Saba Anglana @ Botanique

Saba, singer and songwriter, was born in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, to an Ethiopian mother (born in Somalia) and Italian father. After doing much of her growing up in Italy, Saba studied to become a mosaicist, completing a degree in Art History at the University of Rome La Sapienza. She worked in the communication and publishing industry and, as actress, for TV and theatre.
“Jidka-The Line”, her first album published worldwide by Phil Stanton's “WorldMusicNetwork”, marked her solo debut in 2007, mixing the traditional sounds with contemporary flourishes.
Between 2008 and 2009 Saba performs in at least one hundred concerts with her international band composed by: Martino Roberts (Bass) Cheikh Fall (kora, djembè) Tatè Nsongan (guitar, percussions), Salvio Vassallo (drums). The artist conquers, with the magic alchemy of her show, important stages like the Nat Geo Music one for the "Earth Day", with Cesaria Evora; the prestigious main stage of the Italia Love Wave Festival; The Auditorium Flog in Florence for the Festival Musica dei Popoli; the International Festival of Hammamet and many more. In 2009 Saba and Fabio Barovero, producer and coauthor, meet in Addis Ababa some traditional and contemporary ethiopian musicians: a sort of field research in the capital of Ethiopia, where many music styles from the Horn flow together. The recording sessions with Endale Abate, Belay Alemayehu, Binyam Berhanu and other artists playing traditional instruments like krar, washinti and masinko are part of the new album "Biyo", also recorded with the solid contribution of the members of Saba's live band. The title of this new work is a somali word that phonetically recalls the ancient greek term "Bios", "life", and her original meaning in somali is "water": a symbolic assonance between life and water. The water issues are infact the main focus of Saba's new album, published and distribuited from march 2010 by the enthusiastic work of Egea Music.