Composed and performed in 1995 while on Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) in Eritrea.
"Iliano" means "Italiano" which in turn means "white person".  Whenever we ventured outside, crowds of children would shout this at us.
Despite the title, I hope this song brings across how happy I was to be there and how much I enjoyed this period of my life.

Iliano

While in Eritrea in 1995 I played a lot of guitar with a lady called Maggie - sadly I can't remember her second name now!  She was the wife of the head of the World Food Programme in Eritrea.  One time we had a session in the Asmara recording studio and I recently stumbled across the tape.  This is one of my favourites: a cover of Nancy Griffiths "Gulf Coast Highway".  Maggie has a beautiful voice, I hope she went on to make lots more music.

Chris Owen 27