in the War.” Others turned to compassion as resistance, offering calm, haunting refrains in “People Should Live in Love” and “Let Us Praise Kindness.”
Musically, the foundation is austere but deeply rooted in tradition. Most tracks consist solely of voice and krar, the traditional five or six-stringed lyre whose looping pentatonic phrases serve as a cultural lifeline.
Some performances arrive with unexpected contrasts. One local group touted their frontman’s fame, he had once appeared on television, but the true revelation came from his accompanist, a humble auto mechanic whose voice carried less polish but more truth. Time and again, the most affecting singers were those who had nothing to prove. Detached from self-promotion, they delivered unflinching honesty.
Brennan’s field production favors clarity over gloss. The audio captures the immediacy of these sessions without intruding on them. There’s no attempt to embellish or reframe the stories; the album honors the conditions under which it was made, both artistically and politically.
As tensions flare once more in northern Ethiopia, with new fears of escalation along the Eritrean border, The World Stood By feels tragically timely. But it also serves as enduring proof: even when the world looks away, voices rise. Voices remember. Voices resist.
Buy The World Stood By.
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.