Bereket Mengisteab

Bereket Mengisteab was born in 1938 in Hazega, where he spent the first two decades of his life farming before moving to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1961. He made his stage debut as a member of the Haile Selassie Theater Orchestra before moving to found a group named "Megaleh Guayla". He joined the Eritrean Liberation Front in 1974.

Bereket moved to Saudi Arabia in 1979 to settle in the coastal city of Jeddah. Since 1998, Bereket has lived in Asmara, Eritrea - composing and recording new songs, releasing at least an album a year. Bereket has composed close to 200 songs over his 50 years as an active artist. Bereket has played a great role using music as tool for nation-building and activism.