Arima Ederra Shares New Single & Video “Portals”
Los Angeles-based artist Arima Ederra returns to unveil her new single “Portals.” Her first offering of new music since 2018, the intricate tune is accompanied by an equally powerful video co-directed by Arima herself alongside Mahaneela, and serves as the latest sampling of Arima’s long-awaited full length project that she first teased with her 2018 single “Free Again.” “Portals” is a dream-like ballad that finds Arima contemplating her feelings toward a friend as she unravels memories and their experiences together.
Inspired in part by Lorna Simpson’s “Chess” installation, Arima says of the song and video:
“‘Portals’ is a message about longing to be longed for. How humility guided me through a portal back to myself after heartache. It’s about confronting why the absence of love seems to be the only time we realize we’re out of time to say how we earnestly feel. I’ve always been a fan of surrealism, magic realism, and the beauty of the subconscious mind. The video was a way for me to express what sort of dialogue occurs during the meeting of the selves, both literally and figuratively. When do we allow ourselves to reach that stage of vulnerability? If the sun took us all tomorrow, would we then be able to say how we really feel? It’s hard to know where I end and you begin and for that reason I think it’s important to hold space and compassion with myself and others during the journey.”
The firstborn daughter of Ethiopian refugees, music and songwriting were inherently part of Arima’s upbringing as she discovered the power of mezmur, Ethiopian spiritual music, in the back of an Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Las Vegas where she was raised. That belief in the healing power of songs and stories flows through her own music, which she took with her as she found a home amongst like-minded peers and friends in Leimert Park, Los Angeles. In 2016, she released her celestial 2016 EP Temporary Fixes, which The FADER called “a tranquil offering laced with pleasant vocals and jazzy melodies inspired by love, attraction, and loss.” In LA, she found herself a home and community amongst like-minded peers, and toured with Noname around her critically-acclaimed debut albumTelefone.
In the time since, Arima’s been honing her craft as an artist, working alongside the likes of Mereba, Jon Bap, and Teo Halm, and living through the spectrum of experiences that inform her forthcoming full-length project, coming this Fall.
Enter “Portals” above, find out more about Arima Ederra below and stay tuned for more soon.
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