Nienna by Abbi Rajasekhar

A little ‘Nienna’ backstory, if you’re interested…

Nienna is the name of a character from Tolkein’s Silmarillion, one of my all time favorite books. There are only a few paragraphs about her in the entire book.

She is one of the most powerful god’s who created the world. The other god’s are recognizable archetypes from various mythologies: Manwë “Lord of the Air”, Varda “Queen of Light”, Ulmo “Lord of Water” etc… but Nienna is the “Lady of Grief”. Since Tolkein made Nienna one of the most powerful beings on earth, I had to assume he actually believed that grief was one of the most powerful forces on earth, and this captivated my imagination.

Nienna lives alone in a garden at the edge of the world. She feels and focuses on all of the pain and brokenness of the people on earth - The Children. She grieves and she weeps. But, her tears are not in vain, they aren't just for the sake of suffering. Her tears are important. Nienna's tears fall onto the earth, and from them- hope, wisdom, endurance, and gentleness grow up into our world.

This, to me, was beautiful, and worth writing about.

So, this record sits in these themes: sorrow turning into strength, grief as catalyst for hope, wearing endurance and gentleness as armor. These songs mean a lot to me and I hope they are a blessing to your ears and your heart.

Singer . Songwriter . Composer . Arranger . Lover . Fighter .

abbirajasekhar.com