Today Congolese Belgian musican Témé Tan and Belgium director Michiel Robberecht release the video for Tan’s melancholic song Hospital - a captivating film dedicated to Eritrea’s capital city Asmara. The duo collaborated with two talented Eritrean filmmakers, Joel Tesfamichael Kiflemariam and Mohamed Abdurahman, to produce the narrative, which trails a young boy, Gabriel Gerges, through the city’s quiet roads and up into the surrounding misty mountains.

“Asmara is an enchanting place where it seems time has stood still. Its streets are filled with melancholy and the lingering feeling that a rebirth of Eritrea’s capital is permanently lurking around the corner,” Robberecht explains. “Eritrea’s criticised international reputation often overshadows the fact that its capital is a place filled with energetic young people ready to spread the love of their so cherished lady Asmara.”

He continues: “Asmara’s air is thin - sitting at 2,400m - it always seemed to give me a delirious feeling that fills my veins with inspiration. When the sun was about to set, Mohamed, Joel and me would often head over to Asmara’s edge, its highest point, where you can see the sun sink into a clouded valley. During one of these sunsets we decided it would be on top of this mountain we wanted Gabriel to dance towards his rebirth. Because one thing above all was very clear to me: Asmara and its young people are filled with a powerful energy to emerge.”

Témé Tan’s Hospital is a perfect sonic landscape for the video. The multi-instrumentalist, who released his debut eponymous album in 2017, has forged a nomadic sound that treads lightly across experimental pop, Congolese zouk, Brazilian bossanova, Japanese electro and much more. This song, with its analogue underbelly and lovelorn message, conjures up the ghost that is Asmara.

Music Témé Tan
Direction and photography Michiel Robberecht
Cinematography Mohamed Abdurahman
A HlLM production by Joel Tesfamichael Kiflemariam
Starring Gabriel Gerges
Additional drums Gérard Dubru
Polaroid photography Miko/Miko Studio

Words Xanthe Somers

Published on 16/04/2020