Djiboutian singer Yanna Momina passes away

According to the singer’s American producer, Ian Brennan, Momina died on 18 June.

“We are saddened to announce the death of Yanna Momina at age 76,” Brennan said. “Momina had been scheduled to perform at this year’s WOMAD Festival, but fell ill in the spring. Her presence will be missed, but her one-of-a-kind voice lives on.”

Momina, who hailed from the Afar tribe, Djibouti’s second-largest ethnic group, shot to international acclaim when Brennan set out on a journey to Djibouti in 2018 to meet her.

Brennan first discovered Momina singing accompanied by a traditional two-stringed lyre played with nails and a matchbox for maracas. After their meeting, they began recording an eight-track album, Afar Way (2022), which pays tribute to her musical traditions.

According to world music magazine RootsWorld, Afar Ways was recorded in a stilt hut at the edge of the sea as the tide was coming in. “This can sometimes be heard in the background, as well as the creaking timber of the building itself,” it said.

The project saw Momina in her element, her powerful vocals rising and falling in unison with minimalistic musical backings comprising an acoustic guitar and handclaps.

Brennan told RootsWorld: “Yanna has one of the most unique voices I’ve ever heard. She flirts with the edge of chaos without losing control of her idiosyncratic phrasing.”

Recalling the recording experience, Brennan added: “Moving at the speed of another culture, what first sounded like a call to prayer, was only conversation. And then we began. Momina was accompanied by a rotating cast of friends who passed around guitars and a calabash. They freely offered up handclaps and background vocals.”

Momina’s last single, ‘Djibouti Desert (Listen to Me)’, will come out as scheduled on 28 July, with all the proceeds from the sales going to her music community in Djibouti.