Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by Gabriel Teodros, host of Early on KEXP, is "Steel Wing" by Arima Ederra, a 2022 single on Nettwerk Music Group.
Today's Song of the Day came to singer/songwriter Arima Ederra in a moment of anger. As the firstborn daughter of Ethiopian refugees, the Los Angeles-based artist was rattled by the refugee crisis that forcibly displaced a record 68.5 million people. In a press statement, she reflected:
“When the former president put a ban on refugees in 2017, I remember sitting in my room very angry and couldn’t help but think about my family in East Africa. When the news came, a melody followed, kind of in the form of a chant. I recorded a little voice note of it, tucked it away and didn’t really think much of it til later in the year. When we started making the music, it felt like a soundtrack to my rebellious teen years and I felt called to explore the parallels of my youth to my father’s journey as a refugee. The hook is kind of like a conversation between the two of us. 'Steel Wing' pays homage to not only my family, but all refugees, women and young girls to continue to take up space, rebel and explore their curiosity and freedom in everything they do.”
