“Hera,” by Lydiah Dola: A Song for Peace and Harmony Between the Peoples

29/04/2021 |

By Capire

 

Listen to a song in Luo language by the Kenyan artist Lydiah Dola

“Hera” is the latest single by Lydiah Dola, who sings in Luo, a language spoken by peoples from Kenya, Sudan, and Tanzania. The song is about the need to live in peace and harmony. “Hera” means “love” in Luo. “There’s nothing more important in this world than love. Everything else is vanity,” Lydiah said about her music. She is a songwriter, a singer, a guitar player, and a feminist activist born in Nairobi, Kenya.

Lydiah draws her inspiration from people’s everyday lives in her country to write her music, as well as from the struggle for women’s rights and nature. “I like to tell stories from Kenya. My motto is to give back to my motherland through art. It has the power to change something,” she says. “If I see something that is not right and I can’t go to the streets, as in right now during the pandemic, I’ll use my music to share my message.”

In addition to “Hera,” Lydiah has written and recorded other tunes such as “SWAN Girls,” a tribute to women artists, and “Sisters in March,” inspired by the slogan of the World March of Women, “we will continue on the march until we are all free.” You can listen to her songs on her YouTube and ReverbNation channels.

Translated from Portuguese by Aline Scátola

Words by Bianca Pessoa

Edited by Helena Zelic

 

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