Ethiopian Celebrities Blog

Addis Ababa honors Michael Jackson

2010-07-21T07:43:00.001-04:00

Unbelievably, it has been a year since the King of Pop Michael Jackson died. His millions of fans all over the world included many in Addis Ababa.
Fans around the world marked the first anniversary of his death, June 25, with various events from candlelight vigils to slumber parties planned in honor of MJ’s extraordinary 50 year journey.
Over 5,000 fans in the US are reported to have marched since dawn to cast flowers and mementos to their idol.
In other parts of the world as well various events were organized to mark the first year anniversary.
In Tokyo, flowers began piling up where 50 diehard fans paid more than 1,000 dollars each to attend a sleepover inside an exhibition space showcasing some of the singer’s belongings.
In Germany, candlelight vigils with music, balloons, posters and Jackson imitators were planned in numerous cities, including Berlin, Hamburg and Munich.
Fans dressed up like Michael in Prague and unveiled plans for a bust of the singer at a city party.
Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa too wasn’t left out of the celebration of the pop star.
Hosted in the city’s main hall, more than sixty young talents came together after weeks’ of preparation to reenact the singer’s sensational music and dance moves on the stage.
“We called on the media for Michael Jackson’s fans with dancing talent to come to us and be part of the event,” Getaneh Tsehaye said. He is a founder of Helget Entertainment and Dance Studio which organized the event.
The entrainment, which co-runs, a studio with Frank Addis Bar and Restaurant, was responsible for finding sixty dancers a venue for the long performance of MJ’s most recognizable, sensational dance moves from his video clips.
On June 30 at city hall invitations were sent to out to fill the place to capacity but hundreds more, mainly youngsters were allowed in. The 10 something Haleget dancers collaborated with others and another performance by Abyssinia Art Academy musical performance flavored the event.
Respect for the King of Pop was the name of the event and from the city’s theatre bureau to various FM radio programs; many put an effort to make it happen.
“From now on we want to honor Michael Jackson with similar events at June 25 every year,” Getaneh said.
Helget Entertainment and Dance Studio, who came to the limelight with an appearance in Love and Dance movie wants to make the event stand permanently and be recognized among the annual global events honoring the extraordinary Michael Jackson. The upcoming association they are helping to establish, The Ethiopian modern music dancers association, should aide the effort. (Compiled by Kirubel Tadesse)

Challenges and Opportunities of the Young & the beautiful

2010-07-19T06:51:00.001-04:00

By:- Biruk Gebremedhin

The fashion industry is a fast-paced, ever more complex world of creativity of design, knowledge driven business, and technology that many people find fascinating and alluring.

Modeling art for several years depict how that fashion industry could have made a cultural and economic development through the courage of inspirational, beautiful, elegant and charismatic models.

Fashion is seasonal, and as an augmentation industry gives many challenges in career opportunities. “In order to be successful, you must have a passion for fashion with a real burning desire to work in the industry. For many successful people in this business, fashion is their life-they live it and think it constantly. This industry values work experience and education” said Amleset Muche.

Amleset is one of a very few Ethiopian models featured in fashion runway shows in USA, Italia, China, Poland and here in Ethiopia. Born 1987 in Gonder, she is model, social advocate, film producer and actress who have a multitalented personality. She has studied BA in Journalism and Mass Communication here in Addis and has also acquired further studies in New York Film Academy. She has also honored an International Stylish Award in Poland in 2006.

Despite such a growing business and personal achievements, here in Ethiopia, she argues that, it has a number of challenges on the sector from less public attitude to less payment for their performance. And that is the main reason for her to deviate from modeling into film production. And In 2008; Amleset produced the film- production entitled “Selefiker’ (about love).

Fashion designers conceptualize and create new clothing and accessory designs. They analyze fashion trends and work closely with production and marketing to design, produce, and promote a finished, ready-to-wear product for apparel manufacturers, specialty and retail stores, and individual clients.

The present-day model Hiwot justifies the fashion industry interlink and interdependent nature of business that could not be easily successful without the art of modeling.

Hiwot Assefa, 20, born in Diredawa and a graduate of Tour Operator said “The industry has gradually growing with constraint of budget and thus taken us for less payment for our act with the margin of 500 to 1000 Ethiopian birr per stage. And it is true that such a law wages can not enhance anyone’s concern.” She added “for most models it is a par time job and difficult to be a permanent one”.

With all these challenges, Hiwot performed in Algeria, South Africa, Turkey and here in Ethiopia. She has also awarded Miss Intercontinental Award in Belarus 2006.

To overcome such challenges, She further noted that Modeling agency has to be flourish for uncompromising excellence and attributes our success to the professionalism of our commitment to able to find internationally acclaimed employment in the fashion industry at all levels. And the government has to play its key role with adequate institutions and resource for betterment of the industry.

Source: EthiopianReporter

Catching up with chef Marcus Samuelsson

2010-06-16T06:59:00.000-04:00

Ten years before he won "Top Chefs Masters" in an upset victory, Ethiopian-born Swede Marcus Samuelsson conquered the New York dining world with his contemporary take on Scandinavian cuisine at Aquavit. Later, he took on the challenges of Japanese fusion (Riingo), gourmet hamburgers (Marc Burger) and modern American seafood (C-House).

This fall he's embarking on another ambitious project: an American, farm-to-table restaurant in Harlem. This love of American food culture was clear from his 2009 cookbook "The American Table," which interspersed innovative recipes with stories of regional foods and cooks.

We caught up with Samuelsson (before his big win) at the launch of a new line of cooking ranges he designed for BlueStar Ranges.

Q Tell us about your next restaurant project.
A It's going to be called The Red Rooster and we are going to take the same farm-to-table theme we have (at C-House) and it will have all the same love and care. It's going to be American food, but very democratic and affordable. I already have the space. It should open September-ish.

Q You have such a diverse background. What are your best food memories?

A Sunday dinners with my family at my grandmother's house (in Gothenburg, Sweden) where we all had our jobs to do. She might cook a pork roast stuffed with prunes and serve it with mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts and carrots. Very basic. Maybe we started with a lentil soup and then had apple cake served with a sauce for dessert. It was all very rustic and made from scratch. We had luxury and didn't even know it.

Q What do you think about the Swedish cooking in the U.S.?

A I love meeting Scandinavian Americans and seeing Swedish restaurants in the States. But I do think there is a difference between the Scandinavian American cooking and the cooking in Scandinavia today. The cooking here reflects what food was like in Sweden 150 or 100 years ago with lutefisk and a lot of dishes we don't eat anymore. But then there are certain dishes like meatballs from Ikea that we all still eat.

Q What was it like to cook the Obamas' first state dinner?

A I worked very closely with the first lady months in advance to plan for the state dinner and think about what we would provide for the Indian prime minister. We also talked a lot about childhood obesity and health and what we could serve from the White House garden. When you are gathering food from the garden, the meal could not be more farm-to-table. It's amazing to be gathering food to cook that night and look over and see the Oval Office.

Q How have the first lady's campaigns changed the food conversation in the U.S.?

A Talking about food and health, inviting chefs to the White House and cooking with kids has done so much to get the conversation going. I think it is great that she has put these things all together talking about food and health and obesity. All you have to do is look at all the different blogs and the people joining the discussion to see that it's making a difference. I think we are on the right path and we can fix this thing.

Q What were your goals in designing a range?

A Heat! We have a 22,000 BTU burner while most people at home have 12 or 14. I wanted to blend high power and low temperature control so you can cook more precisely. Interest in food is at an all-time high, and so the consumer demands many of the same things we have in our kitchens. They want the same knives, they want the same cookware we have in the restaurant, and now we can give them some of those things on the range.

meng@tribune.com

Three Ethiopian Films Win Awards at The 7th Tarifa African Film Festival in Spain

2010-06-04T07:13:00.000-04:00

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Thursday, June 3, 2010

New York (Tadias) – Three Ethiopian films have won coveted awards at the 7th African Film Festival in Tarifa, Spain.

Haile Gerima’s Teza won the “Best Full Length Movie” award, while Atletu, a film about the legendary long distance runner Abebe Bikila produced by Rasselas Lakew & D.Frankel received the “Prize of the Audience” award.

In the Short Film category, Zelalem Woldemariam’s Lezare (For Today), a 12 minute movie which explores the link between environmental degradation and poverty, was the recipient of the “Best Short Film Youth Jury Award.”

The winners were selected from a pool of 15 nominees from over 10 countries by an international jury of experts. They received cash prizes ranging from 2,000 to 15,000 Euro. The competition took place from May 21st to 29th in Spain.

Below is the full list of winners:

7th Tarifa African Film Festival award winners (Photo Courtesy of Zeleman Production)

1. Best Female Actress, IMANI from Uganda, directed by Caroline Kamya

2. Best Actor, FROM A WHISPER from Kenya, directed by Wanari Kahiu

3. Best Director, IMANI from Uganda, directed by Caroline Kamya

4. Best Short Film Young Jury Award, LEZARE, directed by Zelalem Woldemariam

5. Best Short Film RTVA Award, LE ICHA from Tunisia, directed by Walid Taya

6. Best Documentary Film, LES LARMES DE L’EMIGRATION from Senegal, by
Alassane Diago

7. Prize of the Audience, ATLETU from Ethiopia, by Rasselas
Lakew-D.Frankel, and EHKI YA SHAHRAZADE from Egypt, by Yousry Narsrallahr

8. Best Full Length Movie, Teza from Ethiopia, by H. Gerima

Supermodel Liya Kebede's Ethical Fashion Apparel Preserves Ethiopian Hand Weaving (Video & Photos)

2010-05-25T12:11:00.001-04:00

Credit: LemLem

Ethiopian supermodel and and World Health Organisation Goodwill Ambassador Liya Kebede graces the pages of Vogue this month wearing her ethical fashion label the Lemlem collection--styled with a pair of Olsen Haus vegan shoes, to boot--reports Ecorazzi. Lemlem launched in 2007 out of Liya's desire to create a Western market for the traditional weavers of Ethiopia and, according to her website, "to preserve the art of weaving." Initially the line was comprised of children's apparel but it has since expanded to include women's clothing and accessories; summer dresses, tunics, scarves, wraps, sarongs, and more. Click through for photos of the collection, the weaving process and a video interview with Liya Kebede.

The Hand Made Process
The collection is produced on a small scale using traditional handwoven fabrics that are made with 60% cotton and 40% rayon (Lyocell, Tencel™, or Modal™ are more sustainable alternatives to rayon). View the hand made process in a series of photos, below.

What's cooking at the White House? Chef Samuelsson knows...

2010-05-25T12:07:00.001-04:00

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Samuelsson was adopted at the age of three
He cooked for President Barack Obama's first White House state dinner
He has won three James Beard Awards

Every week CNN's African Voices highlights Africa's most engaging personalities, exploring the lives and passions of people who rarely open themselves up to the camera. This week the show profiles celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson.

New York (CNN) -- Celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson is a gastronomic tour de force.

The Ethiopian-born chef has won three coveted James Beard Awards, an accolade described as "like winning the Olympic gold medal for chefs," and has been celebrated as one of "The Great Chefs of America" by the Culinary Institute of America.

With three restaurants and cookbooks to his name, Samuelsson, 39, is firmly established in the world of haute cuisine, so it was no surprise that he was chosen to cook for President Barack Obama's first White House state dinner.

The dinner featured a seasonal menu reflecting American and Indian flavors in honor of the visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Samuelsson worked with first lady Michelle Obama to create a menu that included potato and eggplant salad, roasted potato dumplings with tomato chutney, chickpeas and okra, green curry prawns and caramelized salsify with smoked collard greens.

It's been a whirlwind rise to the top for the chef who says he developed an interest in cooking at just six years old.

But life has not always been easy for him or his family. Born Kassahun Tsegie in a small village north of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Samuelsson was three years old when he, his older sister and mother contracted tuberculosis during an epidemic in Ethiopia.
Admitted to hospital, Samuelsson and his sister Linda survived, but his mother was killed by the disease. After their mother's death, a nurse took pity on the young siblings and found an adoption agency to register them, Samuelsson told CNN.

Blog: Meeting Marcus Samuelsson

Months later, Swedish couple Anne Marie and Lennart Samuelsson adopted the children and they left Ethiopia for a life in Europe, which at times proved radically different for them.

Looking back on his upbringing, Samuelsson said: "My mother was white, my father was white, we were mixed kids, mixed family. It was the norm, you know. Not until maybe you're in your teens do you really start reflecting on that maybe that's not the norm."

It was only later in life when his sister started to dig into the family history that Samuelsson discovered his biological father in Ethiopia was still alive.

Samuelsson told CNN: "We found him and my step brothers and sisters. This is one of my biggest gifts to have met my birth father and my sisters and brothers and I feel extremely connected to them
My father knew we were adopted. He knew that we were in Sweden but he just didn't know where," he added.

It was in his adoptive home that Samuelsson's love of cooking was shaped and developed by his grandmother. He would spend hours in the kitchen with her and by the age of 16 had decided to become a world-class chef.

He attended the Culinary Institute in Gothenburg, and then worked in Switzerland, Austria and France before moving to the United States in 1991 where he was employed as an apprentice at acclaimed Scandinavian restaurant "Aquavit" in New York.

This was to be his launch pad to culinary fame. After four years at "Aquavit," at the age of just 24, Samuelsson was promoted to Executive Chef and his career skyrocketed.

Fifteen years on, Samuelsson has created his own brand, with three restaurants and a collection of cooking books and classes to his name. It's been hard work but Samuelsson credits his success to his origins.

He told CNN: "I always feel like the biggest luxury I have is that I am connected to poverty. I come from a clay house in the country in Addis. No water, no electricity, no nothing ... I think it is my responsibility to represent poverty. Talk about it and also show there's lots of happy togetherness, family and love."

Mulatu Astatke to open a jazz institute in Ethiopia

2010-05-03T07:20:00.001-04:00

A FRIEND who lived in Addis Ababa for many years once told that what she missed most after leaving the Ethiopian capital – aside from her host's kitfo, a traditional beef dish, and a neighbour's honey mead- were afternoons spent listening to a local radio station.

Tuned into by taxi drivers, shopkeepers, bureaucrats and bank clerks alike, its eclectic spill of styles, from cha-cha and mambo to Puerto Rican bugalu, Coptic church hymns, Mozart and folk song, was, she later discovered, produced by a certain Mulatu Astatke.

Not simply a spirited programmer, he was one of Ethiopia's most revered composers, a man who, not unlike Nigeria's Fela Kuti, fled political unrest to study music in Britain and the US. When the two returned home in the 1960s, they fused the myriad influences they had encountered on their travels to create signature styles: Kuti crafted Afrobeat, Astatke fathered Ethiojazz.

Yet while Kuti pursued a life of legendary hedonism – once marrying 27 wives in a single ceremony – and fuelled his music with searing political commentary, Astatke embraced a different brand of patriotism. He taught music at Addis Ababa University, arranged music for Pan-African Elvis Tlahoun Gessesse and educated a broader public through his radio show.

"In Ethiopia, everyone leaves the country to study, so when you do, it's your responsibility to come back and teach what you have learnt, tell what your experience has been," he says.

The 67-year-old will perform his dreamlike, elsewhere melodies in Australia for the first time this weekend as part of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival. It's a brief visit for a man with a hectic schedule. "Last week I was in Paris and Athens, then Addis and now to Australia. I am too busy, I think, but this is the way."

While Astatke's collaborations have been many, including Duke Ellington in the 1970s, the meeting that initiated his most recent wave of acclaim involved filmmaker Jim Jarmush. They crossed paths in 2004 at the Winter Garden in New York. Astatke was performing a sold-out show. Astatke recalls: "He came to the dressing room afterwards and said: 'OK, it's taken me six years to look for the music for my next film but now I have been listening to your music and I love it. Can I use it?'."

Broken Flowers, which starred Bill Murray, premiered at Cannes in 2005, winning the Grand Prize of the Jury. Astatke has blossomed ever since, touring the US and Europe in 2008, including Glastonbury. "Wow, it was a dream, I tell you. Just to see thousands and thousands of people in one place, in tents, in the mud. I was so amazed how they love music, how they sacrifice themselves to hear it. What a beautiful experience."

British label Strut subsequently released three Astatke albums in quick succession: a retrospective of his work titled New York – Addis – London: The Story of Ethiojazz (1965-1975), a collaboration with UK collective the Heliocentrics, Inspiration Information, and an album of new songs, Steps Ahead. The opening track of Steps is a tribute to his time at Harvard University, where he spent two years on a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship. Last year he ventured to Massachusetts as part of an Abramowitz artist-in-residence scholarship at MIT.

As to his next steps, even Astatke concedes they will be hasty. In June, he will open his own jazz institute in Addis Ababa. "It will be the best place to learn for students from across east Africa: Kenya and Tanzania. Then I must finish the opera I am writing too. And then I go back to London to play the Barbican. Fast steps, oh yes, exactly!"

Mulatu Astatke plays The Forum tomorrow and Monday.

'Teza': Ethiopia's tortured history, as seen through a disillusioned man's eyes

2010-04-30T07:40:00.001-04:00

Both intimate and sprawling in its scope and reach, "Teza" is a remarkable portrait of the tortured political and social history that Ethiopia suffered in the last decades of the 20th century.

Waves of torment and pride that gripped the country are vividly captured through the eyes of a man named Anberber (a haunting Aaron Arefe), who is subjected to extremes of elation and devastation. His journey of disillusionment is the very personal exploration of a national psyche as interpreted by filmmaker Haile Gerima.

Remaining very much a cipher in the first few reels, a graying, defeated Anberber has returned to his rural village with scars both physical and psychological. His confusion is ours, but the sorting out begins as he flashes back nearly two decades to his jubilant time as a medical student in Cologne, Germany. As an idealistic socialist, he and his fellow expatriates rejoice when a Soviet-backed military junta overthrows the monarchy of Haile Selassie.

But the grand utopia Anberber and his intellectual countrymen dreamed of has little bearing on reality back in Addis Ababa, where his frustration grows under the increasing brutality of the communist regime. Eager to focus on his career as a research physician, Anberber cannot escape the oppressive contradictions of a society where banners of an unwanted emperor (Selassie) have been replaced by alien ideologues (Marx and Lenin).

Though he struggles to maintain his principles, resistance is futile in the face of a new corruption and the constant threat of violence. Once again expatriated to Germany, this time in the service of the communist East, Anberber faces constant racism and the horror of actual violence. With his mind and philosophy skewed, his search for truth and simplicity guide him back to his impoverished boyhood home.

Though sometimes disjointed and fraught with overly impressionistic flourishes, "Teza" is an impressive undertaking that balances melodrama with realism in depicting the inner life of a complicated character and the historical tenor of a little-known time and place in the world.

Ted Fry: tedfry@hotmail.com

Liya Kebede lands in Time's '100 Most Influential People' List

2010-04-29T06:37:00.000-04:00

Ethiopian supermodel Liya Kebede has been named one of the top 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine which will be released later today, according to WWD.

Liya was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A film director spotted her while she was attending Lycee Guebre Mariam school in Addis Ababa and introduced her to a French modeling agent. After completing her studies, she moved to France to pursue work through a Parisian agency. Liya later relocated to New York City.

Liya's big break came when Tom Ford asked her for an exclusive contract for his Gucci Fall/Winter 2000 fashion show. Liya's popularity in the fashion industry sky-rocketed when she appeared on the cover the May 2002 edition of Paris Vogue which dedicated the entire issue to her.

Liya has been seen on the covers of Italian, Japanese, American, French and Spanish Vogue, V, Flair, i-D and Time's Style & Design. Liya has been featured in ad campaigns including those for Gap, Yves Saint-Laurent, Victoria's Secret, Emanuel Ungaro, Tommy Hilfiger, Revlon, Dolce & Gabbana, Escada and Louis Vuitton. In 2003, Liya was named the newest face of Estée Lauder cosmetics, the first black woman to serve as their representative in the company's 57-year history. Her contract was rumored to be for $3 million dollars.

Source: Liya's Profile Wikipedia

Teza’, the latest work of Ethiopian director Hailé Gerima

2010-04-28T14:14:00.001-04:00

In today’s culture show, Hailé Gerima speaks cinema with Eve Jackson. Known for his independent, direct storytelling that's anything but Hollywood, the director makes films about Ethiopia's struggle. His best-known movie is the acclaimed ‘Sankofa’ which won a stack of international awards including the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film festival. His latest work is called ‘Teza’.

Watch the interview at
http://www.france24.com/en/20100428-haile-gerima-teza-ethiopian-film-director-jackson

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Cheapest and Most Unique Vacation Spot

2010-04-24T21:37:00.000-04:00

Imagine a vacation that costs a fraction the price of most traditional vacation spots yet contains sights and experiences available nowhere else. This unique, yet non-traditional vacation location is Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, which is located in the horn of Africa.

Cuisine and Entertainment in Addis Ababa

As an urban city, you can expect all of the conveniences you are accustomed to in any American city. The city boasts an amazing variety of places at which you can sample both local and international cuisine. Fasika is a hot spot for anyone that wants to sample eating from a dazzling array of traditional Ethiopian dishes, whilst live entertainment featuring prominent local acts is provided. Moreover, for the cost conscious traveler, feel free to order the most expensive choices on the menu, a full meal for two including tip will set you back the equivalent of a mere twenty dollars.

Shopping in Ethiopia

Get ready for the shopping experience of your life! The Merkato is the world's largest outdoor market. You will be able to buy practically anything you could ever possibly want at this one location. Just remember that all prices are up for negotiation, so sharpen your bargaining skills before you come.

Other locations to shop at include the Friendship Supermarket, that is if you are looking for western style products. Three of the largest shopping centers are: Loyal Shopping center, Arat Kilo Shopping center (98 stores)and the Piassa Shopping center (67 stores)

Activities and Sightseeing Spots

Due to the length of the cities existence, there are many old and interesting buildings to visit in Addis Ababa. A particularly beautiful spot is the St. Georges Cathedral-Museum. The museum was built in 1975 to contain historical and ecclesiastical items. For a three-dollar fee, you can receive a guided tour that takes you through two separate levels highlighting Ethiopia's history.

Choices for the more active traveler are abundant. There are tennis courts available at the Ghion Hotel, swimming under the bluest skies imaginable at the downtown Hilton hotel. If the wish to have a gamble comes upon you, there is horse racing each weekend at the Addis Ababa Stadium on Ras Desta Damtew Ave. For evening entertainment, cinemas are located at the Cinema Ethiopia and theatre featuring traditional acts is regularly scheduled at the National Theatre.

Flights and Lodging Costs

The best choice for the cost conscious traveler is to book their hotel at the same time they book their flight. Great deals for weeklong stays can be found in the 800-900 dollars this includes staying at four-star hotels.

Marcus Samuelsson speaks on Chicago restaurants and "Top Chef"

2010-04-20T08:09:00.001-04:00

Last week chef Marcus Samuelsson's unveiled the new line of stoves he designed for BlueStar ranges. But before the big reveal at his C-House restaurant in the Affinia Hotel, the Swedish-Ethiopian transplant to New York dished about other stuff. Here it is as promised:

The Stew: How did you like doing "Top Chef Masters"?
Samuelsson: Fun, fun, it was great.

Are you under orders not to reveal anything?
I am.

Whom did you like working with best?
They were all really nice but I’ve known David Burke the longest so it was fun to be with him. When I came to America he was one of the chefs I most admired. I always thought he was an American chef with a unique spin on food.

I bet Wylie Dufresne [of wd~50] came up with some interesting stuff.
Yes, Wylie and I are the same age and we came up at the same time and I love him, he’s very talented. But there are some chefs that you’ve always looked up to. Like Charlie and Rick Bayless, who I always associated Chicago food with. And Tony of course.

Where do you eat in Chicago besides C-House?
Now that I’m working here I don’t have as much time. I was much more up on it before before C-House. It’s weird how that works. But I enjoy the Chicago community — the guests and the chefs — a lot. I love what Paul [Kahan] and those guys are doing. They’re very forward thinking and fun and there’s a sense of publicness to what they’re doing and it’s not so expensive so more people can experience it. And they each restaurant tell different stories from Avec, to Blackbird to Publican. And I love Arun.

Do you ever go for Ethiopian or Swedish food in Chicago?
Yes, for Ethiopian I go to that place on Broadway.

Ethiopian Diamond?
Yes, that’s the one. But for Swedish, I make my own. You know, meatballs and gravlax.

African Film Festival Fosters Home-Grown Development Cinema

2010-04-16T07:12:00.000-04:00

Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, is set to host a film festival aimed at boosting Africa's self-image and identity. The festival's organizers hope it will spawn a community of African film makers specializing in using cinema for development.

The International Short Film Festival is the brainchild of award-winning Mauritanian film maker Abderrahmane Sissako and his wife, Ethiopian cinematographer Maji-da Abdi. The event will feature 100 films by and about Africa and Africans, each from five to 30 minutes long.

Sitting side by side in front of reporters, Sissako explained in French his vision of using cinema as a development tool, while Abdi translated to English.

"It is a continent about which a lot is said, but has very little opportunity to speak about itself. Africa does not have as much opportunity to tell its own stories. That is why I think images as a part of development is firstly 'cinema as a mirror of yourself'. Through a mirror one can correct oneself, one can doubt oneself. One can be proud of oneself as well," Sissako said.

Sissako and Abdi say African children growing up on a diet of Hollywood-style films may never see images that reflect their own world. They say Africa needs a home-grown film industry to raise its self-esteem and represent African ideals. "When hundreds of thousands of people rarely see their own picture on the big screens, that is where I talk of prejudice. A child can be proud to see that his father can be a pilot or a doctor. But when he never sees on his screens a representation of something that he can resemble him or his parents, so it poses questions even though he does not have them clearly stated in the head," they said.

Abdi, the festival's chief organizer, says film also has the ability to break down cultural barriers, and to allow people see their continent through African eyes.

"We are seen mostly on CNN and other news as sort of this poor victim, when there are many more aspects of people in each country that we need to show to ourselves and to each other. It is a pity that Ethiopians do not know about other African countries, have never heard their languages in a film or know the different cultures well. We have all seen, in a movie, the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty, but nothing about our own continent," he said.

The film festival will run from June 14 through 19.

Winner of the prize for best East African short film will win an all-expenses paid trip to France for 10 days of cinematography training.

Teza -- Film Review

2010-04-07T07:01:00.000-04:00

Bottom Line: Ambitious, sprawling drama about Ethiopia that well overcomes its rough-hewn edges.

Few contemporary films burn with the passion and authenticity of "Teza," Haile Gerima's elaborate drama chronicling three decades in the life of an Ethiopian man anguished by his country's social and political crises. The Ethiopia-born director, responsible for such acclaimed works as "Ashes and Embers" (1982) and "Sankofa" (1993), has produced a challenging but rewarding effort that will be essential viewing for those interested in African themes. Currently playing at New York's Lincoln Plaza Cinema as part of a nationwide tour that recently included a two-month run in Washington, the film recently was the subject of a front-page article in the New York Times.

Complicated and occasionally off-putting in terms of structure and style, "Teza" begins in 1990 when Anberber (newcomer Aaron Arefe, delivering a powerful performance), a doctor, returns to his native village and is reunited with his elderly mother. Suffering from various mental and physical infirmities, including the loss of a leg, Anberber is dismayed to see that his country has been devastated by the oppressive Marxist regime that has come into power.

When tribal elders fear that the new arrival is cursed and begin a ritual to cure him, it cues a series of flashbacks depicting his leaving his country in 1974 to move to Germany and study medicine. There, he and his friends embrace socialism and work from afar to overthrow the dictatorial Emperor Haile Selassie. Returning to his homeland upon the rise of power of Haile Mariam Mengistu in the 1980s, he soon discovers that one form of repression has been replaced by another.

The film ultimately takes on more ideas than it can comfortably handle, resulting in a sprawling but never tedious tour throughout modern Ethiopian history, interspersed with meditations on such subjects as personal responsibility, racism and the relationship of the self-exiled to their native lands.

Handsomely shot despite an obviously low budget and considerable logistical difficulties, "Teza" is a valuable addition to the annals of African cinema.

Venue: Lincoln Plaza Cinema (New York) (Mypheduh Films)
Production: Negod-gwad, Pandora Film
Cast: Aaron Arefe, Abeye Tedla, Takelech Beyene, Teje Tesfahun, Nebiyu Baye, Mengistu Zelalem
Director-screenwriter: Haile Gerima
Producers: Haile Gerima, Karl Baumgartner
Director of photography: Mario Masini
Editors: Haile Gerima, Loren Hankin
Music: Vijay Ijer, Jorga Mesfin
Art directors: Patrick Dechesne, Alain-Pascal Housiaux
Costume designer: Wassine Hailu
No rating, 140 minutes

Ethiopia’s Liya Kebede

2010-03-26T07:30:00.002-04:00

The 11th-highest-paid model in the world in 2007, Ethiopia’s Liya Kebede has been around the runway since she walked for Tom Ford in 2000. And we just love these photos of her in Vogue Italia so much that we had to share them with you as Today’s Candy.

Kenna: Climbing for Clean Water

2010-03-25T09:52:00.001-04:00

Ethiopian Singer: Soul Searching Led To Debut Album

2010-03-25T07:15:00.000-04:00

Once you hear her smooth and silky voice it will be hard to forget it. Yet, years passed before she realized she wanted to become a singer. Ethiopian native Meklit Hadero went to college to major in political science, but after moving to San Francisco she found her true love: music. Now, only five years after her first public performance, she is out with the new album “On A Day Like This.” Guest host Allison Keyes talks with singer-songwriter Meklit Hadero about her life and finding herself through music

Kenna On The Inspiration Behind 'Summit On The Summit: Kilimanjaro'

2010-03-13T14:09:00.000-05:00

In 2005, Kenna — who had long heard stories of the majesty and mystery of Mt. Kilimanjaro from his father — decided to climb the peak. He made it to Kosovo Camp, a clearing located some 16,000 feet above sea level (and still 3,000 feet from the summit), and then pushed onward toward the top of the mountain. He didn't make it.

Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro - Celebrity News

Five years later, he decided to make the trek again, this time in the hope of calling attention to the global clean-water crisis. Both the trip and the cause were personal to Kenna, because when his father was a child in Ethiopia, he lost his brother and friends to water-borne diseases and, as he put it, "I could have been one of those kids."

So, in January, with a crew of nearly 300 backing him up — including fellow musicians Lupe Fiasco and Santigold, actors Jessica Biel, Emile Hirsch and Isabel Lucas, plus a team of scientists, United Nations ambassadors and skilled guides — he headed back up the mountain. (His friend Justin Timberlake intended to join the trek but couldn't due to scheduling conflicts; Justin introduces the film.) And their trip is documented in "Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro," a 90-minute film that premieres Sunday (March 14) at 9 p.m. ET on MTV.

And apart from detailing the group's massive scaling of Africa's tallest mountain, the film also contains a symbolic message, one that applies not just to the trek, but to tackling seemingly insurmountable issues like global clean water: that together, we can accomplish great things.

"When you go by yourself and you're on a solo mission, it's not necessarily something that registers at the end of the day. No one has your back. Getting to the top of Kilimanjaro this time had everything to do with the fact that I had an army with me," Kenna told MTV News. "Some of us would literally look at each other and say, 'If you weren't here, I wouldn't have made it.' Our director, Mike Bonfiglio, was basically watching Isabel Lucas, and saw her dedication when she was really, really ill at the top of this mountain. And he, literally, was like, 'She made it, I've got to do this.' "

Unlike his previous attempt, this time around Kenna would not be denied in his quest to make it to the peak of Kilimanjaro. He had made his mind up, and he wouldn't be denied: because he had friends with him, and because he knew there were millions of people depending on him to spread his message.

"I think what happened is our medic told us, 'You know what? It's going to be something you can actually accomplish, even if you're completely ill and sick and close to dying, it will be fine,' " he said. "She made it so we felt like we could deal with being uncomfortable, and at that moment, I was like, 'I don't care. If anything goes on with me, at this point, I've come this far, I'm not going down.' "

Tune in to "Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro" Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on MTV. And find out what you can do to help solve the global water crisis now at the "Summit on the Summit" Web site.

supermodel Liya Kebede and journalist and visiting scholar at Stanford university, Abebe Gellaw, are named among the Young Global Leaders honorees.

2010-03-05T07:15:00.000-05:00

Two Ethiopians, supermodel Liya Kebede and journalist and visiting scholar at Stanford university, Abebe Gellaw, are named among the Young Global Leaders honorees.

In a press release it issued today, the World Economic Forum noted that the honor was bestowed on 197 Young Global Leaders who were selected from a pool of nearly 5000 nominees from around the world for their “professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world.”

This year’s list of Young Global Leaders, who are all below the age of 40, include tennis star Roger Federer, Evan Williams, Co-founder and CEO of Twitter, Steven Chen, Co-founder and Chief Technologist of Youtube, Jon Favorue, Obama’s chief speech writer, Wyclef Jean, Singer and Founder of Yélé Haiti Foundation, Nelson Mandela’s grandson and South African Member of Parliament, Mandla Mandela, Saudi Arabian Prince Khalid Bin Bandar Bin Sultan, Crown Princess Mette-Marrit of Norway, sixteen ministers from around the world and many CEOs.

“I am not only thrilled but also humbled to be included in this year’s World Economic Forum list of honorees. I will take advantage of this global opportunity to promote the causes that are closer to the heart of Ethiopians such as the struggle for freedomm, respect for human rights and dignity in Ethiopia,” Abebe said.

“I will start this exciting journey later this month at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where I will attend a leadership course specially designed for YGL honorees. For the next five years, the opportunity offers me wider perspectives on issues that affect the world and on how decent leadership and governments operate around the world to address the pressing challenges facing humanity,” he noted.
This year’s honorees were selected by a committee chaired by H.M. Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and comprised of eminent international media leaders including Steve Forbes, CEO of Forbes Media, James Murdoch CEO of News Corporation-UK, Arthur Sulzgerber , Chairman and Publisher of the New York Times, Tom Glocer, CEO of Thomson Reuters and Elizabeth Weymouth, Editor-at-Large and Special Diplomatic Correspondent of Newsweek.
————

The following WEF press release

http://www.weforum.org/en/media/Latest%20News%20Releases/PR_YGL2010

World Economic Forum Announces Young Global Leaders 2010

Yann Zopf, Associate Director, Tel.: +41 (0)22 869 1480 – yann.zopf@weforum.org

* Young leaders from 72 countries are honoured for their outstanding leadership, professional accomplishments and commitment to society
* Young Global Leaders are selected from a variety of sectors such as business, government, academia, media, non-profit organizations and arts & culture, and from all regions of the world
* Young Global Leaders engage in task forces that address specific challenges of public interest with the objective of shaping a better future

Geneva, Switzerland, 3 March 2010 – The World Economic Forum has announced its Young Global Leaders (YGLs) for 2010. The honour, bestowed each year by the Forum, recognizes and acknowledges up to 200 outstanding young leaders from around the world for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world.

For 2010, the Forum has selected 197 Young Global Leaders (PDF, 7 pages, 160 KB) from 72 countries and all stakeholders of society (business, civil society, social entrepreneurs, politics & government, arts & culture, and opinion & media). The new class represents all regions: East Asia (43), South Asia (21), Europe (46), Middle East and North Africa (14), sub-Saharan Africa (17), North America (38) and Latin America (18). This year’s selection has more gender parity than ever, with 38% women.

“The World Economic Forum is a true multistakeholder community of global decision-makers in which the Young Global Leaders represent the voice for the future and the hopes of the next generation. The diversity of the YGL community and its commitment to shaping a better future through action-oriented initiatives of public interest is even more important at a time when the world is in need of new energy to solve intractable challenges,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.

Drawn from a pool of almost 5,000 candidates, the Young Global Leaders 2010 were chosen by a selection committee (PDF, 1 page, 135 KB), chaired by H.M. Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, comprised of eminent international media leaders.

The Young Global Leaders 2010 reflect regional and stakeholder diversity. The ones from North America include Elissa Goldberg, Director-General, Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (from Canada); Evan Williams, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Twitter (from the US); Kevin M. Warsh, Board Member, Federal Reserve System (from the US); Marissa Mayer, Vice-President, Search Product and User Experience, Google Inc. (from the US); and Margo Drakos, Chief Operating Officer, InstantEncore.com (from the US), among others.

“Changing the way our global food system works, so that everyone can have access to good, clean and fair food, is entirely within our reach. It will take dedication, citizen engagement and collaboration between our world’s top innovators, activists and leaders,” stated Josh Viertel, president, Slow Food USA. “The Forum of Young Global Leaders brings together minds that can make this change possible. I am honoured to be included among them and look forward to the good work we will do together.”

The 2010 honourees will become part of the broader Forum of Young Global Leaders community that currently comprises 660 outstanding individuals. The YGLs convene at an annual summit – this year it will be in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 2-7 May 2010, the first time in Africa and the largest ever gathering of YGLs – as well as at Forum events and meetings throughout the year. These events enable YGLs to build a strong and diverse community, to engender a better understanding of the global and regional agendas and to engage in initiatives to address specific challenges of public interest (read more about YGL task forces (PDF, 6 pages, 84 KB) or visit www.redesignourworld.com).

“There are many wonderful communities and opportunities to be enjoyed in college and beyond, but the YGL community is truly beyond compare,” said Kristin Rechberger, Vice-President, National Geographic Society, a YGL honoured in 2009. “The YGLs are leaders who don’t have anything to prove, given their deep, impressive variety of accomplishments; yet, there is great knowledge and humility regarding how much more important work there is yet to do – work best accomplished through creative collaboration and strong friendships. It’s a wonderfully welcoming and inclusive community, with opportunities as grand as we want to create. Being a YGL this past year has truly changed my life. We welcome the new class to our community!” Geneva, Switzerland, 3 March 2010 – The World Economic Forum has announced its Young Global Leaders (YGLs) for 2010. The honour, bestowed each year by the Forum, recognizes and acknowledges up to 200 outstanding young leaders from around the world for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world.

For 2010, the Forum has selected 197 Young Global Leaders (PDF, 7 pages, 160 KB) from 72 countries and all stakeholders of society (business, civil society, social entrepreneurs, politics & government, arts & culture, and opinion & media). The new class represents all regions: East Asia (43), South Asia (21), Europe (46), Middle East and North Africa (14), sub-Saharan Africa (17), North America (38) and Latin America (18). This year’s selection has more gender parity than ever, with 38% women.

“The World Economic Forum is a true multistakeholder community of global decision-makers in which the Young Global Leaders represent the voice for the future and the hopes of the next generation. The diversity of the YGL community and its commitment to shaping a better future through action-oriented initiatives of public interest is even more important at a time when the world is in need of new energy to solve intractable challenges,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.

Drawn from a pool of almost 5,000 candidates, the Young Global Leaders 2010 were chosen by a selection committee (PDF, 1 page, 135 KB), chaired by H.M. Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, comprised of eminent international media leaders.

The Young Global Leaders 2010 reflect regional and stakeholder diversity. The ones from North America include Elissa Goldberg, Director-General, Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (from Canada); Evan Williams, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Twitter (from the US); Kevin M. Warsh, Board Member, Federal Reserve System (from the US); Marissa Mayer, Vice-President, Search Product and User Experience, Google Inc. (from the US); and Margo Drakos, Chief Operating Officer, InstantEncore.com (from the US), among others.

“Changing the way our global food system works, so that everyone can have access to good, clean and fair food, is entirely within our reach. It will take dedication, citizen engagement and collaboration between our world’s top innovators, activists and leaders,” stated Josh Viertel, president, Slow Food USA. “The Forum of Young Global Leaders brings together minds that can make this change possible. I am honoured to be included among them and look forward to the good work we will do together.”

The 2010 honourees will become part of the broader Forum of Young Global Leaders community that currently comprises 660 outstanding individuals. The YGLs convene at an annual summit – this year it will be in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 2-7 May 2010, the first time in Africa and the largest ever gathering of YGLs – as well as at Forum events and meetings throughout the year. These events enable YGLs to build a strong and diverse community, to engender a better understanding of the global and regional agendas and to engage in initiatives to address specific challenges of public interest (read more about YGL task forces (PDF, 6 pages, 84 KB) or visit www.redesignourworld.com).

“There are many wonderful communities and opportunities to be enjoyed in college and beyond, but the YGL community is truly beyond compare,” said Kristin Rechberger, Vice-President, National Geographic Society, a YGL honoured in 2009. “The YGLs are leaders who don’t have anything to prove, given their deep, impressive variety of accomplishments; yet, there is great knowledge and humility regarding how much more important work there is yet to do – work best accomplished through creative collaboration and strong friendships. It’s a wonderfully welcoming and inclusive community, with opportunities as grand as we want to create. Being a YGL this past year has truly changed my life. We welcome the new class to our community!”

Notes to editors

* More information about the Forum of Young Global Leaders at http://www.younggloballeaders.org/
* List of YGLs honoured in 2010
* List of the YGL community
* List of the YGL Selection Committee
* List of the YGL task forces or visit http://www.redesignourworld.com
* Visit our YGL YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/yglvoices
* Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/YGLvoices
* Nominate a potential Young Global Leader through our website

——————————————————————————–
About The Forum of Young Global Leaders
Established in 2004 by Professor Klaus Schwab, The Forum of Young Global Leaders is a unique, multistakeholder community of the world’s most extraordinary young leaders who dedicate a part of their time to jointly address global challenges and who are committed to devote part of their knowledge and energy to collectively work towards a better future. Together the Young Global Leaders work to discover innovative solutions to today’s most pressing problems through various initiatives and workstreams, as well as catalysing the next generation of leaders.
——————————————————————————–

The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Incorporated as a foundation in 1971 and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum is impartial and not-for-profit; it is tied to no political, partisan or national interests. (www.weforum.org )

UMGP Announces The Promotion Of Ethiopia Habtemariam To Senior Vice President, Creative Services/Head Of Urban Music

2010-02-26T07:12:00.000-05:00

Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) announced the promotion of Ethiopia Habtemariam to Senior Vice President/Head of Urban Music. Habtemariam was previously Vice President of Urban Music.

Based in New York, Habtemariam is responsible for finding and developing songwriters, artists, and producers for the urban music department of Universal Music Publishing Group, and has signed some of music's biggest superstars, including; multi-platinum recording artist and songwriter Chris Brown, breakthrough artist and songwriter Keri Hilson, gold recording artist and songwriter Ciara, BMI Songwriter of the Year and Producer of the Year Polow Da Don, Andre Merrit, Candice Nelson, Balewa Muhammad, Ezekiel Lewis (The Clutch), Rock City, and Brian Kennedy to name a few.

In addition to talent acquisition, Habtemariam works to create new opportunities for the company's current roster of writers to exploit catalog, and serve as a liaison between the writers, record companies and the publishing group in order to place songs and writers on upcoming artist projects, soundtracks, and compilations.

In making the announcement Tom Sturges, Head of Creative Affairs, Universal Music Publishing Group stated: "Ethiopia has proven herself to be one of the most remarkable executives I have ever worked with. She has a great and proven ear for talent, the eyes to spot an amazing opportunity to do business, and the force of personality that allows her to establish unending relationships throughout the industry. This promotion is well-deserved and another great step in Ethiopia's career.

In her new role, Habtemariam will oversee one of the hottest urban rosters in music—from multi-platinum and GRAMMY® award winning acts like Mary J. Blige, Polow, 50 Cent, Eminem, Jeremih, Amerie, Ashanti, Jill Scott, Prince, Nicole Sherzinger, Ice Cube, Raphael Saadiq, Swizz Beatz, DMX, Asher Roth, Beastie Boys, R.Kelly, Babyface, Keyshia Cole, and many more. Universal Music Publishing Group was recently named Publisher of the Year at the BMI Urban Music Awards, as well as publishing the Songwriter of the Year (T-Pain) and Producer of the Year (Polow). UMPG also has a publishing interest in the Song of the Year, Jordin Sparks' "No Air."

Habtemariam joined the company in 2003.

A Glance at Ethiopian Women in Cinema

2010-02-19T08:15:00.000-05:00

When I asked pioneer Ethiopian filmmaker Salem Mekuria in 1997 about the presence of Ethiopian women in cinema she stated that while there were those who worked for the government, she was the only independent filmmaker—enthusiastically embracing the emerging group of women that have now come of age. At the present, Ethiopian women in cinema are imposing themselves both in Ethiopia and the Diaspora, as the extra-Ethiopia territories, notably the United States, have been the locations from which the first group has developed. It is not surprising that the United States counts a significant number of Ethiopian women as it has the largest population of Ethiopians outside of Africa.

Salem Mekuria, based in Massachusetts was trained in documentary filmmaking in the 1980s at NOVA, WGBH-TV, a Boston-based PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) science-focused public television program. In the 1990s Lucy Gebre-Egziabher and Aida Muluneh studied film at Howard University in Washington, DC where their compatriot, internationally acclaimed Haile Gerima is film professor—both completed their studies in the early 2000s. While Aida Muluneh chose image studies early as an undergraduate student, Lucy Gebre-Egziabher returned to school to study film while working as a senior program officer in international education, realizing a dream she had since childhood. During that same period, Aida Ashenafi completed film studies at Ithaca College in New York State in 1999. Like Salem Mekuria, U.S.-born African-American-Ethiopian Nnegest Likké got her training inside the industry, initially with a public access community television station in Los Angeles, California. On the continent, Yetnayet Bahru Gessesse represents a promising trend of Ethiopian-trained filmmakers.

Salem Mekuria honed her filmmaking skills while working on themes related to the African American community of Massachusetts, the region where she lives and works. She later focused her camera on Africa in the two acclaimed works for which she is most known. She dealt with social and political issues relating to women refugees in the film, Sidet: Forced Exile (1991), and the multilayered issues of revolution, lost, and betrayal in the film, Ye Wonz Maibel: Deluge (1997). From the very beginning of her film projects, Lucy Gebre-Egziabher directed her gaze towards issues relating to the Ethiopian Diaspora in the Washington DC area. Her last film, At the Second Traffic Light (2000) has a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and inter-religious focus with the intentions of highlighting the importance of tolerance. At the same time a filmmaker, Aida Muleneh is best known for her photographic work, notably in the 2003 seminal exhibition Ethiopian Passages: Dialogues in the Diaspora at the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian in Washington DC. Her film work in progress, Unhealing Wound, traces the experiences of Ethiopian war orphans raised and schooled in Cuba beginning in 1978, during the government of Mengistu Hailemariam. Aida Ashenafi, after studying, living, and working in the United States, returned to Ethiopia where she co-founded a communications company. Her award winning film Guzow (2009) is a documentary set in rural Ethiopia.

While Maji-da Abdi has also directed documentary films, notably The River Between Us (2001), her most visible work has been as producer and film professional in many African film-related initiatives. She currently manages the Paris-based production company Chinguetty Films that she created with her partner Mauritanian filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako. Nnegest Likké represents the first-generation of U.S.-born Ethiopians, her Ethiopian father met her African-American mother while they were both students at the University of California at Berkeley in the 1960s. Perhaps her comedy film, Phat Girlz (2006) with an “African twist”, is indicative of the influences of Hollywood, rather than a more “engaged” cinema evident in the works by other Ethiopian women. Although Yetnayet Bahru Gessesse may be setting a similar trend in Ethiopia.

One of the objectives of the First Ethiopian Film Initiative Meeting held in Addis Ababa in 2008 was to tackle the important issue of film training, as there is a lack of viable film schools in the country. Yetnayet Bahru Gessesse addressed this problem at the meeting in her presentation, “A Young Filmmaker’s Personal Experience”. Though she completed her studies in computer science, her passion for cinema gave her the motivation to navigate the Ethiopian cinematic terrain through trial and error, as a professional cinema infrastructure does not exist. After her successful debut film Aldewolem (2008), a romantic comedy, she participated in a filmmaking workshop in Burkina Faso in 2009, at the Imagine Film Training Institute founded by Gaston Kaboré.

The active presence of women in the emerging Ethiopian cinema is evident in their visible participation at the Ethiopian Film Initiative Meeting and the active and supportive reception of their films, both in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Diaspora. Their numbers are increasing as well as the resources for making films. Of course the Ethiopian Diaspora will continue to play a vital role in these initiatives. In fact, the connecting forces of the two have strengthened both, as there is a concerted effort to build and work together, drawing from the positive energies that each has to offer.

Ethiopian beauty is 1st runner up in global beauties contest

2010-02-12T08:54:00.001-05:00

Ethiopian beauty is 1st runner up in global beauties contest

WINS GB FACE OF AFRICA TITLE

Melat Yante Woldesenbet who was Ethiopia’s representative to the 2009 Miss Universe Pageant placed as 1st runner up in the Global Beauties Face of the Year competition.

She was also awarded the Global Beauties Face of Africa winner!

The fifty finalists were chosen among the world’s most prestigious pageants. Out of thousands of women who competed nationally and internationally in 2009, the competition then chose the Top 25, Top 15, Top 10, Top 5 and then the winner.

Melat was chosen by the international panel of judges in the top three from the first round of competition. She is presently in Germany preparing to compete in the Top Model of the World pageant.

She also plans on returning home to Ethiopia to compete in other national contests for an opportunity to continue competing in international pageants.

(see www.globalbeauties.com “Face of the Year” for official results and details)

Defar's debut tops another stellar line-up in Stuttgart - Preview

2010-02-04T08:32:00.000-05:00

4 February 2010 – Stuttgart, Germany - It wouldn’t be a normal Sparkassen-Cup Meeting without some kind of world record attempt, and although the two protagonists from last year’s riveting women’s 3000m will again be on the track Saturday (6) night in Stuttgart, they will be running in separate events.

The Sparkassen-Cup is the third of nine IAAF Indoor Permit Meetings in 2010.

Last winter, Meseret Defar of Ethiopia and Russia’s Anna Alminova waged an unexpected battle in the race in which Defar was attempting to lower her own record of 8:23.72, set on the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle track in 2007. In that contest, Defar was on record pace after two kilometres just before Alminova moved into contention and turned the race into a tactical struggle. The Ethiopian’s final time of 8:26.99 - still the third best of all-time - was more than three seconds off the world record.

This year, Alminova will instead be contesting the 1500m, in which she is the reigning European indoor champion. But that doesn’t mean Defar will only be running against the clock in the 3000. Kenya’s Silvia Kibet, the Berlin silver medallist in the 5000m from last summer, has slipped in as a late entry and could derail Defar’s plans again as did the Russian last year. On the other hand, strong runs from both could produce the Sparkassen sparks for which this fixture is noted, with its history of seven world records in middle- and long-distance events. Stay tuned.

Among those accompanying Defar and Kibet in their fifteen laps will be European 5000 finalist Sabrina Mockenhaupt of Germany and a former European indoor bronze medallist, Silvia Weissteiner of Italy.

The Women’s 3000m is just one of the highly anticipated moments in this 24th edition of the Sparkassen-Cup, an event which continues to enjoy the longest continued single sponsorship of any indoor athletics event in the world.

Alminova, in moving to the 1500m, will find herself stacked up against the top finisher from Berlin last summer, Maryam Jamal of Bahrain, plus the reigning World indoor champ in the event, Geleta Burka of Ethiopia.

Jones-Ferrette bringing strong momentum

For fast indoor female sprinting during this indoor season, one only needs to think “Jones”. Laverne Jones-Ferrette of the US Virgin Islands brings her world-leading 7.09 (from Karlsruhe last Sunday and Dusseldorf on Wednesday) to the women’s 60m, where she will tangle with Carmelita Jeter of the US, the Berlin bronze winner and, after a stunning 10.64 to end the season last September, the second-fastest 100m competitor of all-time. The reigning World indoor champion, Angela Williams of the US, plus a former World indoor champion, Bahamian Chandra Sturrup, add further lustre to the field.

The other part of the “Jones” stamp on sprinting is carried by hurdler Lolo Jones of the US, who also departed from Karlsruhe with a 7.90 world-leading performance in the women’s 60m Hurdles, a mark she lowered in Dusseldorf to 7.85. Beijing bronze and Berlin silver winner Priscilla Lopes-Schliep of Canada, plus Jamaica’s Lacina Golding-Clarke - a finalist at the last five World Indoor Championships - are both in the field, as are three-time outdoor World Championships finalist Vonette Dixon of Jamaica, Valencia bronze medallist Anay Tejeda of Cuba, and Germany’s top exponent of hurdling, Carolin Nytra.

Robles vs Oliver and Svoboda

Current Olympic gold and bronze winners, Cuba’s Dayron Robles and David Oliver of the US, lead the list in the men’s 60m Hurdles. Robles will arrive after a solid 7.50 debut in Dusseldorf. Lining up with them will be European indoor bronze medallist Petr Svoboda of the Czech Republic, Berlin finalist Dwight Thomas of Jamaica, and Athens fourth placer Maurice Wignall, also of Jamaica.

Although nearing the end of his 39th year, American Allen Johnson is showing no apparent signs of retirement. The seven-time World champion (indoors and outdoors) ran an excellent early-season 7.58 last weekend and is a late addition to the hurdle field.

The Men’s 60m features three sprinters from the West Indies who have dipped under the ten-second barrier in outdoor competition.

Jamaicans Lerone Clark and Helsinki world championships silver medallist Michael Frater will joust with double Beijing sprint finalist Churandy Martina of Netherlands Antilles.

Former European indoor silver winner Craig Pickering of Great Britain will also challenge, as will last year’s surprise Sparkassen winner Christian Blum of Germany. The home-country sprinter posted his current PB of 6.56 in a go-for-broke lean at the finish which left him flat on the floor and with injuries necessitating an abrupt end to a short but promising indoor season last year.

French invasion into German Pole Vault territory?

There are few countries which can rival Germany in the depth of pole vaulting, both on the men’s and women’s sides, a fact which obliges a German meeting organizer to include both in the timetable. Ironically, the two male competitors most highly decorated from last season hail from neighouring France, as Romain Mesnil and Renaud Lavillenie, the Berlin silver and bronze winners, respectively, lead an impressive list.

The host nation adds a substantial cachet with the last two European indoor bronze medalists, Alexander Straub and Björn Otto, plus former European indoor champions Tim Lobinger and Danny Ecker, as well as Beijing finalist Raphael Holzdeppe.

The women’s event features the surprise World champion from Berlin, Poland’s Anna Rogowska, in her season opener. Two medallists from the last European indoor championships - Germans Silke Spiegelburg and Anna Battke - will see action, as will Valencia bronze winner Fabiana Murer of Brazil and Beijing finalist Caroline Hingst of Germany.

Though not projected as a world record attempt, the Men’s 3000m still has a formidable cast, led by reigning World indoor champion Tariku Beleke of Ethiopia, and his countryman, the bronze winner in Valencia, Abreham Cherkos. Beijing 5000m bronze medallist Edwin Soi of Kenya, who finished fourth in Valencia, will see an indoor track for the first time this year. His countryman, Sammy Mutahi, will see an indoor track for the first time in his life!

Mekkonen and Kaki headline middle distance fields

Deresse Mekkonen of Ethiopia returns to defend his Sparkassen title in the men’s 1500m, accompanied by Valencia bronze winner Juan Carlos Higuero of Spain, European indoor bronze medallist Yoann Kowal of France, and his compatriot, Berlin steeplechase bronze winner Bouabdellah Tahri. There will be two further runners of note to watch - William Biwott of Kenya, who set a World junior record in the mile last year in Oslo, and World youth finalist, 17-year-old Mohamad Al-Garni of Qatar – who both made their indoor debuts in Dusseldorf.

World indoor 800m champion Abubaker Kaki heads the list in that event, along with Berlin finalist Jackson Kivuna of Kenya and new Czech indoor national record holder Jakub Holuša.

The Men’s Long Jump features two-time World outdoor champion Dwight Phillips of the US, who will make his season debut in that event after sprint outings in Karlsruhe and Dusseldorf. Among those Phillips will contend with are the former World indoor bronze winner Salim Sdiri of France, and Osaka finalist Christian Reif of Germany.

Ed Gordon for the IAAF

Proud Teddy at the Proud Bird in L.A.

2010-02-04T06:53:00.000-05:00

It is really great to be young; but for those who are not, the next best thing is to be at a Teddy Afro concert and jam late into the night with a ballroom full of irrepressible and euphoric young Ethiopian Angelinos. On February 13, Proud Teddy brought his triumphant “Love Conquers All” world tour to the Proud Bird, a well-known LA institution for one-half century themed around vintage WW II war birds. Teddy was in top form belting out one hit after another as he almost levitated on stage. His Abugida Band and backup singers bellowed flaming rhythms and roots-style music combining traditional Ethiopian melodies with reggae beats. Teddy was on fire at the Proud Bird, as was his enraptured audience. I have listened to Teddy Afro on CD and viewed his Youtube videos countless times. His voice, his message and powerful lyrics and his melodies have moved me, rocked me, soothed me and lifted me when I was down. But there is nothing that compares to watching this young musical genius live. The difference between watching Teddy live and listening to him on CD/Youtube is the difference between listening to gospel music on the radio and singing it in the choir with the preacher directing. The Proud Bird concert was a quasi-spiritual experience, almost like being at an old time southern Baptist revival. His audience was not only passionately and emotionally involved with the lyrics and melodies in his music, they were spiritually bonded to him with some invisible gravitational force. There was not a single person at the concert who was not movin’, swingin’, rockin’ and rollin’ and groovin’.

For those us who had never seen Teddy perform live and witnessed the standing-room only crowd go into semi-conscious trance, it was a walk down memory lane. I recall seeing such deep spiritual connection between an artist and his audience decades ago when Bob Marley came to my alma mater, the University of Minnesota, on May 30, 1978 (Kaya Tour) and November 15, 1979 (Survival Tour). Those fortunate enough to have present at a Bob Marley concert know exactly what I mean.

As the show began, for nearly a minute we could only hear Teddy singing from backstage using a remote microphone. It was an electrifying moment of anticipation. As Teddy burst on stage wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with Marley’s image, the audience went into total frenzy. I could not help but feel the palpable spiritual presence of Bob Marley on stage that night. Teddy was unbound; he sang and danced and pranced, leaped and twirled and fluttered on stage as streams of sweat flooded down his face. The jam-packed audience cheered, clapped, screamed, shrieked, shouted and hopped; and a sea of upward stretched hands swung side to side in the cavernous hall.

Having seen Teddy live, it is plain that he does not sing just to sing. I really believe the man sings for one reason only: He is hopelessly in love with Ethiopia. How is it possible for anyone to sing for over two hours and manage to include in every song something about Ethiopia, its people, its cities and towns, rivers, mountains and valleys, religions, history, geography, politics and on and on? He sang nearly all of his classic hits, but he ignited the audience on a five-alarm fire when he sang about Africa’s “father” H.I.M. Haile Selassie and Yastesereal. “How is it that thousands of young people who were not even born at the time the Emperor was murdered by the Derg military junta have such connection to him”, I wondered. What is it about the song “Yasteseryal” that drives Ethiopians into near-convulsive ecstasy when they hear it?

To say that there is something extraordinary about Teddy as an artist is to state the obvious. But perhaps what is less obvious is the fact of how Teddy has inherited the mantle from the Bob Marley and adapted it for Ethiopia. Some have indeed compared Teddy to Marley for his ability to bring a political, spiritual, and rhythmic power to his music and his raw ability to electrify his audience. Like Marley whose passion was African liberation and pan-Africanism, Teddy’s passion is the freedom, unity, reconciliation and harmony of the Ethiopian people. Like Marley, Teddy’s music is stirring, thrilling and even heart-wrenching. Like Marley, Teddy sings songs of love, peace, hope, faith, charity, justice, reconciliation, understanding and forgiveness. These are the sources of Teddy’s rhythmic power which enable him to reach deep into the Ethiopian soul and psyche and suture the festering wounds of despair, soothe the unendurable pain of oppression and prophesy the coming of a new day of love, peace and justice in Ethiopia.

To describe the “Teddy Afro musical experience” as a mere concert is to do injustice to the truth. It is really more than that. It is the closest thing to a spiritual revival meeting. Teddy just does not sing about the love he has for Ethiopia and its people, he makes you feel it in your bones. He does not just talk about bringing Ethiopians together, he brings them together in his concerts. He doesn’t just warn against hate, he teaches how love conquers hate. He is not nostalgic about the past, but he wants us all to understand it, learn from it and honor those who have made contributions despite their mistakes. Like any revival meeting, Teddy has the audacity to believe in the coming of a new day, and to prophesy Ethiopia’s redemption. Now I know why this young musical genius is loved by millions of Ethiopians, and why he is a national hero and not just an extraordinary artist.

On stage, Teddy appears to be a man of small physical frame and stature, but he is a powerhouse of endless spiritual energy and musical creativity. He not only can mesmerize his audience with the sheer power and purity of his message, he can actually be seen “curing” souls. His uses his voices to dazzle, his lyrics to seduce, his melodies to spellbind; and combines it all in an exhilarating stage showmanship that captivates, delights, enchants, charms and simply overpowers. He gives everything to his audience, and his audience give back to him all their love.

The virtuosity of the Abugida Band and the sweet chorus of the backup singers is simply spectacular. They just kept the collective ecstasy jah-ming. The event organizers are to be commended and appreciated for coordinating such a magnificent tour and for making it possible for Ethiopians in exile to see and enjoy Teddy live. Teddy will continue with his world tour. As he does so, let us be mindful that he is that strong steel bridge that spans the generation and geographic gap among Ethiopians.

In our youth thousands of miles away from our homeland, Jimi Hendrix, a great superstar from Seattle, Washington taught us, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” Teddy has now traveled thousands of miles to America to teach our children, “When the power of love overcomes those who love power in Ethiopia, Ethiopia will know peace.” It is nice to feel young once again. Proud Teddy, thanks for a great lesson. More Love Power to you, brother, and to all of us. Thanks for a great revival meeting in L.A.!

Jah, Yasteseryal! Love Conquers All! (Fikir Yashenefal)

Ethiopia: Teddy Yo - All Man, No Myth

2010-02-02T07:42:00.002-05:00

Teddy Yo, a young, vibrant rapper, has been making the local magazine headlines for sometime now. The rapper's innovation in blending the Gurage melody and beat with a contemporary hip-hop beat has been appreciated by many. His trademark music, Guragetone (including a track by that name), was a hit three years ago, and he is now out with a new album. Very soon he will be releasing more singles and later a new project.

Teddy Yo (full name Tewodros Assefa) resides with Eden, his wife of two years. He sometimes wears inconspicuous clothes when he goes out that blend into society and a baseball cap down low over his eyes. He does this just so that he can get from Point A to Point B without having a dozen conversations along the way with fans and random people who recognise him. He is the epitome of an arada or an in-the-know Addis Abeban.

But after a one hour interview in a relaxed café, he became a whole lot more. During the interview, he talked about life, happiness and even history.

People love him, and he gets the encouragement to do what he does from them, he said, but he had a bone to pick with views held by some regarding Amharic rap.

"Some people say rap is not good for our culture or that it is not part of our tradition," Teddy Yo began.

He begged to differ. There is more in common with Ethiopian tradition than some people think, he said.

For example, after kings of old, like Emperor Tewodros, gathered their troops for battle, they would basically freestyle rap to get the troops ready for war in what is known as kererto and shillella, he explained.

His voice intensified as he described the connections of rap with the doo-rag (bandana) that Emperor Menelik wore under his hat, tilted like rapper R-Kelly does today, to the cornrow hairstyle of Emperor Tewodros and the combs stuck in the afros of the Afar and Kereyu. Even Negus T'ona of the Welayita wore an earring like most rappers, he said, as his own glistened in the evening light.

"I am not saying that American rappers took everything from Ethiopia, but there is a connection and many shared traditions," he said.

Most Amharic rappers only rap about partying and having fun, but Teddy Yo raps about life. To him, life is not only about the good times, but also the bad. He raps about the parties and he raps about the problems. He does this in a way that is often humorous, even to older generations that normally do not like or listen to rap.

His track 904 is a funny but all too true story of meeting a girl in a minibus, who turns out to be a golddigger, taking all his money and leaving him broke. He has some simple but wise words for those who want to avoid such relationships.

"Be honest, tell the truth, and do not pretend to be rich," he says with a smile.

His latest album was Dimts Albaw Mesariya (Silent Weapon). It came out about three months ago.

During high school he listened to Tupac, Notorious B I G, Ice Cube, and Easy-E, all rappers in the US. He and his friends would then freestyle together. They called it 'Enka Salamta'.

Now he is preparing to release some follow-ups to the single that brought him fame, Guragetone, with two more singles entitled Oromotone and Tigray Reggae. They exhibit his unique prowess in combining US rap with Ethiopian rhythms.

His next music video project will focus on social problems and issues. He plans to work with NGOs to distribute the album for free in order to reach the people who need to hear the message the most.

Teddy Yo has big dreams for everybody, himself included. In the next five years, he sees himself with his own recording studio and production business at the top of his own building in Addis Abeba.

Production quality is very important to him including sound and video quality.

"I spend my own money to make sure my videos have good quality using current techniques and technology," he remarked. "There are some good guys here in Addis that work hard and research online everyday to keep up with all the latest video and sound engineering tips."

Though he takes pride in quality and the latest techniques, his main focus is the lyrics.

"Everyone, listen to the lyrics; listen to the message," he said.

"Everyone" is best taken literally, meaning the young, the old, the locals and those abroad, to all of whom he said, "Thanks - very much," as his closing remark.

Miss Africa USA: Liya Endale

2010-01-24T17:00:00.001-05:00

School/Institution: (currently applying to 3 different graduate schools)

Major/minor: Psychology, Sociology

Giving back:

Tutor with Greensboro Dreamers
Teacher/Mentor with Empowered Youth Program at UGA
Guest speaker at scholarship fundraisers, talent shows, and high schools through the Moore's Ford Memorial Committee
Just Go Vote Foundation volunteer for 2004 elections
2004 Mock African Council Conference in Washington D.C.
Five-Year Aspirational Plan: In five-years I plan to be working on my PhD in School Counseling/Education or a related field so as to work with international students in America, helping them to manouver successfully in a new culture. Working in a public school system will also allow me to continue publishing my writing and playing my violin in the summers.

Country you are representing: Ethiopia.

Platform: I will help provide Ethiopian schools with easily accessible resources to make their students competitive on a global scale.

UGPulse: Tiger Woods... Same old story?

The media plays such a large role in forming our opinions on people, current events, places and ourselves based on insubstantial evidence. The story of Tiger Woods does not surprise me; not because he was an athlete, not because he was a black man, not because it is the same old story but because he was human and there was no evidence that he was handling success in a manner which honored his wife or followed the guidelines of what we as a society deem a 'respectable citizen'.

Realistically speaking, Tiger Woods was presented with tens of millions of dollars a year, beautiful women at the turn of every corner, a profession which keeps him away from home and any semblance of normalcy, and a posse of enablers more interested in reaping the rewards of befriending a superstar than giving sound advice to a friend. It takes a rare individual to handle this combination of circumstances in an honorable way. The only thing rare about Tiger Woods is likely his ability to play golf. Any other glorious characters of his personality were only fed to us by a media that would portray him in any way that brings in the fattest checks. Any other expectations we had about Tiger Woods were, frankly, unrealistic.

I often think of my disappointment when I learned that Martin Luther King Jr. cheated on his wife. It took some time for me to realize that the reason he was so influential had nothing to do with his habits in the bedroom and that it was not my place to judge him. In the same manner, I have to ask myself, "If MLK Jr. couldn't do it, why did I ever think Tiger Woods would? He does not even preach a value laden message. All he does is hit the heck out of a ball with a stick."

Contestant Liya Endale from Ethiopia.

UGPulse: Identity Theft... Are you concerned? How do you protect yourself?

Identity theft is a very real and very underestimated threat in our society. Our identity in this system has nothing to do with how much we love, smile or laugh. It has to do with a systemic method of rating our monetary credibility based on a specific series of actions we take which are monitored closely. Your credit rating will ultimately affect where and how you live, who you will marry and whether or not you will be able to afford going to school or buying a house. Subprime mortgages will likely, and hopefully, be an antiquated method of loaning money to people in troubled situations. Today, in order to buy a home, you have to have a down payment, 3-6 months of the mortgage payments in your bank account, have had the same job for at least two consecutive years, and a debt to income ratio of less than 45%. This means you have to have to have excellent credit for a creditor to take you seriously. Imagine if you do, in fact, manage to follow the rules and raise your credit score to a 740. Then, someone gets their hands on your 'identity' in the system. A crime committed against a faceless number in a system is a lot easier to commit, especially if you are in the growing situation where you have to feed your family and you are out of a job.

The chances of identity theft increase each time you pay your bills online, apply for another credit card, and use your debit card to pay for gas. The risks are like landmines scattered across our daily routines. If a we step on an active mine, the consequences can easily affect us for the rest of our lives. Recently, I accidentally opened up a skymiles MasterCard in my friend's name because I gave the representative his name and birthday. That is all it took for me to have a credit card with a 3-5 thousand dollar limit in someone else's name.

These warnings are not meant to terrify anyone into a paranoid panic, but to scare us into making smart decisions. First, take your birth year off of your facebook status. Next, be aware of how you are being monitored in this system. Did you know that there are three different credit bureaus which monitor different aspects of your monetary credibility? This means that depending on which credit bureau a lender checks with, one credit score can range by 100 points of another. Here is the good news, you can get a free copy of your credit report twice a year from each bureau so you can monitor your scores by reporting errors or being aware of any suspicious activity quick enough to prevent it from affecting your life. All you have to do is call and ask for it; Equifax 1-800-525-6285, Experian 1-888-397-3742, and TransUnion 1-800-680-7289.

Contestant Liya Endale from Ethiopia.

UGPulse: Tell us about the country you represent? Are all its women as beautiful as yourself?

Geographically, Ethiopia lies along the path of the Great Rift Valley which extends in Syria. Further, Ethiopia served as the hub of international trade for hundreds of years. For these reasons, the people of my country come in all shades. Our common features share those of the people from Ethiopia, into Egypt and Syria. Our noses are more narrow and our hair finer than our brothers and sisters from countries which do not lie along this geographic path resulting in a mixed population. Unfortunately, this world values these physical features and I often hear that women of Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and so forth have a reputation of being very 'beautiful'. I, however, do not define beauty by how fine one's hair is or how narrow one's features are. These transient labels only serve to create animosity between regions based on nothing more than what we are forced to believe is 'beautiful'.

Further, I do not believe that these characteristics are what make me beautiful. My strength is not what lies on the outside, but in the way I perceive this world, the way my mind calculates all of the different stimuli I have been presented with from the time I was born in Addis Ababa. My beauty is in my warrior-spirit, my inability to love half-way, and my ability to show others how to think beyond the surface. So, are the women of Ethiopia as beautiful as me? Yes, and most even more so. Not because of the reasons others may call them beautiful but because of their courage which surpasses mine and strengthens me, because of their intellect and their resilience. This is what makes all women beautiful.

UGPulse: If you watched the new incredible movie, Avatar, what moved you most in the movie and what positive or negative message did you take home from watching this movie?

Today, we are bombarded with more stimuli on a daily basis than ever before. It takes more energy than ever to filter the intake of images, music, and media and not to get caught up with what 'looks pretty'. Remember. Everything can be broken down into basic messages. It is then our responsibility to actively choose what messages to internalize.

I was too excited to watch the movie Avatar after friends of mine from Georgia to South Korea raved about how awesome it was. With 3-D glasses on, I watched the most expensive movie made to date and took in all of the sophisticated technology which allowed computerized images to seamlessly blend in with a physical world. I was floored, moved by the raw and unbridled emotion of the main character, Neytiri . Outside of the obvious allusions to historical attacks on civilizations for their resources, there was something about this movie which lingered with me. I could not put my finger on it but I took it home with me and toiled with it for days.

In congruence with other films which have recently been released, certain themes began to stick out to me. Blind Side, Invictus, and Avatar all centered on the plight of a colored people. But when it came time to find the solution to each of their conflicts, the challenge was always met by a person or persons of Caucasian descent. First, I was angry at myself for coming up with such a negative synopsis of movies which were perhaps intended to funnel more positive messages of hope, resilience, and the power of a giving heart. These messages are vital and obvious. However, I believe subtle messages are more powerful and therefore dangerous because they seep into our subconscious, bypassing that level of thinking which allows us to choose what values and beliefs we take from these messages.

When people see that heroes always look a certain way, some will begin to believe that they can not be heroes because they do not share these characteristics of the ones on the big screens. I would love to see an Avatar where the hero is a Na'vi, a Blind Side that focuses on tackling the true and systemic problems that resulted in the condition of the victim instead of presenting the symptoms as the main problem. And I would love to see a movie about Nelson Mandela that uses the people who bled, fought, sacrificed and lost the most for a new South Africa to pass along the same message of forgiveness.

Contestant Liya Endale from Ethiopia

Redefining "impossible" when it comes to maternal mortality

2010-01-20T13:15:00.000-05:00

Someone recently told me that saving mothers' lives in the developing world is impossible. They argued that the maternal mortality problem is too complex, too challenging, too expensive.

But, that is exactly the wrong attitude.

We've overcome health challenges today that once seemed impossible. We've eradicated disease, created cures and discovered innovative new methods to save lives that would have been unimaginable only a few decades ago. We've done it before and we can do it again.

Just look at smallpox. Sixty years ago, more than 50 million cases of smallpox emerged annually and a quarter of the victims died. To get a sense for the magnitude of 50 million people per year, consider that today there are five million new cases of HIV/AIDS each year. There were ten times more people with smallpox, plus the global population was smaller.

In 1967, the world health community launched a global effort to eradicate smallpox. It took a coordinated, worldwide effort, required the commitment of every government and cost $130 million dollars. By 1977, smallpox had disappeared. The smallpox eradication saved $17 billion dollars and millions of lives. In just 10 years, we had done the impossible -- turned one of the world's deadliest diseases from a terror into a memory.

And smallpox is not the only global health success story. Polio has been reduced by 99 percent since 1988. Twenty-six countries reduced their malaria cases by more than 50 percent between 2000 and 2006. Creative new health strategies like micro-insurance for poor people or Kangaroo care for pre-term babies are transforming health outcomes in even the most low-resource settings. Dedication and innovation are transforming health care worldwide.

One hundred years ago, dying in childbirth was an accepted norm in the United States and Europe -- tragic but inevitable. Today it's almost unheard of. Some might think that the overall increase in wealth is what saved mothers' lives and that, without it, real progress is impossible. But they are wrong. For proof, we need only look to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka isn't a wealthy nation. A third of its population lives in poverty and it has been devastated by natural disaster and civil conflict. However, the tiny island nation has done something remarkable -- it reduced its maternal mortality rate by almost 50 percent every decade since independence. In 1960, 340 Sri Lankan women died for every 100,000 live births. Today, the rate is only 13 deaths for every 100,000 births, a rate nearly comparable to developed nations.

Sri Lanka achieved this dramatic drop in maternal deaths by investing in health infrastructure. It built a network of health centers which provide free health care to the population. It invested in training skilled midwives and providing all women with access to family planning while educating communities and empowering them to secure their own health care. Sri Lanka proves that being a developing nation doesn't mean a country is condemned to a high maternal death rate. For example, Sri Lanka has a lower GDP than the Ivory Coast, but the Ivory Coast has more than ten times the maternal death rate.

There is reason to hope, even in most affected countries. In August, I traveled to my home country of Ethiopia with a team from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to shed light on the state of maternal health. Ethiopia continues to have one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world and much of what we saw was heartbreaking and frustrating. However, we also saw progress. The Ethiopian government has trained 30,000 young women to serve as health extension workers and provide essential health care like immunizations and antenatal check-ups to rural communities. We met women who survived difficult pregnancies because of the new hospitals and clinics the government is building and I met the dedicated health workers working around the clock to save lives.

The same elements that wiped out smallpox -- national commitment, coordinated, focused efforts and sufficient funding -- can save mothers' lives in the developing world. I'm asking all nations to take up this challenge: commit to ending maternal mortality now. Make maternal health a national priority. Recognize that mothers' health is at the heart of achieving development, not a by-product or an afterthought. Dare to create a world where giving birth doesn't mean gambling with your life.

---

Liya Kebede is supermodel, actress, designer, maternal health advocate, mother. Source: The HuffingtonPost

Celebrities visit refugee camp in Ethiopia after scaling Kilimanjaro

2010-01-18T11:34:00.000-05:00

KEBRIBEYAH REFUGEE CAMP, Ethiopia, January 18 (UNHCR) – Fresh from climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, actress Jessica Biel and musicians Kenna and Santi White, have visited a refugee camp in Ethiopia to see how water shortages affect the lives of millions of forcibly displaced people across Africa.

The American entertainers, together with Elizabeth Gore, executive director of global partnerships at the United Nations Foundation, toured Kebribeyah Refugee Camp last Friday, three days after scaling Africa's highest peak. The camp in eastern Ethiopia hosts some 16,500 Somali refugees who have fled persecution and conflict in their country.

The "Summit on the Summit," was organized by Kenna to highlight global water shortages, which affect more than 1 billion people, and to raise funds for UNHCR and other organizations helping to meet the water needs of the vulnerable. Others in the climb included actors Emile Hirsch and Isabel Lucas, rapper Lupe Fiasco, conservationist and explorer Alexandra Cousteau, environmentalist Kick Kennedy and award-winning photographers Michael Muller and Jimmy Chin.

In Kebribeyah, Biel and her VIP colleagues saw and heard how shortages of clean water affect all aspects of life in the camp while also gaining insight into how water shortages are tackled by organizations like the UN refugee agency.

"When I became a refugee in 1991, we hardly had two litres of water per person per day; we now get up to 15 litres a day, but that is still far from being sufficient." Habiba Ali Oumer, a refugee representative, told the visitors. She urged them to help. UNHCR is constantly looking at ways to boost water supply. The daily recommended consumption is 15-20 litres per person per day.

"I am really taken by the resilience of the Somali refugees," a visibly touched Biel said after listening to Oumer. "I want to ensure that all those kids I met in the camp school continue to get clean water," she added.

The celebrities spent the whole day visiting the camp infrastructure installed by UNHCR, including the school. "When I grow up, I would like to do something worthwhile for myself, my family and my country," one young student told Biel.

Money raised by the "Summit on the Summit" campaign will be distributed through the UN Foundation to UNHCR and several other groups, including the Children's Safe Drinking Water Programme (CSDW) and Water For People and Playpumps International. The Foundation's Gore said people could continue donating until Word Water Day on March 22, "by which time we expect to raise enough resources to cover the needs we saw in the camp, and perhaps more needs in other camps in Ethiopia."

Ethiopian-born Kenna, whose uncle died of a water-borne disease, was impressed by what he saw in Kebribeyah. "I'm particularly happy to learn that UNHCR runs the water system for the refugees in partnership with the local Ethiopian authorities," he said, pledging to raise enough to upgrade and maintain the system.

UNHCR Deputy Representative in Ethiopia Cosmas Chanda said provision of water was a critical element of UNHCR's protection work and his office welcomed the keen interest shown in the plight of refugees by such high-profile personalities. "We welcome their effort in fund-raising on behalf of refugees."

The eastern region of Ethiopia, where UNHCR helps some 60,000 Somali refugees in four camps, is dominated by semi-arid lowlands with an annual average rainfall of 300mm-500mm. There are no permanent rivers running through the sites where the refugees are staying. Providing adequate amounts of safe drinking water is a daily struggle for UNHCR and its partners.

The inhabitants of Kebribeyah depend on the Jarrar Valley Water Supply System, which pipes water to the camp from a distance of some 20 kilometres. Two of the system's six boreholes have been connected to the national electricity grid in recent months, making supply of water to the camp more reliable. When the project is complete, the daily supply per person should rise to 20 litres. Increasing the number of water points in the camp is another challenge.

By Kisut Gebre Egziabher in Kebribeyah Refugee Camp, Ethiopia

TEDDY AFRO Rocks Addis

2010-01-12T07:20:00.001-05:00

Tewodros Kassahun, aka Teddy Afro, entertained his fans on Thursday, January 7, the Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas Day, in his second performance in Addis Ababa since being released from prison in August 2009.

Fans, estimated to number over 10,000 by organisers, danced and sang along to the tunes that preach freedom and equality at the Ghion Hotel show.
Teddy also performed songs by other performers, including those of the late Tilahun Gessesse.
During the concert, pubs, bars and clubs around the city were quiet due to the show, while taxi drivers made a small fortune, tripling their fares for fans making their way home.
The singer performed in his first public concert since his release from Kality Prison at Addis Ababa Stadium on October 11, 2009.
Teddy gave away all the profit from that show to a project that works to eliminate begging and street living from the country undertaken by Elshaday Relief and Development Association, a local NGO. From left, members of Teddy’s Abugida band, Abera Alemu Tewodros Kassahun and Ermias Kebede, during the show.

Ethiopian Grammy-nominated musician Kenna starts Kilimanjaro challenge with Jessica Biel

2010-01-08T12:17:00.000-05:00

Jessica Biel starts Kilimanjaro challenge

Jessica Biel and a host of other actors, musicians and activists have started their attempt to climb 19,340-foot Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest peak, in 2010.

'Into the Wild' star Emile Hirsh also takes part in the effort to raise awareness and funds for the global water crisis.

According to entertainment website people.com, the climbers gained a firsthand look at the water crisis by spending several days before their climb visiting a village near Arusha, Tanzania.
Advertisement

"Meeting the people and community in Tanzania . has been an invaluable and eye-opening experience for me," Biel said after landing there Tuesday.

"My hope is that others will be inspired to find ways that they can help; starting simply in their homes and continuing to other parts of the world. We are all in this together."

Joining the actors on the climb are: Alexandra Cousteau, granddaughter of iconic ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau; Elizabeth Gore, an executive with the United Nations Foundation; rapper Lupe Fiasco; Kick Kennedy, an environmentalist and granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, and Grammy-nominated musician Kenna, the Ethiopian-born founder of the initiative, who is leading the climb.

Fans and supporters can follow every step the climbers Here.

So far, more than 2.8 million litres of water have been donated through the site.

Teddy Afro impress fans in London

2009-12-29T10:19:00.000-05:00

Artist Tewedros Kashun , also known as Teddy Afro, one of Ethiopia’s most popular and talented artist, gave a spectacular concert in London last Saturday.

In his last stop on his 2009 European tour, Teddy Afro expressed gratitude and respect for his fans, who stood beside him while he was in prison. He received a warm welcome from his fans who showed their love and admiration by queuing up for more than 4 hrs amidst London’s chilly weather.

Fans who read reports on Teddy’s performance in some European cities were doubting whether Teddy will be singing his famous and controversial song such as ‘Jah Yasteserial’ and ‘Dahlak Layye Neww Bette’ in their entirety. But Teddy didn’t disappoint his London fans, he sang the full version of all his loved songs. As per his usual, his message were about love, peace and Ethiopiawinet.

Teddy is expected to travel to North America on Tuesday.

Read the full report in
Amharicby Abate Melaku

Gelila Assefa among the best dressed celebrities of 2009

2009-12-28T08:31:00.001-05:00

The popular fashion magazine Bazaar selects Ethiopian fashion designer and philanthropist Gelila Assefa Puck (gelilastyle.com) as among the best dressed celebrities of 2009.

Click here to see all of Bazaars "Best Dressed Celebrities of 2009″

Last November, Gelila announced a partnership with the Orphaned Starfish Foundation to fund a new computer lab for a school run by the Ethiopian Children's Fund (ECF) in rural Aleltu, Ethiopia.

Gelila Assefa Puck is an internationally known designer of fine couture gowns and handbags, and philanthropist who was born and schooled in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Gelila's couture fashion brand, Gelila Style, is rooted in her East African heritage and today is principally focused on a distinctive handbag line, which includes simple, classic clutches and bags made from crocodile, ostrich and African springbok.

Gelila and her husband, superchef Wolfgang Puck, support numerous other charities worldwide, and were both honored in March of 2009 by the Children's Institute in Southern California with the prestigious Champion of Children Award.

"Migration of Beauty": A must-see documentary on Ethiopia

2009-12-06T08:18:00.000-05:00

Film producer, Chris Flaherty, is screening his acclaimed documentary entitled "Migration of Beauty" in New York this weekend. The first screen was held yesterday at Columbia and generated a lively discussion, in which the producer and members of the audience exchanged views on a variety of topics, including the 2005 elections, the implications of the Red Terror of the 1970s, and the role of the Diaspora in influencing the upcoming 2010 elections.

The second screening will be held today, Sunday December 6, 2009 at the Anthology Film Archives at 32 East 2nd Ave (at 2nd Street) at 4:30 PM. All Ethiopians in the Tri-Sate Area and friends of Ethiopia should make every effort to see this historic documentary, which presents objectively and with fair balance the past few turbulent years of Ethiopian history (from the Derg Era to the Present).

Chris Flaherty should be commended for articulating the Ethiopian reality in a way that has never been done before! We must all show our support by attending the screening and engaging ourselves in the discussions.

Source : Ethiomedia

Marcus Samuelsson on Thanks Giving

2009-11-27T09:00:00.000-05:00

(NPR) – Marcus Samuelsson was born in Ethiopia, raised in Sweden and now is a world-renowned chef in New York City. His cooking style is as international as his life story.

He sat down with NPR’s Steve Inskeep to discuss his multicultural Thanksgiving traditions.

“Like most immigrants, we roast turkey — we have turkey on the table,” said Samuelsson. “But our table is filled with people from all over the world that are Americans like us, new Americans … [So] there’s also the dishes from our [home] country.”

“I have Swedish potatoes au gratin,” said Samuelsson. “I have gravlax on the table. Then my wife makes a mean doro wat, which is this chicken stew from Ethiopia. She will always have some injera bread there.

“I think Thanksgiving is this incredible, great example where we as immigrants, we as Americans, bring in the culture or the history of where we come from,” said Samuelsson. “And then we serve it to our family, and I just think it’s a perfect marriage where you can show your identity, and you’re really proud to be an American.”

“Cooking for me is also a way of looking back,” said Samuelsson. “When I make the apple cake, I see my mother.

“So much of cooking and eating is about, ‘Where do we want to go in our memories?’ ” said Samuelsson. “We want to revisit the vacation. We want to revisit our college years. We want to revisit our childhood years.”

Growing up, he’d help his mother make her classic apple cake. “My job was always to sort of make the clock,” Samuelsson said, in describing the way the apples were arranged on top of the dessert. “My mom always cut 12 pieces.

“I always wanted to mess it up — I wanted to put apples all over,” he said. But his mother made sure the apples were adorned properly, because each person should get a slice of apple on their slice of cake.

Samuelsson feels everyone has a food story like his apple cake one.

“We all have food stories,” he said. “We all come from incredible backgrounds. And we can … share those memories … through food. And that’s the reason I love living in this country.”

Marcus Samuelsson’s Apple Cake Recipe

“I always joke about how bad my mom’s cooking was, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize that a lot of what I know about cooking came from her. I can’t even count how many times she made this honest, simple apple cake — it seems as if we always had one in the refrigerator and another in the freezer, just in case we had unexpected company. Even now, when we are all out of the house, she always has apples on hand, just in case she needs to whip up a quick dessert for visitors.”

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unseasoned bread crumbs

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

2 Granny Smith apples

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan

1 large egg

1-1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2/3 cup half-and-half

2 teaspoons confectioners’ sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and coat with the bread crumbs.

2. Toss together the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Set aside.

3. Peel and core the apples, then slice one apple into 16 wedges. Combine the cinnamon and 1/3 cup of the sugar mixture in a medium bowl. Add the apple wedges and toss to coat. Roughly dice the remaining apple.

4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and the remaining sugar mixture on medium speed until light, fluffy, and lemon colored, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and mix until combined. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour and baking powder. Slowly add the half-and-half, and mix until combined. Fold the diced apple into the batter.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Arrange 14 of the apple wedges fanned along the outer edge of the pan and place the 2 remaining wedges in the center. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the center is golden brown.

6. Remove from the oven to a wire rack to cool completely. Run a small offset spatula around the edges to release the cake from the pan and remove the springform. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar, then cut into 12 wedges.

Famous Ethiopian singer Manalemosh Dibo passed away

2009-11-23T08:43:00.000-05:00

One of Ethiopia’s most popular singers, Manalemosh Dibo, passed away today from natural causes, according to news sources in Ethiopia.

Manalemosh died in South Africa where she went to receive medical treatment after suffering from intestinal cancer for over a year.

Before going to South Africa Manalemosh was receiving treatment at Tikur Anbessa (Black Lion) Hospital in Addis Ababa. When her condition deteriorated, Tikur Anbessa doctors recommended that she gets treatment abroad. Ethiopian billionaire Al Amoudi covered her expenses to travel to South Africa.

Manalemosh was a young singer who's popularity grew with each song she released. She is particularly well-known for her traditional songs such as Asabelew, Awdamet, and Minjar.

Liya Kebede on challenges facing mothers in Ethiopia

2009-11-13T13:15:00.000-05:00

In Ethiopia, 94 percent of women deliver their babies at home, without the aid of a trained birth attendant.

Follow Liya Kebede, the World Health Organization’s Global Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health and a native of Ethiopia, as she learns firsthand the challenges facing mothers and newborns and how new U.S.-funded programs are helping to shift the odds in their favor. Watch the video below:

Fashion designer Gelila Assefa to build computer lab in Ethiopia

2009-11-13T13:03:00.001-05:00

Ethiopian-born international fashion designer and philanthropist Gelila Assefa Puck (gelilastyle.com) has announced a partnership with the Orphaned Starfish Foundation to fund a new computer lab for a school run by the Ethiopian Children's Fund (ECF) in rural Aleltu, Ethiopia.

The Orphaned Starfish Foundation grant will support the Gelila Assefa Puck Skill Training Center, the newest addition to the celebrated ECF children's village in Aleltu. The grant will provide hardware, software, materials and trainers for ECF's first computer skills training lab. ECF plans to offer other vocational skills as additional funds are raised and the new Center expands.

More than a decade ago, Ms. Puck, who was born and raised in Addis Ababa, joined the board of ECF. There were then only 21 children in the program but today this pioneering set of children's boarding schools serves more than 400 orphaned and disadvantaged children in Ethiopia.

Said Ms. Puck: "The partnership with ECF is the first entry of the Orphaned Starfish Foundation into Africa and it will provide disadvantaged Ethiopian children with critically-needed skills. This vocational training is absolutely vital to preparing the children for the jobs they will need to support themselves and to raise healthy, independent families – which has always been the ultimate goal of the Ethiopian Children's Fund."

Added Ms. Puck: "I am delighted at this new development and will be excited to watch how the new computers and this new program will transform the lives of these incredible children."

Gelila Assefa Puck is an internationally known designer of fine couture gowns and handbags, and philanthropist who was born and schooled in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Gelila's couture fashion brand, Gelila Style, is rooted in her East African heritage and today is principally focused on a distinctive handbag line, which includes simple, classic clutches and bags made from crocodile, ostrich and African springbok.

Gelila and her husband, superchef Wolfgang Puck, support numerous other charities worldwide, and were both honored in March of 2009 by the Children's Institute in Southern California with the prestigious Champion of Children Award.

Teddy Donates $87,107 to Elshadai Relief & Development Association

2009-11-04T13:46:00.001-05:00

Addis Ababa (November 2, 2009) – Ethiopian singer/songwriter Tewodros Kassahun, a.k.a Teddy Afro, donated 1.1 million Br ($87,107) to a local NGO, Elshadai Relief & Development Association this past Friday. The money was raised from the singer’s concert at Addis Ababa Stadium on October 11, 2009 to help people with a life of begging.

In his first performance after being released early from his two-year sentence for good behavior, the 31-year-old singer performed 25 songs for his fans who packed the stadium. The association’s Executive Director, Yemane Woldemariam, received the check at a brief press conference held at the Intercontinental Addis Hotel.

Saba Anglana, Ethiopian-Italian actress & singer

2009-11-04T13:43:00.001-05:00

November 1, 2009 -She was raised in Italy by her Italian father and Ethiopian mother. But the actress and musician Saba Anglana, who records under the name Saba, sings in Somali.

Saba was born in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, to an Ethiopian mother (born in Somalia) and Italian father during the years of General Muhammad Siyad Barre’s corrupt and repressive regime. The perennially suspicious attitude towards Italians ,and the conflict with Ethiopia over the Ogaden region, forced her family to leave the country when she was just 5 years old. Saba recalls, ‘We were a mixed-marriage family: inconvenient, perhaps a threat. I still remember nights at Bolimog (Cape Guardafui, near Alula — the extreme east point of Africa, where my father was working) when policemen came to interrogate my father, as they thought he was a US spy. In reality, he was there because he loved Africa, and my sister and I were born there.’

Saba’s father originally went to Africa to forget the extreme suffering he experienced during World War II, when he was a colonel of the Italian Forces. As a prisoner during the colonial battles in Ethiopia, Saba’s grandfather had been deported to Mogadishu, and it was there that her mother was born.. When Saba’s parents married, their close friends and family considered their union as a symbol of reconciliation and peace — finally forgetting the past conflict of Ethiopia, Somalia and Italy.

At the height of the crisis for Saba and her family, the Somali government gave them forty-eight hours to leave the country, forcing them to migrate to Italy. Since that time, a deep homesickness has always been present. ‘I wanted to learn as much of the Somali language from my mother as possible, particularly the dialect of Xamar Weyne — the quarter were she was born with my uncles and aunts.’

After doing much of her growing up in Italy, Saba studied to become a mosaicist, completing a degree in Art History at the University of Rome La Sapienza, and also became known throughout Italy for her acting roles in some well—known television programmes (La Squadra in particular, in which she played a half-Italian, half-Somali policewoman). However, music was by far her greatest and most constant passion. She recalls, ‘at the age of 8, in Addis Ababa — where we went sometimes to visit my grandmother — I remember my sister and I performing songs and dances to entertain the neighbours’. Growing up, music became her main expression and African music allowed her to mend the broken thread with her homeland.

Her Album – Jidka (The Line)

On Jidka (The Line), her musical debut, she explores the divide between Somalia and Italy with a rare sensitivity and gentle humour; mixing acoustic guitars and koras with traditional African beats and contemporary percussion. The result reflects both one woman’s search for her identity and what it means to be alive in the 21 st century, when so many people live in more than one culture.

Jidka is Saba’s way of telling her story. The word ‘Jidka’, which is the title track, means line – the line that runs on her belly and divides it into two parts – a darker side and a lighter one. This for her represents the union of diversities and the harmony that her parents found when they fell in love. Her story focuses on her identity as multilayered and with many different influences. She sings in her mother tongue – a type of Somali that is spoken in Reer Xamar, a quarter of Mogadishu, and has real expression and rhythm in itself. The result is an album which is a real mix of contemporary and traditional.

Many of the songs on the album describe the struggles of life in Somalia. ‘I Sogni’ is the story of a woman who leaves her village for the big city in search of a better life; ‘Melissa’, sung partly in English, is about the plight of many women who escaped the civil war and crossed the desert in search of freedom. ‘Je Suis Petite’ is dedicated to Africa – a continent full of suffering (’The world is cruel, and I am so little’). Other songs are more romantic, describing love and the importance of living in the moment (’Manta’). ‘Hanfarkaan’ describes how the wind is linked to the spirit – when it blows strongly it brings us into contact with the spirit of someone we have lost.

Saba is joined on djembe, guitar and percussion by long-term friend and collaborator, Taté Nsongan, from Cameroon, on kora Senegalese Lao Kouyate and on vocals Felix Moungara. The album is produced by well-known musician/composer Fabio Barovero, founder of Mau Mau and the Banda Ionica project. As Saba says, ‘we worked to realise a sound which combines past and present, tradition and modernity, with our minds open to a future of increasing cultural mixes.’

Michael Jackson film premiers in Ethiopian capital

2009-10-28T14:28:00.001-04:00

APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Hundreds of Ethiopian film fans on Wednesday joined the world to see Michael Jackson’s documentary film titled “This is it”.

The film offers Jackson’s fans a rare behind-the-scene look at the performer as he developed, created and rehearsed for his London sold-out concerts.

The film is being screened in Addis Ababa at “Ed Namol” cinema complex as part of the world wide launching of Jackson’s film.

APA observed on Wednesday that over 500 people gathered to see the film here in Addis Ababa.

However, a good number were unable to see it due to limited seats. All tickets were sold earlier than the expected time.

Fans that were able to get the ticket paid US$8 per person.

“I am not lucky to see Jackson’s new film. I will just go home,” said Metaferia Lakew who was among many film fans unable to see the film.

“I didn’t expect such a huge crowd for the film. It is unbelievable,” he added.

The cinema promises to continue showing the film in the coming days as it expectes a large number of people.

It could be recalled that the African-American King of POP died on 25 June at age 50.

Beyonces Ethiopian New Year Concert Fails Following Row over Broadcasting Copyright

2009-09-09T07:28:00.000-04:00

Beyoncé Knowles, the 28-year old world famous R&B singer and Hollywood actress, will not be coming to perform in Addis Abeba as it was announced by promoters here, reliable sources disclosed.

The sensational performer, honoured as Billboard Woman of the Year on August 25, 2009, had agreed to come to Addis for her second performance scheduled for October 31, 2009. It was meant to be part of her third world tour, including to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), where she was scheduled to come from.

The deal to bring her to Addis was negotiated between the singer’s management company, run by her father, Matthew Knowles and New Way Inc., a Virginia based company owned by Dereje Yesuwork (Jambi) and his partner Endalkachew Tekeste.

Dereje is one of the closest associates of Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-Amoudi who would have paid one million dollars for her performance in Addis Abeba, and an additional 150,000 dollars to charter an aircraft for close to 90 members of her team, reliable sources disclosed.

The concert was planned to be held inside the Millennium Hall on African Avenue (Bole Road), and organized locally by Addis Parks Management Plc, a subsidiary of MIDROC Ethiopia. Addis Park promotes such events and sells tickets to the public.

However, negotiations have fallen apart following a disagreement over live broadcasting rights of the concert, said these sources. Beyonce’s manager has agreed to let live broadcastings of only five songs from two-hour performance, according to sources. Compared to the one song broadcasted live during her dazzling first performance in Addis in October 2007, where she was paid 1.75 million dollars, this may sound an improvement..

The Sheikh was not happy, nevertheless.

“Mohammed has agreed to bring her back to Addis only if the entire concert is transmitted live by ETV to the Ethiopian public,” .

It is a statement reinforced by Jean-Pierre Manigoff, general manager of Sheraton Addis, the hotel owned by Sheikh Al-Amoudi, and subcontracted by Addis Park to provide hospitality services.

“Sheikh Mohammed loves and respects the Ethiopian people,” Manigoff said. “He would want the show to be accessible for all through broadcasting.”

Live transmissions of concerts by internationally acclaimed bands such as Black Eyed Peas, and Kool and the Gang, as well as performers like Wyclef Jean and Papa Wemba were made after organizers enter into a separate deal with the performers, disclosed these sources. However, Sony Music Entertainment has reserved copy rights over broadcastings of Beyoncé’s shows.

Gelila Assefa Puck: Fashion with African inspiration

2009-09-08T09:22:00.002-04:00

by CNN
The Ethiopian born designer has an eye for style. She launched a line of high-end handbags in 2006 and a year later married celebrated chef Wolfgang Puck. Together the couple live in LA and have made Forbes magazine’s list of “Married celebrity entrepreneurs”. While loving the California lifestyle, she still has strong connections to Ethiopia, putting much of her energy into her charity work there. Click More for Video.

Part -1

Part -2

Part -3

Ethiopian-born Model Plays Waris Dirie in The Movie “Desert Flower”

2009-09-03T07:18:00.000-04:00

New York (Tadias) - Ethiopian-born Liya Kebede stars in the new movie Desert Flower, based on the true story of a former African supermodel who rose from a nomadic life to the top of the international modeling business.

The movie is an adaptation of the autobiography of Waris Dirie, who was born in Somalia and moved to London at age of 13 primarily to break loose from an arranged-marriage to a much older man, and a culture that subjected her to female genital mutilation (FGM) when she was only 5-years old. While in London she struggled to make ends meet working at McDonald’s and other odd jobs until she was discovered by photographer Terence Donovan, whose portraits of her would propel her into international stardom. She eventually graced the catwalks of New York, London, Milan and Paris, and was featured on the covers of Vogue, Glamour and Elle magazines. She was depicted in the 1995 BBC documentary entitled A Nomad in New York. In 1997, she ended her modeling work to become a full-time advocate against female circumcision, and subsequently was named a UN ambassador for the abolition of FGM by former Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Liya Kebede, a supermodel herself, appears to be making a smooth transition into the world of acting. Her previous movie stints includes a role in the epic drama The Good Shepherd, directed by Robert De Niro, and the movie Lord of War featuring Nicolas Cage and Bridget Moynahan.

The independent film is scheduled to appear at the Venice Film Festival this month and will be released in Germany on 24 September.

'Desert Flower' starring Liya Kebede opens on September 24

2009-09-02T07:15:00.000-04:00

Source: Waris Dirie Foundation

Having gained wide success in the world of fashion and modeling, Liya Kebede of Ethiopia, has transitioned successfully into the world of acting, with the starring role in the independent film, Desert Flower. An adaptation of Waris Dirie’s bestselling autobiography, the story recounts Dirie’s rise from childhood in the Somali desert to the catwalks of the international fashion business.

In 2004, Kebede captured Hollywood’s attention and has since appeared in films including The Good Shepherd with Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie, directed by Robert De Niro, and Andrew Niccols’ Lord of War with Nicolas Cage and Bridget Moynahan. A native of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Kebede has graced the covers of dozens of magazines including Vogue (American, Italian, Japanese & Spanish), V, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar and Time’s Style & Design issue.

In 2003 Liya became the first woman of color to represent the Estée Lauder brand. Off screen, Kebede is a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador with the World Health Organization, working to raise awareness of the difficulties women and children face in the developing world. In her efforts to make a difference, she founded The Liya Kebede Foundation which aims to improve the health and well-being of mothers and children around the world.

In July 2007, Kebede launched Lemlem, a children’s clothing line hand woven in Ethiopia and sold online as well as in select boutiques in New York, Los Angeles, and Europe. She is currently working on the second collection. Lemlem, which means “to bloom” or “to flourish” in Amharic, embodies African traditions and culture with the hopes to positively impact its economy. Liya resides in New York with her husband, Kassy and their children, Suhul & Raee.

Click here to watch the Trailer from IMDB

Ethiopia’s Pop Star Out of Jail, to Stage Big Concert

2009-08-19T14:48:00.002-04:00

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia , Aug 19 (IPS) - He has not yet decided where and when it will be, but Ethiopia’s sensational musician Tewodros Kassahun a.k.a. Teddy-Afro, will stage a major concert for the first time after his release from controversial imprisonment.

Tewodros is famous and sensational for his strong lyrics; including some that depict the ruling party as no different from its dictatorial predecessor.

The 32-year-old singer was first arrested by investigators of the Addis Ababa Police Commission in November 2006. He was accused of killing Degu Yibeltal, a homeless teenage boy in a hit-and-run motor vehicle accident.

However, Tewodros has always claimed that he was out of the country on the date of the accident and there has been view in the public that the government incriminated Teddy to punish him for his too critical lyrics.

But his stay in prison hasn’t put him off singing and Tewodros is to start performing again with a big concert. "Possibly it is with a big concert that I will meet Ethiopian people," Tewodros told IPS the day after his release on parole after 16 months in prison.

He said he learnt a lot in prison and he considers the "trying time" as a part of his life that made him stronger. He added he managed to write some poems during his incarceration but he could not compose lyrics because he could not access musical instruments.

"I need a long break now," he said.

On the day of Tewodros’s release, August 13, he was brought to the deserted compound of the Federal High and First Instance courts.

The court yard was deserted because during Ethiopia’s main rainy season, courts are in recess for two months.

Quite contrary to experiences in the past year, during which time Teddy was brought to this court more than 20 times for trial, there were no fans: none knew that he would be brought to court.

Rather, as many expected his release the previous day, they had been waiting more than 10kms away, in front of the prison centre on both days.

Tewodros’s application for parole was made last Thursday afternoon. It was supported by the recommendation by Kality Prison Centre – the largest and highly secured detention facility in Addis Ababa. It is where politicians like Bertukan Mideksa, a prominent female opposition politician and former judge, are also kept.

Ethiopia’s law entitles a convict for release on parole after serving a third of their sentence if the prison administration recommends the release to court stating he has been on good behaviour during his term. The recommendation is initiated upon the prisoner’s application for parole stating that he understands the supremacy of the law and regrets his acts.

Judge Leul Gebremariam, who originally sentenced Tewodros to six years imprisonment and a fine of 18,000 Birr (about $1,500) in December, was the man who granted Tewodros his freedom.

Leul told the singer that the court accepted his application for parole and the prison’s recommendation. The judge wished Tewodros "good luck" but also reminded him that if he commits any crime in the next two years the parole will be revoked.

Though many expected his release this time around, his homecoming at dusk that Thursday came as a surprise to his mother, Tilaye Arage.

"When he got into the compound, I was (so) shocked that I could not even stand straight," his mother told IPS the next day as she was hosting flocking relatives and friends, as well as fans of her son.

Many of Teddy Afro’s fans have resolutely stood by him during his trial and incarceration. His popular 2005 album was released during the country’s elections and many of the songs called for change. It is because of this that many believe there is political conspiracy behind his imprisonment.

"I don’t accept that Teddy committed the crime," Eskendir Abel, owner of Ebaw Promotion and a devoted fan of Tewodros said.

Eskendir’s company – host of the annual Miss Virgin Beauty Contest, a beauty pageant for virgin girls – is going to devote part of this year’s contest as a welcome event to the singer.

An excited Eskendir described Teddy’s release as one of the most wonderful moments in his life.

"I think he was imprisoned mainly for his strong lyrics that are too critical of the government," said a young fan requesting anonymity.

Nonetheless, Tewodros appears to be timid of the issue of his guilt. "I would rather not comment on that," Teddy said. He is rather cautious in his comments to media.

But the evidence of his trial is there for all to see. When the Federal High Court heard the trial, four witnesses testified against Tewodros – all police constables brought by the prosecutor.

But earlier in the trial Teddy said he was out of Ethiopia the night Degu was killed. He argued that the date of his arrival into the country, as indicated on his passport, was November 3. Degu was found dead on the night of November 2, 2006.

But the High Court found him guilty of killing Degu while driving a private blue-black BMW.

According to Ethiopia’s penal code, the penalty for the death of a hit-and-run victim ranges from five to 15 years of imprisonment and fine up to maximum of 15,000Br ($1,250).

The pop-star was sentenced last December by the High Court to six years imprisonment and fine of 18,000Br ($1,500) after he was found guilty on two counts: homicide, including driving without license; and hit-and-run manslaughter.

Immediately after sentencing, his lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court. The court reduced the sentence by four years, and the fine to 11,000Br ($916) in February.

Tewodros’s two-year prison sentence was calculated inclusive of the time he already served and in February he was 13 months away from freedom.

But with eight months of his prison term still remaining, the judge who sentenced him changed his mind and decided that Tewodros should be released earlier.

"We accept the court’s decision," Shimeles Kemal, a government spokesperson told IPS.

But he ferociously reacted to the view that Teddy’s imprisonment is politically motivated saying "it is highly flawed accusation". "The final arbiter that determines guilt is the court and that institution found him guilty of the crime," Shimeles said. "This is an ordinary crime with no relation to politics and the convict was sentenced accordingly."

Despite the government’s persistent argument that "no one would be imprisoned for holding an opinion", critics of government say Teddy’s case clearly represents how government reacts to political dissent.

Yet, for others his release represents a milestone change in the ruling party’s long established iron-feast attitude. "This is quite a change from the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front’s ‘only my way’ of handling things that we have seen for the past 18 years," an independent media expert told IPS on condition of anonymity.

Teddy plans come-back tour around the world

2009-08-19T13:25:00.000-04:00

By Groum Abate and
Muluken Yewondwossen

The young, talented and recently free from prison, Tewodros Kassahun alias Teddy Afro is planning a tour around the world to thank his fans for their support during his imprisonment.
Teddy told Capital that he will take the next two months off, preparing in Ethiopia, and will then launch a worldwide come back tour. He said that he has no plans of releasing a new album yet.
Teddy Afro was freed from the Kaliti prison on Thursday August 13, after serving 16 months of a two-year sentence for hit-and-run manslaughter.
He thanked the public, who he said supported him morally during his prison term.
The performer, who was at his mother’s home after being released from the prison on probation for his good behavior, has no plan of engaging in any kind of performance for the next two months.
Teddy was found guilty of killing Degu Yibeltal, an 18-year-old homeless while driving his BMW through Menilik Avenue in 2007.
He was first sentenced to six years in prison and a fine of 18,000 birr by the Federal High Court. This was later reversed by the Supreme Court after he appealed. The Supreme Court lowered the sentence to two years and 11,000 birr in February after his lawyer argued that the victim had been drunk and was lying unconscious on the road when he was hit by the car.
Furious by this, the prosecutor’s office appealed and the fine was increased back to 18,000 birr.
On Facebook, a social networking site, the performer thanked fans who had been following his trial diligently for the last two years. He concluded his message to his fans saying: “Love as always wins”.
In 2001, Teddy released his second album, ‘Abugida’, named after the Abugida syllables of the Ge’ez language. Several tracks quickly caught the ear of many listeners in Ethiopia, including ‘Haile Selassie’, a tribute to the late Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie I; and ‘Haile’, in honor of the Olympic long distance champion Haile Gebrselassie.
His third album and which was a hit in Ethiopia, ‘Yasteseryal’, was released in 2005. The release of this album coincided with elevated political tension in Ethiopia surrounding the general elections in May 2005.
His politically and socially inspired songs vibrated a call for unity and peace yet stirred controversy, originating mostly from the song “Yasteseryal”, which was banned from government radio and television stations.
On November 3rd, 2006, investigators from the Addis Ababa Police Commission arrested Teddy Afro suspecting him of leaving a scene of a car accident that they alleged caused the death of an 18-year old Degu Yibeltal.
Degu, who lived on the streets in Addis, came from Gojjam originally to live with his uncle, before he became homeless. He was killed on the night of November 2nd, 2006, after he was hit by a car. Police was told the plate number of a BMW by a taxi driver who remained anonymous.
After he was put under custody for a day, Teddy was released on a 50,000 Birr bail. In April 2008, he was arrested and charged with murder.

Lula Gezu wins Miss World Ethiopia 2009

2009-08-19T07:40:00.003-04:00

Addis Ababa, August 18, 2009 -- The “Miss World Ethiopia” contest was held on August 15th, 2009, at the Hilton Hotel in Addis Ababa. The beauty pageant and gala dinner started around 7:00pm local time. The contest was organized by Artaele Enterprise, and it was the seventh of its kind and the third for Artaele Enterprise. The pageant was conducted with the motto of “Beauty with purpose”.

Twenty Five contestants participated in this event. At the beginning of the competition the contestants came out in swimming suits, followed with traditional and evening dresses. They were judged on catwalk, self expression, and their knowledge of their country and its resources, as well as on things like the environment and globalization.

The four judges who were selected for the competition were not informed about their responsibilities a priori, but were simply invited for the event. As per the organizers, this arrangement makes the competition fair and objective. The four judges of the “Miss word Ethiopia 2009” came from different backgrounds and experience, and among them were beauty expert, traditional cloth designer, culture and tourism public relations officer, and an investor.

Among the contestants, six of them came from Harar, Dire Dawa, Bahir Dar, and Mekele. Out of the 25 contestants, 12 of them passed to the next stage based on interview results and their confidence. Then, from the 12 contestants, six were selected as finalists for the top five positions, as two contestants got the same points and were tied.

The final competition among the six contestants was a little tough because each of them were required to promote themselves, their country, and explain why they should be “Miss world Ethiopia 2009” in only one minute. After the judges passed their decisions, the last three finalists were announced by program host, around 11:50pm (local time).

After all was said and done, Lensa Tilahun, the 1.93m tall, elegant girl from Oromiya, became the 2nd runner up, and Hiwot Assefa, the 1.78m tall girl with a slim body and charming face from Addis Ababa, became the 1st runner up. The crown of “Miss World Ethiopia 2009” was awarded to Lula Gezu (1.77m tall, 56 kg), a sophomore psychology student at Mekele University from Addis Ababa, a chocolate color and charming girl with high confidence. She received the crown for “Miss World Ethiopia 2009”.

Lula Gezu was awarded a Diamond ring worth 60,000 ETB from Zoskales Dimond. The award was handed over by Ato Neway GebreAb, Senior Economic Advisor to Prime Minster Meles Zenawi. Both the 1st and 2nd runner ups were also awarded a Diamond ring worth about ETB 50,000.

It is to be recalled that the organizers invited contestants for the competition only a few weeks back through various media outlets. The twenty five contestants got training on choreography and catwalk for only two weeks. This lack of sufficient training and experience was evident by the contestants’ shyness, lack of confidence, less than optimal presentation, and lack of general knowledge. Some of them were very shy to the point of giving inaudible answers, and inability to understand or answer questions properly.

In an exclusive interview with Ezega.com, the winner of Miss World Ethiopia 2009, Lula Gezu, said that she is very happy with the competition. She believes that she prevailed over the other contestants by her confidence and the way she answered the questions, in addition to her external beauty.

Ezega News asked Lula if she is satisfied with the training she received in the last fifteen days. Lula answered, “this is my second competition as I have been the 1st runner up of “Miss World Ethiopia 2007”. So, it was not that hard for me. But, for many new comers to the competition, it could have been very difficult indeed with such a short training.”

Luna Gezu will go to London, as well as contest in South Africa in December 2009, representing Ethiopia against contestants from 120 other countries.

The 1st runner up, Hiwot Assefa, will contest for the title of “Miss Intercontinental” in Belarus in September 2009. Hiwot told Ezega News that she is happy with the competition and the final results. Though she is inclined more towards modeling, she enjoyed the completion very much.

The upcoming Miss World contest will be televised live worldwide in more that 190 countries and with expected viewers of more than 3 billion. According to Artaele Enterprise Managing Director, Ato Tesfazghi Aberra, who talked to Ezega News, this competition will have a big impact by projecting a positive image of Ethiopia to the world. In addition, it will create a great opportunity for us by promoting the Ethiopian culture, tourism, values and customs, and present the country of Lucy, Queen of Sheba, and the cradle of mankind.

Gigi resurfaces in Germany

2009-08-13T19:32:00.002-04:00

The celebrated Ethiopian singer Ejigayehu (Gigi) Shibabaw has been away from the limelight for a couple of years. But recently, she has resurfaced in festival in Germany.
A web report has it that Gigi and her producer and bassist husband Bill Laswell have performed at Krems festival on July 27 in Germany.
Looking at the picture posted on the German web, Gigi had a slightly different look with relaxed dress, tight and unfasten shirt and a little extra weight.
Musically speaking, it has been a successful come-back. The web has a positive review of her and her husbands’ performance.
The New York based couple’s music has been a blend of dub, reggae, funk and traditional Ethiopian music, reported the web.
Gigi has been hugely popular at home and abroad for her hits like ‘Gud Fela’ and ‘Balewashintu’.
Der Standard

Pop Star Teddy Afro Freed From Jail in Ethiopia

2009-08-13T15:16:00.001-04:00

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia's most popular singer, Teddy Afro, was freed early from prison on Thursday after serving 18 months of a two-year sentence for hit-and-run manslaughter.

The performer, whose real name is Tewodros Kassahun, was found guilty of killing an 18-year-old homeless man while driving his BMW in the capital Addis Ababa in 2007.

Lawyers said he was freed early because of good behavior.

"I would like to express my respect and gratitude to all the people of our country," Afro told state TV after his release.

"I was able to meet many good people in prison, from the lowest-ranking policemen to the highest administrator. I had a nice time. My relations with other prisoners were also good."

Afro, who is well known for criticizing the government in his fiery lyrics, is hugely popular among young Ethiopians and sings mostly in the local Amharic language.

Hundreds protested outside the court during his trial -- an unusual event in a nation where dissent is rare.

His sentence had been cut from six years in February after his lawyer argued that the victim had been drunk and was lying unconscious on the road when he was hit by the singer's car.

Afro has always denied being in the vehicle.

(Reporting by Barry Malone and Tsegaye Tadesse; editing by Daniel Wallis)

LET US BE LIKE THE MARKET

2009-08-11T16:10:00.001-04:00

By Eleni Zaude Gabre-Madhin, PhD

Much has recently been made of my ethnic identity although this is a matter of no relevance whatsoever to a reasoned discourse on the existence of the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange. However, when the unnecessary gets in the way of the important, however unpleasant it may be, it must be faced. I am Ethiopian, as truly and wonderfully as that is, and no one has the right to define, reduce, or otherwise dismiss my identity. I do not apologize for or defend who I am, as each one of us, whoever we are, has a God-given set of circumstances that uniquely defines us.

My reality is that, born in Addis Ababa, I first left Ethiopia with my family at the age of four to live in New York city, accompanying my father, Zaude Gabre-Madhin, who was a senior United Nations official, prior to which he served in the Imperial government. Upon returning a few years later, my family then left Ethiopia again, escaping the chaos of the new Dergue regime, this time to Rwanda and later Togo, Malawi, and Kenya. I thus grew up in six different countries, going to school in French as well as English, and learning Swahili along the way. Throughout this time, my parents, to whom I owe everything, instilled in me and my sisters the deepest love and pride for our country Ethiopia. As I grew up in different cultures, grappling to understand my adolescent identity, I drew on the stories my parents told me of my heritage and of those who came before me. My mother, Bizuwork Bekele, who never missed a chance to boast about her beloved Harar, shared stories of my incredible great-grandmother, Imahoy Saba Yifat, from Menz and Gondar by origin, who lived in rural Hararghe as a widow after the Italian invasion and was one of the few women fighters of her time standing up to the invaders to defend the land and her six children. I heard about her son, my grandfather, Ato Bekele Haile, a respected magistrate serving as a judge in Harar town, himself of Gurage and Amhara ancestry, and of my mother’s birth in the historical site today known as the House of Rimbaud. As a young child, I loved to sit for hours with my maternal grandmother, Imahoy Beletshachew Habte-Giorgis, a witty, intelligent,and extremely strong-willed woman who would often exclaim in Afan Oromo which she and her children, including my mother, spoke fluently, as she laughed recalling how she managed her coffee farms in the areas around Jijiga, Fedis, and Deder, where many of my relatives still live today.

My father, for his part, mostly to amuse his daughters, named the water tank in our UN provided house in Kigali, Rwanda, “Bulga Springs” to recall his father’s birthplace in northern Shewa. He would proudly speak of my grandfather, Fitawrari Gebremedhin, a noble and highly disciplined official in Emperor Menelik’s time, who later settled in Wolaita Soddo in the late nineteenth century, marrying my grandmother, Woizero Ayalech Alaye, niece of the great Wolaita King Tona. At the age of seven, I remember visiting Soddo where my father was born and where many of my relatives still live, to spend time in his last years with my grandfather who was then nearly a century old. A tall, dignified, and handsome man, deeply religious, my grandfather showed me and my sister his coffee farm and I remember him speaking of my much loved late grandmother, and of his childhood and the family still in Bulga, and his laughing politely, not understanding, as I chattered to him in English with children’s jokes I had learned in New York.

Thus I grew, within and outside Ethiopia, celebrating all the different identities and cultures that are woven beautifully into the tapestry of my identity as an Ethiopian. To my parents, always , we were Ethiopian and that was something to be deeply proud of, recognizing and cherishing all of our different ethnic strands. I never knew until much later, nor did it matter, which particular ethnic group I should claim. In my extended family, my aunt married a man from Wollega and my uncle married a woman from Asmara, my great aunt married into the Abba Jifar clan in Jimma, and the list goes on. So the Ethiopia I knew growing up with my cousins was a kaleidoscope of identities bound together in one Ethiopia.

This is my Ethiopian story, and it is unique to me, as each Ethiopian would similarly have. It is the story of my Ethiopia, the Ethiopia for which I have enduring love and to which I have returned after thirty years to contribute in the best way I know how. This is my Ethiopia to which I bring all the global experiences which have shaped me, as I have lived my adult years in Mali, Switzerland, and the United States, trained and worked in some of the best institutions, and traveled and explored dozens of countries around the world. This is my Ethiopia that represents all of my heritage, the strong and courageous women and men in my family through the ages whose blood flows in me. This is my Ethiopia for which I am willing to work, fight, and believe all things are possible. This is my Ethiopia to which I have brought my US-born sons, to instill in them the pride and love of all that we are as Ethiopians. I would like to teach them that in our increasingly inter-connected world, they are Ethiopians but also global citizens.

Ethiopia is ours, to claim, to build and to restore. Rather than engage in destructive ethnic bigotry, far better to embrace all of what we are and to build together a better future for our children. My personal identity is irrelevant to my choice or ability to lead an initiative to bring a better marketing system for all Ethiopians, regardless of their ethnic roots or which corner of the country they claim. A market is above all a connection between humans, an exchange of goods and money that links two sides. The market is neutral as to who is on either side, it is the connection that counts. I have always
found traders to be the most pragmatic people in the world. Let us too live by this market principle: we are far richer and far stronger if we build on our connectivity to each other in meaningful ways, and that much weaker if we seek isolation and succumb to narrow divisiveness. Let us be like the market. I believe it is our only hope.

Miss Ethiopia gets a kiss

2009-08-10T08:25:00.001-04:00

Melat Yante, Miss Ethiopia 2009, gets a kiss from Cassie the Sea Lion while in Dolphin Cay at ATLANTIS, Paradise Island, Bahamas, August 6, 2009.
Melat is representing Ethiopia at the 58th annual Miss Universe competition being held in the Bahamas.Can she be the successor to the Venezuelan Dayana Mendoza?
The 2009 Miss Universe competition which will be presented on August 23, 2009.
(Xinhua/Reuters Photo

Melat poses with other beauty contestants.

Guzo: The Award-Winning Ethiopian Film to Screen in New York

2009-08-06T08:00:00.000-04:00

New York (Tadias) - Guzo, an award-winning Ethiopian film, is scheduled to screen at Helen Mills Theatre in New York City on Saturday, August 8, 2009.

Guzo, which won best picture at the 2009 Addis International Film Festival, disperses humor among more sober points of the film to delicately highlight the social, cultural and economical differences between Ethiopian urban elite and the larger rural-based majority who struggle for their daily survival. Staged as part documentary and part reality show with no real actors or script, Guzo chronicles the interaction between two young residents of Addis Ababa and their peers in the Ethiopian countryside over the course of 20 days as the characters confront stereotypes about each other and grapple with matters of gender and privilege, among other issues.

“Basically, we transplanted two urban Addis young adults and gave them a taste of rural Ethiopia,” says Aida Ashenafi, the film’s director.

“I have always loved the art of storytelling and engaging behind the lens of the camera. Guzo was a project that both inspired and intrigued me from the beginning. As my filmmaking background is mostly fiction films, not documentary, I feel that Guzo is more entertaining. One can relate tremendously whether you come from the city, the countryside, Ethiopia, America, Europe etc. It crosses many boundaries while touching on human issues that bond us all.”

The film has also earned the distinction of becoming the very first Ethiopian film selected to be shown on all current Ethiopian Airlines international flights.

If you Go:
Guzo is scheduled to screen at Helen Mills Theatre (39 west 26th street between 6th & 7th ave) in New York City on Saturday, August 8, 2009 at 1:30 and 3:30 PM. Click here to purchase your ticket. For more information, please call: 917.512.5416.

The 9 Hottest Ethiopian Women

2009-08-06T07:56:00.001-04:00

After a year’s worth of Worldwide Wednesday, we’ve finally done it, folks. The big one. The country with the longest history of human development in all of Africa. The place that spawned a dozen ’80s charity pop songs and twice as many tasteless jokes that used “a grain of rice” as a punchline. Yes, welcome our newest guest, Ethiopia!
The 9 Hottest Ethiopian Women

Kidan Tesfahun Wins Best Female Model Contest

2009-07-27T07:06:00.001-04:00

New York (Tadias) - 24-year-old Kidan Tesfahun, Ethiopia’s Miss Millennium Queen, has been named Best Female Model of the World 2009 at a fashion modeling contest organized by Sukier Models International in Alicante, Spain, on 24th July 2009, her representatives announced.

According to the competition’s director and founder Sukier Vallejo Marte: “The contest was created with the idea of attracting new faces and talent for future projects both domestically (in Spain) and internationally…”

Tesfahun, who had previously represented Ethiopia at the Miss International 2007 and Miss Earth 2008, says her newly gained title adds confidence to her future prospects in the modeling industry.

“From here on I guess the sky is the limit for me,” the aspiring model said. “I have gained the professional acceptance I always knew I should have, and I am indeed grateful to the Almighty Lord for guiding me and making my dreams come true.”

She is the second Ethiopian model this year from the Ethiopian Millennium pageant to win an international beauty competition. Bewunetwa Abebe, 19, was crowned Model of Africa at the 2009 International Beauty and Model festival in China.

24-year-old Kidan Tesfahun - Best Female Model of the World 2009.

Kidan Tesfahun pictured here at the Miss Earth 2008 contest

Immigrant Filmmaker Shmuel Beru pushes Israeli audiences

2009-07-02T08:30:00.001-04:00

Thirty years - officially - after the first Ethiopian Jews set foot on Israeli soil, the first Israeli film about the Ethiopian community of the Holy Land is being released in theaters on Thursday.

Filmmaker Shmuel Beru, who made aliya from Ethiopia at the age of eight, hopes to show Israeli audiences the richness of his community with Zrubavel, his first full-length feature film.

Even after three decades, all that most Israelis know about this population of more than 110,000 is what they read in newspaper reports: problems of integration, juvenile delinquency, domestic violence - or, more rarely, one successful Ethiopian immigrant who becomes a doctor, a pilot or a famous singer or actor. But what do we really know about the Ethiopian Jews of Israel - their values, their traditions, their language, their music, their food, their dreams, their problems and how they deal with them, their feelings?

These are the questions that Beru, 33, who started as an actor, wanted to answer by getting behind the camera.

In Tel-Aviv's Kerem Hateimanim neighborhood, a two-minute walk from Rehov Zrubavel, where he lives, Beru agreed to talk to The Jerusalem Post about this original project.

The idea came to him two years ago, he says. "I thought that in my community, there were a lot of stories to tell that others are not exposed to. So I decided to make a movie to relate them, thinking that if I don't do it, nobody will do it for me."
BERU PRESENTS a picture, sometimes happy, sometimes sad, of a group of residents in an entirely Ethiopian neighborhood. All the generations are represented, from the patriarch of the Zrubavel family - a colonel in Ethiopia, now a street sweeper in Israel - to his eight-year-old, Israeli-born grandson Yitzhak - alias "Spike Lee" - whose dream is to make movies.

Through the eyes of the latter, Beru - who arrived from Ethiopia via Sudan one year before Operation Moses in 1984 - tells the story of Yitzhak's aunt, Almaz, the "most beautiful girl in the neighborhood." A talented singer, Almaz wants to marry a distant cousin, despite her father's injunction to respect the traditional rule of not marrying a relative within seven generations. Meanwhile, Almaz's brother Gili, pushed by his father, tries despite racism to enter a selective school to become an IAF pilot, as Yitzhak's parents fight over whether their son will enter a yeshiva or become a soccer player.

"My goal was to show that behind color and culture, there are human beings," says Beru. "I wanted to create an opportunity to see us [Israeli Ethiopians] in a different way than people are used to, to go further than what the news released about us, to make people realize that we are not different from others.

"'It doesn't matter where you come from, you are just a person' - this is the main point of my movie, and it is not only true for Ethiopians. Zrubavel tries to talk about integration in general, and its message can be applied to every other community."

Although he had never directed before, Beru was undeterred.

"My theory is, if you want to do it, just do it. I need a script? So I wrote a script. I need actors? So I found actors. I need money? Okay, I don't have money. I need to raise it. I presented my project to a few producers. I got only negative answers. So I invest my own money to direct a pilot. And I win the support of the Israel Film Fund and the Gesher Foundation. And I started."

DESPITE LIVING in Israel for 25 years, Beru says he still feels "different."

"I still feel I am not judged just as a person, but regarding my origins, my color," he explains. "People like to divide other people into groups. I don't know why, maybe it's easier for them to say, 'You, you are from outside, you are a foreigner, you just came to visit.' And this is what is exposed in the movie. This neighborhood [in the film] is like a ghetto, not connected to the other groups of society, to the rest of the world, and it affects its residents."

One of the issues Beru addresses in the movie is the gap between the older and younger generations in the community.

"For the youth, it's hard because they feel half-half - on the one hand, they want to be like Israelis, and on the other, they want to be like Ethiopians. And it is difficult for them to find a good balance, to mix. Especially when they have to face the reaction of their parents, themselves in a struggle to deal with a new culture and lifestyle very different from their old one," he says.

Beru also shows "a typical Israeli family" trying to contribute to their country.

"The father is very Zionist. [He] wants his son, Gili, to defend his country, even though he already lost another son in the army. He wants him to be a pilot and to be recognized as a part of society," he says.

Beru admits that the character of Yitzhak, the young filmmaker, could be a reflection of himself, although he hadn't planned it that way.

"Yitzhak is just a naïve little boy who wants to do a movie, very simple, with his handmade camera," he explains, adding, "In this business, everyone wants to be Spike Lee and wants to be a voice for their own community."

Beru's next film project is a personal account of his own experiences coming to Israel.

"It will talk about my life, about my journey from Ethiopia to Israel via Sudan. I already have a script," he says. "Now I look for funds to start; it will be huge production."

Former Miss Ethiopia makes Pr. Girma documentary film

2009-06-25T11:10:00.001-04:00

The 2006 Miss Ethiopia Amleset Muchie currently studying filmmaking at New York Film Academy is making a documentary on the life of President Girma Wolde-Giorgis.
The one-hour long documentary which is a school project for the actress, model and director would chronicle a day in the life of the president as told by himself, close associates and her own commentary. The documentary would bring an intimate look behind the Jubilee Palace showing as the president attending staff conference, meeting with dignitaries and ceremonial events.
The 84-year-old president who holds a symbolic office with little power has authorized Amleset to come and document him. Amleset is hoping to start shooting soon and have it ready in months’ time.
The doc would be premiered at the Film Academy and other festivals.
Amleset has already written and produced a romantic comedy, Si Le Fikir (About love) and has also starred in another Amharic film “Ye Felegal.”

Washington-based nonprofit supports excellent Ethiopian adventure

2009-06-23T07:50:00.000-04:00

Washington-based Girls Gotta Run is already supporting Ethiopian girls training to be professional runners.

Now, the Chevy Chase volunteer-run nonprofit is supporting the work of an Occidental College student named Kayla Nolan who is spending the summer in Ethiopia researching the benefits Ethiopian girls and women can reap from running. Like those involved with Girls Gotta Run, Nolan believes involvement in the sport can empower Ethiopian girls and women, offering them paths out of poverty and teenage childbirth to education and independence. Girls Gotta Run helped Nolan write a proposal that netted her a research fellowship from Occidental College, which is fully funding the trip.

As part of her research, Nolan is visiting and getting to know members of the four teams Girls Gotta Run provides support for. Best of all, she's blogging about her experience here.

Girls Gotta Run has raised more than $24,000 in the past two years to buy shoes, training clothes, food and other training essentials for Ethiopian girls training to become professional runners. Among its fund-raising events is an immensely popular art exhibit in the Washington area for which local artists design and sell artwork related to shoes, running and motion.

For more info: Visit Girls Gotta Run online.

Adwa: An African Victory (1999)

2009-06-19T07:35:00.000-04:00

The story of the 1896 battle of Adwa is being told by Ethiopian-born director Haile Gerima. He explores European colonialism from an African perspective and the significance of the legendary battle that defeated the Italian expansionist movement and kept Ethiopia the one and only African country that was not occupied by a European colonial power in the last 200 years.

His argument is quite ambitious and perhaps not entirely justified throughout the movie: the battle of Adwa is a symbol of African liberation for Africans of all nations. It is a source of motivation that has inspired other African liberators in their quest of freeing Africa from colonialism. On one hand, it is true that the fact that Ethiopia has been the only internationally recognized sovereign African could have been a reason for admiration and hope on behalf of various African elites. But actually making the argument that the victory from Adwa was an African victory, profoundly embedded in the political culture of the African people can be fairly misleading: most African liberation fighters were driven by the local specificities and the local hardships. If they found hope and faith in a successful independence story, that might have been Ghana, the first Sub-Saharan country that became independent in 1957, and not Ethiopia. That being said, the documentary is worth watching because it presents how a historical event has been filtrated through the public consciousness of the Ethiopian people. Haile Gerima brings together Ethiopians from very different backgrounds and allows them to tell the story of the battle from their own perspective.

It is obvious that the astounding victory of Emperor Menelik and Empress Taitu to defend their nation against the far better-equipped invading Italian army has served as a source of inspiration for millions of Ethiopians along the years. Grandfathers, fathers, teachers, brothers have instilled in the new generations the passion and the national pride that was sourced in this amazing victory. In fact, the director confesses early on that he came back to Ethiopia to understand, discover and see with his own eyes whether the Battle from Adwa was indeed an amazing victory or simply a myth. He achieves his goal by talking to Ethiopian historians, teachers, professors, singers, artists, old people, children, and random people he meets along the way. He also looks at documents, paintings, engravings, and testimonies that are also shown and explored in this documentary.

The battle of Adwa occurred in 1896, at a time when European powers were advancing in all directions on the African continent, taking over the land and the people either peacefully or by force. As one historian mentions in the documentary, Italians saw Ethiopia as their birthright and consequently desired to take over it. Emperor Menelik II was able to unify all the local factions and bring together an impressive army of about 150,000 soldiers outnumbering the Italians 10 to 1 or even 15 to one. He did that while astutely deceiving European powers by convincing them that he was simply following their directions. After the Italians lost the fights, they left thousands of riffles and means of transportation behind and fled the country.

Why watch the movie?

The documentary is an interesting sociological exercise that is focused on the politics of experience. It shows how very different people think of a particular historical event, what meaning they gain out of that, and how that experience is translated into their every day life. Needless to say, the victory, while significant, has had hardly any consequence on people’s lives. The documentary is worth watching if you have an interest in Ethiopian history or African history in general. It is also an interesting documentary from a visual point of view as it creates a very appealing product by using very limited historical data.

This documentary is rated 8 / 10

Ethiopian supermodel redefines what it is to be a renaissance woman.

2009-06-18T22:53:00.000-04:00

BY CRISTINA GREEVEN CUOMO AND SAMANTHA YANKS | Hamptons Magazine

NEW YORK — At the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Costume Institute Gala last month, Ethiopian model Liya Kebede fit the “Model As Muse” theme perfectly — a stunning, slender and shining muse in a Derek Lam dress. But there is so much more beneath this supermodel's beautiful facade. With two kids (an eight-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter), a husband of 10 years, a sustainable children's clothing line called Lemlem and a design partnership with J.Crew's Crewcuts, it's a wonder she?s able to juggle so much and still look so lovely. And her recent Vogue cover depicts to a tee the manner in which she does so — gracefully and elegantly.

Kebede quickly emerged as one of the world?s top models, landing campaigns like Yves Saint Laurent and evolving far past the girl Tom Ford discovered years ago. As the World Health Organization's Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and head of her own eponymous foundation supporting women in need worldwide, she understands the value of giving back and passing that important message along to her children
.

HAMPTONS: What was the inspiration behind Lemlem?

LIYA KEBEDE: If I weren't a model I wouldn't have done it. As a model, I learned so much about clothes and the making of a garment. I'm from Ethiopia, and on one of our trips we visited local weavers working in poor conditions who didn't have a market for their products anymore. I was in a position to try to give them jobs, keep their art alive and also bring the sensibility of a unique garment to the West. That's the whole picture of how Lemlem was created. I started with children clothes because I love shopping for my children. It also gives kids here something beautiful that was made in Africa.

H: And how did the J.Crew Crewcuts initiative evolve?

LK: I met Mickey Drexler professionally as a model, and I suggested showing them the line, knowing they would love it. And they did. It evolved from me being a model for J.Crew to this bigger collaboration with them supporting this great endeavor.

H: What are some of your fashion must-haves this summer?

LK: I was in Paris for the shows and I bought beautiful K.Jacques sandals. I also love Proenza Schouler, Marc Jacobs, Derek Lam and Lanvin.

H: How did your modeling career begin?

LK: I modeled when I was in Ethiopia, doing little fashion shows for school. I fell in love with it and thought I would model to pay off my college tuition. I went to Paris and had a rough time, then moved to America and pursued it. I was in Chicago for two years before I made the big move to New York. I was here for about a season before I booked my first Tom Ford show. I feel like Tom discovered me.

H: This year you're starring in a film that chronicles another model's career. Tell us more.

LK: It's the story of Waris Dirie, a Somalian model in the '90s. She ran away from home as a young girl to flee an arranged marriage. She was discovered by Terence Donovan while working in London and became a renowned model. At the height of her career she became a goodwill ambassador and spoke for the first time about how she was circumcised as a little girl. She had an incredible life, and she wrote an autobiography called Desert Flower. We made the movie from that book.

H: You?re also a goodwill ambassador. Do you travel often for the UN?

LK: I was in Senegal before Christmas for an AIDS conference. It's always nice to go on the ground because you get such a better understanding of what is going on there.

H: And when you're in the Hamptons, what are your favorite things to do?

LK: We play tennis a lot. And we love the quiet. To be able to open your door and go out in the garden and have that still moment while the kids can be in the backyard — I find that beautiful and very relaxing. The kids are in the pool the whole day. We go grocery shopping, and they have cute toy stores. We also love going to the cinema in East Hampton.

H: What are your goals for your foundation?

LK: We try to help mothers get basic health care during pregnancy and delivery. Every minute a woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth, often from things that are completely treatable or preventable. In five years I want the whole world to know about this issue. We want maternal health to be a priority. I would love for Mother's Day to become a celebration of mothers around the world — a day not just for your mom, but to remember others and to help save a mother in another part of the world.

H: You managed to make your business "sustainable." How does that work?

LK: The challenge is to help these women be independent by giving someone a job so they can earn money, support their families and send their kids to school.

H: And how do you think President Obama is doing?

LK: Fantastic. It's such a moment for us to have him as president. The way everybody sees America has completely transformed since he's been in office, and everybody is looking up to him. For me and my kids, living in America, it's so great to see a black president. I'm not sure I thought I would ever see it in my lifetime. And now for my kids it?s something normal, which is priceless.

Long Distance: A film about an Ethiopian athlete in the Bronx

2009-06-10T08:00:00.000-04:00

Events News
Source: Brooklyn International Film Festival
Category: Documentary
Director: Moritz Siebert
(a freelance journalist, a medical doctor and a filmmaker)
Showtime: 2:00 pm | Saturday June 13 | Brooklyn Heights Cinema

Synopsis
Abiyot is one of several African long distance runners, trying to make a living and career in the US. Once he was a promising member of the Ethiopian national team, but two years ago he left his country to start a new life. Weekend after weekend, he races with fellow African athletes in road races, competing over a few hundred dollars of prize money. The film follows Abiyot as he prepares for an important race. Every morning at break of dawn he tirelessly trains in the empty streets of his Bronx neighborhood. With every aspect of his daily routine centered on his training, his footsteps not only dictate the rhythm of his life, but also become the pervasive rhythm of the film. In phone calls with his family back home, Abiyot tries to convince them and himself, that the running will pay off in the long term… A film about endurance, migration and the American Dream.

WATCH TRAILER

Married celebrity entrepreneurs

2009-06-09T08:21:00.000-04:00

These dynamic duos give new meaning to "power couple."

Beauty, fame, entrepreneurial success--that's more than most of us can hope for.

Now imagine marrying someone who also brought those qualities to the altar. Such rare, dynamic duos exist. Each on his or her own is a force--in entertainment, fashion, food, you name it--but together, these couples give new meaning to the expression "power couple."

Take Beyonce Knowles, 27, and husband Shawn Corey Carter, aka Jay-Z, 39. The former lead singer of girl group Destiny's Child, Knowles has rocked a Grammy-winning multi-platinum R&B solo career since 2003. She's also appeared in movies like Dreamgirls and The Pink Panther, and has racked up millions in endorsement fees from the likes Pepsi, L'Oreal and Armani.

Hip-hop hubby Jay-Z, meanwhile, is no slouch as an entrepreneur. Former chief of the Def Jam record company, he also founded clothing line Rocawear in 1995, which he sold to Iconix Brand Group in 2007 for $204 million. Concert promoter Live Nation recently signed Jay-Z to an exclusive 10-year, $150 million deal covering all merchandising, promotion and touring. Beyond the music and fashion realms, Jay-Z owns 40/40, a chain of upscale sports bars, and has a $4.5 million stake in the New Jersey Nets basketball squad. Real estate holdings include a mid-block parcel on the West Side of Manhattan, purchased for $66 million in late 2007, on which he plans to build a hotel.

Makes you tired just thinking about it all. It begs the question too: When do these busy lovebirds ever get a chance to share a relaxing cup of coffee?

Then again, when you're hardwired for accomplishment, down time doesn't take top priority. "Could you imagine if I didn't work and just sat and home and waited for him once my kids went to bed?" asks Gelila Assafa Puck, second wife of celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck. Ethiopian-born Assefa Puck owned her own Los Angeles couture store from 1998 through 2001. In 2006, she launched a line of high-end handbags, manufactured in South Africa, that sell for $7,000 to $30,000. (She says she hopes to return to fashion design when her 2- and 4-year-old sons are old enough for school.) If that weren't enough, she also operates a non-profit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that sponsors secondary schooling for about 400 children.

Supermodel turned furniture- and cosmetics-marketer Cindy Crawford admits that finding enough quality time with club-owner husband Rande Gerber and their two kids can be a struggle. Get it right, though, and there's a hidden upside, she says: "If you love your job and you're passionate about it, it's good for the kids because they see me doing work that I like."

As for Gerber, he knows the power couple has to stay vigilant to maintain the right balance. "We make our own schedules, and we go over them often to make sure we're together enough each month and with our kids," he says.

Another benefit to tying up with a celebrity entrepreneur: synergy. Gerber's international portfolio of bars, hotels and nightclubs--including the Stone Rose Lounge in New York, L.A. and Scottsdale, Ariz.; Midnight Rose in Madrid, Spain; and the Rose Bar in Cancun, Mexico--syncs well with Crawford's living billboard persona. "In some cases, one plus one is more than two," says Crawford. "Rande gives me a cool factor. He's New York and a nightclub guy. I probably give him the glitz and glamour factor."

Yet a third dimension to celebrity unions: "A relationship or marriage gets the public to see a celebrity in a different light as a wife, husband, mother or father versus a movie star or a TV star," says Chalcea Park, managing director of talent and licensing for Davie Brown Entertainment, a branding consultancy. That connection can endear customers to an enterprise in a way that a two-dimensional magazine page or a movie screen can't.

Last but not least, there's the good, old-fashioned empathy and support that come from being married to someone who truly understands your plight--and who can offer a welcome fresh perspective. "If there's a big decision, [Rande and I] talk to each other," says Crawford. "We do very different work, and it's good, because he can give me a totally different perspective on business decisions."

(Maureen Farrell, forbes.com)

Matt Damon Visits Ethiopia — One By One

2009-06-04T08:29:00.001-04:00

ONEXONE Foundation Ambassador Matt Damon brings awareness to Africa’s water crisis, visiting a hand-dug well just outside Mekele, Ethiopia on Tuesday (April 20).

In his right hand, the 38-year-old actor holds a bottle of regular water, in his left is a bottle of dirty water local children in Mekele drink everyday.

You can view more pictures and video from Matt’s trip at OneXOne.com.

Matt also made a trip to Rwanda, where he met President Paul Rigame and visited a Millennium Village, hospitals and clinics.

Ethiopian Supermodel Liya Kebede honors Shaft

2009-06-04T08:06:00.000-04:00

Gotham Hall in Manhattan on Tuesday night was all about glam and diversity as model Liya Kebede, Russell Simmons, Isabel Toledo, and Bruce Weber accepted awards from The Gordon Parks Foundation. “Gordon Parks was my man! He was my hero!” said Russell Simmons before sitting down to join an audience that included Anna Wintour (dressed in shimmering gold), Ralph Lauren (with wife Ricky and son David in tow), and designer Zac Posen. “Gordon Parks comes from the tradition of photographers who look so carefully at the people who wander the streets,” said rocker Patti Smith. “He made me see the human being a little differently. You’re in the subway and all of a sudden you see people’s ruminations, sorrows, and the whole tableau of human emotions.” Smith recounted how when she first came to New York, her first stop was Café Reggio’s because she recognized it from the soundtrack to Parks’ seminal blaxploitation film “Shaft”. “’Shaft’ was mind-blowing,” said Kebede, who saw the film as a kid growing up in Ethiopia.

The evening was more sneakers and suits than Shaft-like cool, except for the striking emcee, Andre Leon Talley. The Vogue editor-at-large was dressed in a massive black Isabel Toledo caftan coupled with an oversized gold Roger Vivier necklace and diamente buckle shoes (talk about bringing on the bling). Manhattan awards galas are notorious for being of epic length, but last night’s ceremony galloped along at a perfect pace, with Bruce Weber’s funky documentary “Liberty City Is Like Paris To Me” — which portrayed joyous Floridian street scenes during this past January’s inauguration — the meandering exception. Best that Bruce, swaying backstage to the music of his documentary, stick to photographing labs and naked young men.

Parks (a renaissance man who was a photographer, cinematographer, musician, poet, novelist, journalist, activist, and film director) was lauded throughout the evening for his ground-breaking role as an African-American artiste and for his non-Avedon-esque, un-staged fashion photography. “He’s an inspiration to me,” said hot young fashion designer Chris Benz, “because there’s a nice electricity showing that things aren’t so perfect.” But perhaps the most touching moment in an otherwise serious evening was when artist Ruben Toledo toasted his wife, designer Isabel Toledo. After praising Parks for his “soulful glamour,” Toledo couldn’t help but note “and my wife makes the best Cuban black beans in the world.”

Ethiopia's Mulatu Astatke goes to England

2009-06-01T09:38:00.000-04:00

Mulatu Astatke/The Heliocentrics
Strut Records (www.strut-records.com)

You can hear the creative sparks flying on this self-titled collaboration between renowned Ethiopian instrumentalist and bandleader Mulatu Astatke and The Heliocentrics, an innovative musical collective from the UK. The Heliocentrics backed Astatke on a rare live appearance in London in 2008 and joined him a few months later to capture in the studio some of what had worked so well on stage. It’s a good thing that everyone involved (including some other London-based Ethiopian players and singers) had time and energy to spare, because the resulting CD melds Ethiopian tradition and freewheeling fusion as perfectly as Dub Colossus linked Jamaica and Ethiopia on last year’s In a Town Called Addis. If you’ve heard any of the discs from the Ethiopiques series on Buda Musique, several of which feature Astatke’s work, some of these pentatonic scale arrangements and jagged rhythms will be familiar. But that’s only part of the story. There’s strains of Fela Kuti's Afrobeat, Latin grooves, vintage analog effects, mysterious melodies, intros that go from kitschy to way cool and Far Eastern riffs, all wound around ear-grabbing piano, percussion, vibraphone, horns, strings, guitar, standup bass and rustic Ethiopian harp and flute. Most of the tracks are instrumentals carried along on currents of pure inspiration and musical ideas seemingly coming together on the spot but too perfectly realized to be arbitrary. It’s as though everyone involved knew something special would happen and just let it flow. This disc is not really a combination of old and new; it’s more an instance of the old being brilliantly expanded. -Tom Orr

Listen

Final Teddy verdict in 15 days

2009-05-26T07:58:00.000-04:00

Late last Friday afternoon, the Appeal Court of Cassation at the Federal Supreme Court adjourned the case of Tewodros Kassahun, popularly known as Teddy Afro, to June 11, 2009, for a final verdict.

Teddy was jailed on April 16, 2008, for a charge of killing a homeless boy in a car accident and fleeing the scene. When the verdict was reached he was sentenced to six years in prison and fined 18,000 birr by the Federal High Court 8th Criminal Bench in December, 2008.

The appeal judge, Justice Dagne Melaku, at the Federal Supreme Court announced the court sustained the guilty verdict, but reduced the sentence, adjudicating that the deceased had a role in the accident that cost him his life. Because of this, the court cut the original sentence to two years and the fine to 11,000 birr in February this year.

The decision was based on the finding that the deceased was unconscious due to alcohol consumption and was sleeping in the middle of the road when the accident occurred. Due to a lack of lighting, the court reasoned it would be almost impossible for a driver to spot a person at night.

But Million Assefa, Teddy’s lawyer, opposed the court’s decision and he went to appeal at the Cassation Bench of the Federal Supreme Court.

Teddy has already served almost 13 months in jail and with a probable probation for good behavior he should be free in less than a year. If probation is given it is four months per year in jail, so the singer gets eight months of probation which slashes his stay in jail to six months from now.

However, the length of his imprisonment is dependent on the final verdict.
Teddy Afro entered the Ethiopian music scene in 2001, and has made three albums since and a number of singles. He was well accepted by the audience for his varied style and his powerful lyrics that he wrote himself.

His die-hard fans, however, still refuse to accept he could be guilty, continuing to maintain that he is the victim of a political vendetta because Teddy Afro’s music was identified with the opposition’s cause at the time of the controversial 2005 elections.

Teen Ethiopian Beauty Crowned “Model of Africa 2009″

2009-05-20T13:13:00.003-04:00

Miss Millennium Teen Intercontinental;Bewunetwa Abebe representing Ethiopia at the recently concluded International Beauty and Model Festival 2009 in Kunming China, has won the title of Model

United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland (Press Release) May 19, 2009 –

Miss Millennium Teen Intercontinental;Bewunetwa Abebe who was representing Ethiopia at the recently concluded International Beauty and Model festival 2009 in Kunming China, has won the title of Model of Africa,

19year old Bewunetwa Abebe was participating in her first event international event having been crowned Miss Teen Millennium Intercontinental as part of the Ethiopian Millennium Festival of Beauty, and did not only her nation proud but her family as well. Bewunetwa Abebe comes from a long line of Beauty Queens in her family as her two older sisters have also successfully represented Ethiopia in several National and International beauty contests over the years.

Current Washington DC based Model: Ferehiyewot Abebe her older sister was the first Ethiopian girl ever to participate at Miss Universe in 2004, she went on to participate in Miss Teen Model of the World, Miss Earth and World Miss University, eldest Sibling Tizita Abebe also took part in Miss Model of the World and Miss Bikini Universe.

The 2009 International Beauty and Model festival was organized by the World Beauty Congress and held in Beijing and Kunming from the 25th April until the 7th May 2009. Beauties of Africa Inc and the Ethiopian life foundation coordinated Ethiopia participation 43 International models took part in this event.

source: FPR

Ethiopian Jazz on Display in London: Mulatu the Magnificent

2009-05-14T09:48:00.000-04:00

Tadias Magazine
Tadias Staff

New York (Tadias) - One of the most anticipated music shows in London next week is Ethio-jazz inventor Mulatu Astatke’s collaboration with the Heliocentrics collective. “Even if the evening doesn’t live up to expectations, the Ethiopian bandleader’s new album is sure to make it onto my end-of-year-list of the best releases,” writes culture commentator Clive Davis on his Spectator blog.

Mulatu collaborates with Heliocentrics collective (VIDEO)

On his blog, Mr Davis also points out the amazing soundtrack of Jim
Jarmusch’s 2005 movie “Broken Flowers”, which featured Mulatu’s
music. Here is the video:

2009-05-07T12:57:00.001-04:00

Each month, we highlight a celebrity’s work on behalf of a specific cause. This month we speak with supermodel, actress, WHO ambassador and mother, Liya Kebede, about her work on health issues related to childbirth. You may recognize Kebede as the former face of Estee Lauder or from the cover of magazines including Vogue’s May 2009 issue. Kebede, who is Ethiopian, founded her own organization to reduce mortality among mothers, newborns and young children and well as to help mothers and children stay healthy. The Liya Kebede Foundation promotes the use of low-cost technology and accessible medical care to help save lives during and after childbearing. The foundation also educates health-care workers and community members on children's health. Kebede also is a World Heath Organization ambassador, a position given to celebrities who advocate for health causes. In 2005, Kebede was named “Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.” Kebede also has a clothing line for children and women called “Lemlem,” which means to bloom or flourish in Amharic, the language of the Amhara people of Ethiopia. She hopes that the handwoven clothing from Ethiopia will continue native traditions as well as support local businesses and economies.

Q: Can you tell us about the Liya Kebede Foundation and its purpose?

Kebede: Right now, we have about one woman every minute of the day dying from childbirth and pregnancy complications in the world, and this is sort of very unheard of in the West. This happens a lot in the developing world. The reason is because women don’t really have access to very basic medical care, so most of these women are dying from very preventable or treatable conditions — simple things like an infection during childbirth will just kill the mother.

What we do in the foundation is we try to raise awareness of this issue because a lot of people don’t really realize that the number one killer of women in the world, in the developing world, is childbirth. You know, childbirth is something that is supposed to be this really beautiful and joyous moment in your life. For a lot women in the developing world, instead being this joyous moment that we experience here, it's filled with pain and it's filled with fear that they might actually lose their lives giving birth. So, that is why we created this foundation. We really want to raise awareness and help programs that support these causes.

Q: What made you become interested in the topic of children’s health and mortality rates among mothers and children?

Kebede: I am a mom I have two wonderful children and I am also from Ethiopia. Growing up there, it was really very normal to see and to hear about women dying in childbirth. It was very, very common. At the time, I actually thought it was a normal thing. Later, I came here and I was lucky enough to have my children in New York and I had the best medical care. The gap is ridiculous. Here, you’re not only in the best care, you get to have sonograms and you get to see if the baby is a boy or a girl. In a developing country, women deliver in a hut by themselves, a lot of times with nobody around. They might not even have clean water by them so any little thing might jeopardize their life or the baby’s life. This is something that I thought any mom, any woman who would hear this story, would feel the importance of it. So, that’s kind of how I got involved.

Q: Please describe your role as the Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Heath.

Kebede: I’ve been with the WHO since 2005. I’ve been their Goodwill Ambassador and we’ve been working a lot on raising awareness of this issue so that more and more people can actually hear about it and put pressure on governments to put a lot of budget earmarks on maternal health, because one of the other problems that we have is this one area is completely underfunded. One of the other problems that we have is this one area is completely underfunded and mothers dying is not something that can be put on the backburner. It's something that’s completely important not just for her life but her children’s life, for her family's life, for the community, for the whole country.

With the WHO we try to get international communities — the West, for instance — to really allocate more funding specifically for maternal health and also the local governments to allocate more funding for maternal health. That’s the kind of work that we want to do and help promote programs that are already existing that help women and children around the world.

Q: How does your clothing line, “Lemlem,” relate to your work with health and mortality?

Kebede: Lemlem is a different kind of aid. It's kind of a social entrepreneurship. The reason why Lemlem was created is I really wanted to help our local artisans, give them economic empowerment, give them jobs, give them money they can earn for themselves so they take care of themselves, instead of just handing out money. This is something that they’re actually earning so its makes it more sustainable. The Lemlem is made from handwoven materials. It's kind of an incredible art. I saw that that art was dying and all these artisans were sitting around not having a market for their beautiful work.

At the same time I think it's kind of beautiful to infuse the West with these beautiful hand-crafted garments. It's kind of a new thing for the West to get used to and also to give trust to the West as well that they can eventually go to places like Ethiopia and all these other different African countries and start manufacturing there so that we can really then boost the economy of the country. I’ve been lucky enough because in a way Lemlem becomes this perfect balance that brings the level of fashion that I have as a model [and] at the same time this possibility to improve the lives of other people. It's kind of a great bridge for me.

Q: What was your most memorable experience working with either your foundation, as an ambassador, or with your clothing line?

Kebede: There is this one story that I think says it all in a way. I was in Ethiopia visiting this town in Bahir Dar. We went to visit this woman who lives in her little hut with her five kids. She also had a granddaughter. She was about 30 years old but she looked like she was about 50. She was carrying her granddaughter with her and her daughter was away working. She had all these little kids at home who were hers. Her village was under a program that the Ministry of Health had started [where] they have two young girls who have graduated from high school and who had two years of intensive study and basic medical care take care of the village.

They come to the houses and talk to the women. They help them with prenatal and postnatal care. They make sure that if there’s a pregnancy at risk, they refer them to a hospital. So they’ve been doing this program with this woman and she’s not literate. She’s never gone to school. I was sitting and talking to her and I asked her what was happening with her daughters and if they were attending school. She said yes, absolutely, they’re going to school.

The daughters were about 11 or 12 years old. There’s a lot of early marriage issues in some of those areas. She said to me, "Absolutely not. I’m not going to have my daughter marry anybody. I want her to finish school and if she wants to marry then it's her choice to marry." I was stunned to hear this coming from her, this woman who in her life was married early and had her children young. She really had no choice. It was the most unbelievable moment.

Then I asked her, "Are you going to have any more children?" She said, "Absolutely not." So I said, "Well, how are you going about not having children anymore?" She said, "I’m going to take my pill." She said to me, "All my life, you know, I thought I was there to give birth and now all of the sudden I have this choice and this power to not have a child if I don’t want to because I can't afford to." For her it was an incredible thing. I was just sitting there and thinking, "Oh my God, this is amazing." I always think about that story.

Q: How can people become involved?

Kebede: The biggest thing that people can do is let their governments know that saving mothers' lives should be a priority. Governments aren't going to invest unless we let them know that we care about this issue. There is a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives right now, H.R. 1410, that would make saving mothers' and children's lives a priority for U.S. foreign aid. Call or write your representative and tell them that you expect them to support this bill. If politicians know their constituents care about this issue, they will care too. Or people can visit the Web site of the Mothers Day Every Day campaign and see how they can take action in their communities.

Part Two of Ethiopians in Hollywood Featuring Filmmaker Zee Mehari (VIDEO)

2009-05-05T07:16:00.001-04:00

Tadias TV
Published: Monday, May 4th 2009

New York (Tadias) - Part two of Tadias TV’s Ethiopians in Hollywood series features writer and director Zeresenay (Zee) Berhane Mehari, who worked as Cinematographer and Second Unit Director on Aida Ashenafi’s highly acclaimed new film Guzo (Amharic for Journey).

The film, which won best picture at the 2009 Addis International Film Festival, chronicles the interaction between two young residents of Addis Ababa and their peers in the Ethiopian countryside. Over the course of 20-days both the urbanites and country folks are forced to confront stereotypes about each other and grapple with issues of gender and privilege. The film is scheduled to premier in Washington DC on May 9th at the Lisner Theater (GWU).

Zee first appeared on Tadias on our June-July 2004 print issue. The following interview was taped in Los Angeles last month. Part one of this series highlighted Academy Award nominee Leelai Demoz, who discussed his role as one of the judges at the 2009 Addis International Film Festival and his experience as a filmmaker.

Ethiopians in Hollywood: Interview with Academy Award Nominee Leelai Demoz (Tadias TV)

2009-04-30T07:40:00.000-04:00

Tadias TV
Published: Wednesday, April 29, 2009

New York (Tadias) - In the following interview with Tadias TV, Academy Award nominee Leelai Demoz, speaks about his role as one of the judges at the 2009 Addis International Film Festival and his experience as a filmmaker. The documentary Guzo (The Journey), directed by Aida Ashenafi won first place in this year’s competition. The film is scheduled to premier in Washington DC on May 9th at the Lisner Theater (GWU).

Leelai’s interview was taped in Los Angeles. Part two of our Ethiopians in Hollywood series will feature filmmaker Zeresenay Berhane Mehari, who worked as Cinematographer and 2nd Unit Director for Guzo.

Ethiopians celebrate the life & works of the legendary singer, the late Tilahun Gessesse

2009-04-29T12:10:00.001-04:00

Washingto, (VOA) — nThe Amharic service’s Radio Magazine hosts, Addisu Abebe and Alula Kebede, bring you a 50 minutes examination of the singing career of Tilahun Gessesse. The singer, an icon of Ethiopia’s thriving entertainment industry, died Sunday April 19, 2009 and was buried Thursday, April 23, 2009 at Trinity Cathedral following a gathering of hundreds of thousands who bid him farewell on Meskel Square.

Guests on the show include the singer’s widow, Roman Bezu, multi-talented veteran musician and composer Merawi Setot who shared the National Theater stage with the King of Ethiopian Song during his more than 45-years career; Tesfaye Lemma, reknown composer, poet and writer, Dawit Yefru, former band member of the famous Roha and current president of the Ethiopian Musicians Association.

Other interviewees include singer Teshoma Asseged and pianist Abduke Kefene who worked closely with Tilahun, vocalist, Yared Yefru, who sang duets with Tilahun in a ride to the air port as the 68-year-old artist caught a flight back home to Ethiopia, the day before he died.

The Top 10 Sexiest U.N. Goodwill Ambassadors

2009-04-17T06:52:00.000-04:00

Living in a world far removed from the reality and brutality of everyday life, celebrities are often considered superficial and self-indulgent. But every so often, the United Nations taps a selfless celebrity to become one of their ambassadors and help them save the world. These celebrities donate their time to making the world a better place…and they look hot doing it.

Source: Jemal Countess/WireImage & Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images

10. Maria Grazia Cucinotta

Source: Daniele Venturelli/WireImage

Maria Grazia Cucinotta is a famous Italian actress best known for her role in the Academy Award-winning film Il Postino and for playing Cigar Girl in the James Bond film The World is Not Enough.

Maria was named an Ambassador against hunger with the United Nation’s World Food Programme (WFP) in 2006. The WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, providing food to more than 90 million people a year. Maria and the WFP strive to eradicate hunger and malnutrition across the globe.

On a field trip to India, Maria urged the international community to support WFP programs as a way of educating hungry and poor children. She told reporters, “Working side by side with WFP has taught me that each one can make a difference in the fight against hunger. Food can serve as a magnet to bring children to school and change their life.” This Bond Girl believes indifference is the enemy of the fight against hunger.

9. Naomi Watts

Source: Michael Buckner/Getty Images

The blonde Aussie actress was named a Special Representative for the United Nation’s program for HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in 2006. The star of 21 Grams joined the U.N. program to raise awareness about AIDS and to give a greater voice to the needs of people living with HIV.

Naomi has participated in AIDS summits and recorded a PSA for UNAIDS. In 2006, she headed to Zambia for a fact-finding mission, which highlighted the socio-economic impact of HIV on women and girls.

"In Zambia, I saw first hand the devastating impact of AIDS on individuals, families, and communities,” said Naomi. “I was both humbled and inspired by the strength and courage of the women, men and children I met, who are truly moving mountains to save lives. They are the real heroes in this fight."

Naomi believes everyone can make a difference in the fight against AIDS and HIV.

8. Nicole Kidman

Source: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Academy Award-winning beauty Nicole Kidman once played a United Nations interpreter in the film The Interpreter. Now she actually works for them. Nicole was named a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in early 2006. Nicole works with the organization to raise awareness of the issues women face around the world.

Last year Nicole was a high profile participant in the U.N.’s "Say NO to Violence Against Women" campaign. She addressed the United Nations, revealing the sobering statistic that one in three women encounter violence against them in some shape or form.

In her speech she said, "I have been UNIFEM's Goodwill Ambassador for more than two years now and I have seen how being born a woman puts you at risk of the most appalling and widespread human rights violation of our time. The "Say NO" campaign provides people all over the world with an opportunity to add their names to an ever-growing movement of people demanding that ending violence against women be made a top priority for governments around the world."

You can join over five million people and say "No" to violence against women by visiting SayNOtoViolence.org.

7. Liya Kebede

Source: Scott Gries/Getty Images

Liya Kebede is an Ethiopian model who has twice appeared on the cover of U.S. Vogue. In 2007 Forbes magazine named her the 11th highest paid model in the world. Liya is more than just a pretty face -- she has a helping hand. In March 2005, she was appointed a World Health Organization (WHO) Goodwill Ambassador. She has made it her life mission to raise awareness of the health risks facing new mothers and infants in her native Ethiopia and around the world.

In accepting her position with the United Nations, Liya made a point of outlining the health risks women face when giving birth in the undeveloped world. She said, “Every day we hear about the dangers of cancer, heart disease and AIDS. But how many of us realize that, in much of the world, the act of giving life to a child is still the biggest killer of women of child-bearing age? That over half a million die every year? Or that three million babies are stillborn? Or that another four million die during the first days and weeks of life?”

Liya also gives back to her native Ethiopia. In 2007, she launched a line of kid clothing that is manufactured in Ethiopia through her charity foundation. The clothes provide jobs and an economic way to rise out of poverty.

6. Catarina Furtado

Source: Alfredo Rocha/WireImage

Catarina Furtado is one of Portugal’s most popular celebrities. She is an actress, television personality, and a champion of women’s rights. Catarina was appointed a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Goodwill Ambassador in 1999. She has worked tirelessly to educate people about sexual and reproductive health as well as participating each year in the launch of the UNFPA's State of the World Population report.

Catarina is proud of the work she conducts on behalf of the U.N. She says, “Being a UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador is being a spokesperson for all the women and children who cannot speak for themselves and who need urgent help. This mission fills me with a huge sense of responsibility. UNFPA fights on a daily basis to ensure that all women, girls, and children are treated with dignity and respect.”

In 2005, Catarina received the "Ordem de Mérito – Comendador" award by the Portuguese Government for her services to humanity.

More on : http://www.spike.com/blog/top-10-sexiest/76313

Justin Timberlake, Kenna & Lupe Fiasco To Climb Kilimanjaro

2009-04-16T07:05:00.001-04:00

Justin Timberlake and Lupe Fiasco will be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro for charity later this year.

The idea for the climb comes from singer Kenna, who was born in Ethiopia and nearly lost his father due to the lack of safe drinking water. The three-piece will embark on the African trek in the Fall, to raise funds and awareness for the water crisis.

"My dad almost died as a child from waterborne diseases in Ethiopia," Kenna tells Elle Magazine, "and he had talked to me about digging a well there, and I thought, 'I have too many friends who would be concerned with the subject of clean water. Maybe I can help out.'"

And speaking of his involvement, Lupe Fiasco adds: "I'm an adventure junkie. Part of the motivation is beating Kenna to the top. Sabotaging his tent, taking the lining out of his coat, lacing it with ants or something like that."

Aster Aweke - Museke African artistes

2009-04-10T08:17:00.001-04:00

By Chale - Posted on April 10th, 2009
Tagged: Ethiopia

View all Ethiopia entries
Date of Birth 1961-01-01
Real Name Aster Aweke

Aster Aweke was born in Gonder, near Lake Tana, in Northern Ethiopia and raised in the capital city of Addis Ababa. At a very young age, Aster realized her passion for singing. As a teenager in a society that did not place a high premium on the singing profession, her decision to undertake a musical career was a difficult one to make. She knew that her choice to pursue a high-profile role in music, especially as a woman, would mean traveling a long and lonely road.

Aster launched her professional singing career at Hager Fikir Theater. In the late 1970s, she began performing at Addis Ababa night clubs, cultivating her songwriting and singing technique and emulating Aretha Franklin, Donna Summer and other Western vocalists whose records were popular in the local discos. She performed at various clubs and hotels, including Hotel D'Afrique, Wabi Shebelle and Ras Hotel, accompanied by the Continental Band, Shebele Band, and Ibex Band (before they became known as the Roha Band).

Aster began her recording career in Ethiopia with two 45 vinyl record releases, followed by nine cassette releases. Her last cassette, Munayë, was released in 1981, coinciding with her departure from Addis Ababa to the United States. This recording cemented her status as an enduring musical tastemaker among music lovers in Ethiopia.

Upon arriving in the United States, Aster settled in northern California. Believing that she had left her musical career behind her in Ethiopia, she focused on continuing her education. Clearly, this decision was very difficult for her, as she truly loved the profession of music. Of this period in her life, Aster says, I was miserable! Luckily, her friends persuaded her to return to the stage and 20 seconds into her first song, she recognized her true calling. I found my happiness was in singing, Aster recalls, and she moved across the country to the Washington D.C. area, which has a large and well-established Ethiopian community. There, she began singing in various Ethiopian restaurants.

In 1985, Aster was on the move again, performing for enthusiastic Ethiopian audiences in cities across North America. In the late 1980s, Aster was discovered by the London-based independent label, Triple Earth, an event that marked her entrance into the World Music scene. Shortly thereafter, she secured a recording contract with Sony Music Entertainment and released two major albums, Aster and Kabu, on their Columbia label. Following her widespread popularity in the United States and Europe, Aster appeared on several radio and TV shows, including the acclaimed Night Music on the NBC television network, where she appeared as a special guest of the host, David Sanborn, one of Americas musical trendsetters. She has also appeared on CNN, BBC radio and television, PBS radio and television, CBC, and Londons Channel 4 Big World Café. Print appearances include Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. Aster not only performs, but also writes and arranges music in her own unique style. Her songs have become anthems to her fans in Ethiopia, as well as to Ethiopians living abroad. Moreover, several of her songs have been included on compilation CDs, alongside other major World Music artists such as King Sunny Ade, Salif Keita, Baaba Maal, Youssou NDour, and Angelique Kidjo. Some of the compilation CDs containing Asters songs are Desert Blues (Network Media, GmbH, Germany), Discover the Rhythms of Africa Today (EMI Music Holland, Netherlands), Afrika (PolyGram, Norway), World Dance Beat, (K-Tel International, USA), Under the African Skies, (BBC Enterprises Limited, United Kingdom), Fruits of Freedom, (Munich Records BV, Belgium), and Its a Triple Earth, (Triple Earth Records, United Kingdom).

Aster has topped both the Billboard and College Music Journals (CMJ) specialist charts. Kabu reached and remained at the ..1 position for four weeks on the CMJ New World music chart and was in the Top 10 for five consecutive charts (10 weeks) on Billboards World Music chart.

To date, Aster has released a total of 20 albums, six of them on CD Aster, Kabu, Ebo, Aster Aweke Live in London, Hagerë, and Sugar. While five of the CDs were recorded in various studios, the Live CD was recorded on September 16, 1996, during a sold-out concert at the prestigious London club, Hammersmith Le Palais, celebrating the Ethiopian New Year (1989 A.D.). A music video of this concert has been made, as well. Since her first CD release, Aster, she has performed for audiences at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, the Hollywood Bowl, and various European festivals. Aster has shared the stage with renowned singers and performers, including Hue Masekela, Maria Makeba, Mano Dibango and Bradford Marsalis.

Aster has just completed her seventh album on CD, a compilation of timeless songs recorded over the last 25 years. She is currently working on a new album to be released in 2004.
When she arrived in her homeland in 1991 for the first time in 16 years, Ethiopian-born and Washington, D.C.-based songstress Aster Aweke was greeted by thousands of loyal followers awaiting her plane. During the month-long tour that followed, Aweke performed before more than 80,000 people and showed that she remains one of Ethiopia's best-loved performers. Aweke has been equally successful throughout the world. Her second album, Kabu, spent four weeks in the top position on the CMJ New Music Charts, and was in the Top Ten of Billboard's World Music Charts for ten weeks in 1990. A native of Gandor, a small town near Lake Tara, Aweke was raised in the capital city of Addis Ababa. The daughter of senior civil servant in the Imperial government, Aweke was determined to become a musician by the age of 13. By her late teens, she was singing in Addis Ababa clubs and hotels with such bands as the Continental Band, Hotel D'Afrique Band, Shebele Band, and the Ibex Band (before they became the internationally known Roha Band). Launching a solo career, Aweke was encouraged by musical entrepreneur Ali Tango, who financed and released five cassettes and two singles of her music. By 1981, Aweke had become disillusioned by Ethiopia's oppressive political climate and relocated to the United States. Temporarily settling in the Bay Area of California with plans to pursue an education; within two years, Aweke continued on to Washington, D.C., the site of the largest Ethiopian population in the U.S. After building a following with her performances in local Ethiopian restaurants, Aweke toured the U.S. and Europe in 1985.

Info from Aster Aweke's Myspace

Ethiopian Beauty Causes Royal Divorce ‘Shocker’ in Europe

2009-04-03T07:39:00.001-04:00

New York (Tadias) - The internet is abuzz with the news that an Ethiopian beauty has wrecked a royal marriage in Europe.

Countess LuAnn de Lesseps and her husband, Count Alexandre de Lesseps, have separated after the Royal sent an email informing his wife of 16 years that he is intimately involved with an Ethiopian woman in Geneva.

According to Monday’s New York Social Diary: “Alex, the Count de Lesseps has, it is said on the streets of Geneva, taken up with a beautiful Ethiopian beauty who is not only quite a bit younger than he but also quite a bit younger than his wife.”

The Count - whose great-great-great grandfather, Ferdinand de Lesseps, built the Suez Canal and started the Panama Canal, later presenting, for France, the Statue of Liberty to America - sent an email to a friend of Luann’s “saying he was with an Ethiopian woman in Geneva and he was serious with her”, NY Post reports.

And New York Magazine says: “Count Alexandre de Lesseps was clearly always lucky to be married to his Real Housewife of New York City, LuAnn…. But, alas, the world is not fair, and according to ‘Page Six’ the aging lothario found some Ethiopian chippy in Geneva to shack up with, like they always do. He let LuAnn know he was leaving her just one month before her book, Class With the Countess: How to Live With Elegance and Flair hit stands.”

Ethiopian born Grammy-nominated singer Wayna arrested at Houston airport

2009-03-27T06:57:00.000-04:00

Ethiopian born Grammy-nominated singer Wayna has been arrested at a Houston airport, AP reported. The following is the report from AP.

Ethiopia - R&B singer Wayna arrested at Houston airport

HOUSTON (AP) — Grammy-nominated singer Wayna has been arrested at a Houston airport after trying to get on a plane with a collapsible police baton that she uses while performing.

Wayna, whose real name is Woyneab Miraf Wondwossen, was charged with possession of a prohibited weapon Wednesday.

Houston police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said Thursday that security guards at the checkpoint at Bush International Airport discovered the 24-inch baton in her carry-on bag.

Wondwossen, 35, was transported to the Houston jail and posted $5,000 bond.

Wayna released her second album, "Higher Ground," in 2008. One of the songs on the album is "Billy Club," a ballad about police abuse, and Wondwossen twirls and points the baton when she performs the song live.

Beauty company to give four star treatment

2009-03-23T20:00:00.000-04:00

Capital

Cosmo Trading PLC, a local beauty care products importing company, is finalizing the construction of its four star hotel in Bole sub city, behind the Saudi Arabian Embassy Residence.
According to the company, 90 per cent of the construction of New York - New York International Hotel has so far been completed and it will open its doors for guests before 2010.

Haileyesus Mengistu, owner and Managing Director of Cosmo Trading, told Capital that the overall construction of the hotel will consume 54 million Birr. "The construction of this hotel is just the beginning. We are planning to expand our presence in the Langano area as the place is becoming a haven for tourists and for retreat- seekers," he said.
Haileyesus added that the construction of the hotel was done by its sister company, Cosmo Trading Construction and Machinery Equipments Rental Company.
The newly constructed complex lies on a 615 sqm plot of land and the expansion of its parking lot and swimming pool is expected to be carried out once the adjacent land is secured by the company. The land was acquired by Cosmo Trading seven years ago from another lease holder for two million birr.

"The hotel will have 44 rooms, six penthouses, a bar and a restaurant that is on a par with the services provided by other four star hotels.
"The furniture is in the process of being imported from well-known brands from Spain," Negussie Awgachew, General Manger of New York- New York Café and Restaurant and Head of the Supervision in the new hotel's construction, told Capital. "It will create job opportunities for 150 to 180 people when it starts business."
Cosmo Trading, exclusive distributor of TCB Naturals and Palmers, among other products, added that it is planning to produce the imported beauty care products here in Ethiopia. "This will save a lot of foreign exchange and it means a lot especially at this time when there is an acute shortage of it, especially for importers," Haileyesus said.
In a related development, Cosmo Trading announced that it is in discussion with major cosmetics producing companies to deal with the current shortage of dollars. According to the plan, the company is preparing itself to send oil seeds and pulses to Kenya and South Africa, two of the major customers of Cosmo Trading, and in will then use the foreign exchange it earns to import cosmetics.

"It is time for all of us to come up with an innovative idea to deal with the shortages. There is no use just sitting idle. We hope we will succeed in our plans, thereby curbing the adverse effects the shortages will have on our company," Haileyesus remarked.

Liya's Crewcuts

2009-03-21T00:00:00.001-04:00

J.Crew partners with Liya Kebede to carry her handmade children's collection, Lemlem
Thursday, March 19, 2009

(NEW YORK) When J.Crew creative director Jenna Lyons and team met supermodel, mother of two, and International Goodwill Ambassador Liya Kebede, a relationship was born. Lyons approached Kebede to appear in the April catalog, but both quickly realized their relationship needn't end there. The product of their partnership? Not only will Kebede be the first model to be the exclusive face of a J.Crew catalog, but J.Crew's Crewcuts line will pick up pieces from the model's handmade children's clothing line, Lemlem. Lemlem (the name means "to bloom") was launched by Kebede in 2007, with all of the pieces made by hand from natural cotton in her native Ethiopia. The line will be available at Crewcuts store locations and at jcrew.com beginning in April.

EPRDF Cheats Thousands Out of The winners of Ethiopian Millennium Pageant and More

2009-03-13T07:58:00.000-04:00

The winners of Ethiopian Millennium Pageant and State owned Ghion hotel have now joined the queue and chorus in the escalating row over past due payments and are also demanding to be paid for the Millennium Pageant held in October 2007 under the direction of State Minister for Culture and Tourism: Mohamuda Ahmed Gass, who has left a long trail of unpaid debts in his wake since 2007 after extensively obtaining the services on credit and misusing official instruments of the Ethiopian government, i.e Official letter heads and his position as State Minister to issue official guarantees to obtain services on credit and promises to pay for the event that was supposed to be a positive enhancement for Ethiopia’s poor international image.

The winning Beauty queens were never paid or given any of their prizes, and many are still even to this day still owed money for their Air tickets to Ethiopia, they were told to buy their tickets and promised by State Minister for Culture and Tourism: Mohamuda Ahmed Gass that they would be fully reimbursed once they got to Ethiopia, but on arrival in Ethiopia apparently Mohamuda Gass and the local partner: Aklilu Telwelde of Ezana Entertainment deliberately delayed paying them in hard currency until the very last minute, and instead would try to give them about 9000 birr instead of US$950, just a few hours before they were due to leave Ethiopia, knowing fully well they could not take Ethiopian currency out of the country.

Several of the girls were thus forced to go to the local black market to change their Ethiopian money into hard currency, a very dangerous practice for them until the main organiser insisted that all the girls must be paid in hard currency and not exposed to danger by going to Illegal black markets.

Aklilu Tewelde of Ezana Entertainment the local partner would deliberately go AWOL and arrive hours after he thought the girls had left for the airport, in one instance Miss Argentina Gisselle Fuentes [photo] refused point-blank to leave Ethiopia until she got her money in hard currency and even changed her flight, but 18 months later she is still owed US$450, Miss Bahamas is owed over US$900, Miss Brazil over US$900, and the list goes on, and this is a big shame for Ethiopian Ministry of Culture to do this to these girls who came to experience Ethiopian hospitality only to be deceived and conned by the Ministry of culture and Tourism, how is it possible for the Minisitry of Culture and Tourism to make such a huge mess of coordinationg just 37 Queens visiting Ethiopia? and this is why this event will sadly never return to Ethiopia again.

Miss Venezuela the winner was never paid her token prize of just US$5000, nor was the runner up Miss Costa Rica: Silvana Sánchez Jiménez paid her prize of US$2000, Miss Tourism Congo: Katissa Kouta, Miss South Africa, Palesa Makwa also did not get their US$1000 prizes from the Ethiopian Ministry of Culture & Tourism and Mohamouda Gass who simply said “that can all be pending, we have no money”

Ghion hotel recently warned and took the Ministry of Culture and Tourism court over it outstanding debts for lodging services provided to the Ministry in October 2007 for the visiting beauties amounting to over 741,000 ET Birr and apparently got an order from the Federal court to pay the money and additional interest of 9% but apparently the Ministry has still not paid them, see newspaper article attached
What is shocking is the belligerent attitude to the whole affair by the Ethiopian Ministry of Culture and Tourism to say they had a budget deficit despite it being held in 2007 and they have to date made no attempt to pay a single penny since 2007, claiming a budget deficit, blaming Sheik Al amoudi and every other convenient excuses they can come up with.

The State Minister at the center of this fiasco: Ato Mohamouda Ahmed Gass has surprisingly simply continued to collect his State Ministerial salary and benefits, keep his plush office and drive around Ethiopia in his official big car since October 2007 to date, whilst everybody else who came to Ethiopia and made huge positive contributions towards enhancing Ethiopia’s International Image have all been left out of pocket since October 2007, with no attempt to settle this matter honorably or in a timely manner, we have repeatedly asked State Minister : Ato Mohamouda Ahmed Gass to act honorably and with integrity and settle this matter over the last 18 months but his response has always been simply to give us more excuses, and finally say: “don’t contact me again” all of which we have documented and will be making public shortly.

Respectfully

Ethiopian Life Foundation

“Teza” Wins African Oscar

2009-03-12T14:25:00.000-04:00

“Teza,” an Ethiopian film about the ruthless regime of the former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, who was in power in Ethiopia from 1974 until 1991, won the Golden Stallion of Yennenga, the top prize at the Fespaco film festival in Burkina Faso, Reuters reported. The film’s Ethiopian-born director, Haile Gerima, currently lives in the United States and his sister Selome Gerima, who also co-produced the film, accepted in his honor at the event, which plays a similar role in Africa to the Academy Awards in the United States.

The second-place prize was awarded to the South African film “Nothing But The Truth,” directed by and starring John Kani as a librarian struggling against racism before and after apartheid. The film is based on Mr. Kani’s play of the same name. “Teza,” about a scientist who returns to Ethiopia after studying in Germany in the 1970s, also won best screenplay and a special jury award at the 2008 Venice film festival in September.

Beyonce Plans Ethiopia Concert

2009-03-12T14:24:00.001-04:00

New York (Tadias) - Beyonce Knowles, the R&B star and actress (who plays the legendary Etta James in the movie Cadillac Records), is gearing up for an international tour, which may include Ethiopia, Entertainment Weekly reports.

Beyonce’s last performance in Ethiopia took place at the Millennium Hall in Addis Ababa, on October 17, 2007.

As to her 2009 schedule, EW says: “While details are still being worked out, she has dates tentatively penciled in for the U.K., Ethiopia, Japan, Brazil, and more, plus a run through the U.S. this summer.”

“I’ve been working on this tour for eight months,” Beyonce told EW. “It’s crunch time! I’ve been rehearsing and trying to make sure I put my set list together. Right now I’m anxious and I can’t sleep — I’ll be wanting to be at rehearsal. That’s the only thing I can think about. But I can’t wait.”

The report also says Beyonce will begin her year-long international tour in Canada later this month.

Miss Ethiopia 2009

2009-03-02T08:48:00.001-05:00

Chuna Okok, a 22-year-old from Gambella and sophomore at the faculty of business and economics at Addis Ababa University, outranked 19 competitors to win the title of Miss Ethiopia 2009 on January 18th.

After being named Miss Ethiopia of 2009, Chuna said that she was excited to win the title as it would leave a message that Ethiopia is a home for beautiful people in its all regions. She will take part in Miss World Cultural Heritage of 2009 due to be held in Namibia this year.

Chuna was asked to explain what helped her win the Miss Ethiopia 2009 competition. She replied that her confidence took the first and major place. Next to that, she said, her color played an enormous role.

On what constitutes beauty, Chuna said, "beauty to me is the cumulative outcome of internal and external beauty. One will not be complete without the other."

Chuna indicated that she will do her best to promote Ethiopia and the harmony of the different nations and nationalities of Ethiopia, through the display of its culture, dressing, food, and way of living. She said she would also like to introduce Ethiopia's rich natural and historical sites and heritage to the world.

Ms. Okok supports my belief and the belief of many people that no one can command attention and symbloize beauty and exoticism like my dark skinned beautiful sisters. With fierce confidence and intelligence in tow, they captivate and mesmerize.

Ms. Okok represents my best friend, my three cousins, my husband's sister and grandmother, my son's ex-girlfriend, and many women of color across the globe. Ms. Okok is truly beautiful to me. In my opionion, she deserves a Barbie.

Go Ethiopia, I'm proud of your representation of diversity in the meaning of beauty!!

Akon surprises his Ethiopian mother-in-law with expensive birthday gift

2009-02-15T11:54:00.001-05:00

The well known Senegalese singer known in the hip hop music world as Akon, is said to have recently presented over $100,000 worth diamond watch to his Ethiopian mother-in-law, APA learns here Sunday.

Akon, who is married to an Ethiopian wife a few years ago presented the gift to his mother-in-law during her 40th birthday celebrations.

The news came as a surprise to a majority of people in Ethiopia where there is no such habit (culture) of celebrating birthdays, let alone making such expensive birthday gifts.

Akon’s mother-in-law is living in Addis Ababa,and usually visits Akon and his wife, particularly when Akon’s wife gave birth a few months ago.

Akon, based in the United States got married to Rosina Bruck a few years ago, and they have a new baby- boy- born at the end of 2008.

Rosina is a designer, known for her best design clothes for famous musicians based in the USA.

Grammy Nods for Two Ethiopian Artists

2009-01-27T08:02:00.000-05:00

Two US based Ethiopian-born musicians are among the 2009 Grammy Award nominees. Wayna (born Wayna Wondwossen, featured on AfricanLoft, April 20, 2008), and Kenna (born Kenna Zemedkun) are both nominated for the Best Urban/Alternative Performance category.

Wayna’s remake tune, Lovin U (featuring Kokayi, watch a live performance of the song ») highlights the ups and downs of the music business through the eyes of an independent recording artist. The song got the nomination for Category 27 on the Grammy List.

For Kenna, his nomination came via “Say Goodbye to Love” — a very-retro, funkified video performance, Watch video »
Wayna attributes her Grammy nomination to the combined power of new media outlets like iTunes and CDBaby.com: “As an independent recording artist, its hard to get enough publicity without the backing of a major record label. The bulk of my records have been sold at shows and on-line through iTunes and CDBaby.”

Her life in Washington DC exposed her to the problems facing immigrant communities. In her song “Home” from the album Higher Ground, Wayna includes a verse about a woman who left home “and a sense of belonging” for the prospect of better economic opportunity.

“So many Ethiopians deeply miss and love their homeland. No matter how acclaimated they’ve become abroad, they feel an aching for that place where they’re completely understood, without effort or explaination. The song, “Home,” is a testament to them and to that longing, which is something I think any person or culture can relate to.”

Kenna is the eldest son of an immigrant family grew up in Cincinnati, and Virginia Beach, according to his entry on Wikipedia. Kenna began to express an interest in music upon receiving a copy of U2’s The Joshua Tree. The way he was discovered and the obstacles he faced to land a record deal are briefly discussed in Malcolm Gladwell’s 2005 book Blink. He attended the same Virginia Beach high school as Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams of N*E*R*D and the Neptunes.

The nomination is a first for the Grammy Awards, no time had two Ethiopian Americans nominated under the same category. “I am thrilled that Kenna and I are nominated in the same year” Wayna stated. “I hope it sends a message to young Ethiopians that there is no goal beyond our reach.”

New York Based Ethiopian Model to Revamp Historical Relic

2008-06-12T14:32:00.000-04:00

The century old traditional house of Dejazmach Ayalew Emiru is to be handed over to Liya Kebede, a super model residing in New York. Feleke Yimer, deputy general manager of the city, has, on June 2, 2008, instructed the city Housing Development Project Office to furnish condominium housing to 24 head of households who are currently occupying the building.

The decision to grant the historical house to Liya was made by Berhane Deressa, former mayor of the city, during his last days in office. The house is located in Kirkos District, Kebele 02/03, behind the Cameroon Embassy off Africa Avenue (Bole Road).

“The one-storey building is not in a good form now,” says Worku Ambaye, who has been staying in the house since 1974. “Rain leaks into the house. It is because I have no better option that I am living here with four of my children.”

Every household has a single or two rooms. Although the house was initially put up with lumber, the residents have been overhauling it with corrugated iron sheets.

What are considered as historical relics in the city master plan are 33 churches, two mosques, 73 houses of former chiefs, 2 institutions, and 17 monuments, trenches and bridges.

The city has plans to outsource such houses to private investors that would like to use them as galleries, hotels or exhibition and bazaar spots. Thus, Dejazmach Ayalew’s was granted to the famous Ethiopian model. Dejazmach is a military title meaning commander of the central body of traditional Ethiopian armed forces. Dejazmach, who died forty years ago, was the leader in the fight against Italy.

Liya’s plan is to revamp the houses a bid to make it a hub for tourists, according to those who were exposed to her proposal.

Liya was born and raised in Addis Abeba. While she was attending Lycee Guebremariam, she was introduced to a French modeling agent. After completing her studies, she moved to France to pursue work through a Parisian agency. She later relocated to New York City. For her 2.5 million dollars earning in July 2007, Forbes named her the eleventh in the list of the world’s 15 top earning models.

http://www.addisfortune.com/New%20York%20Based%20Ethiopian%20Model%20to%20Revamp%20Historical%20Relic.htm

Chris Tucker to make a movie in Ethiopia

2008-06-01T21:08:00.000-04:00

ENA) — The famous American Actor, Chris Tucker is thinking to do a movie in Ethiopia, his favorite African country where he considers as “a second home”.

The actor who was among more than 200 delegates who paid a two-day visit to Ethiopia before heading to Arusha, Tanzania, for the 8th summit of Leon H. Sullivan Foundation transplanted tree in Ethiopia on Friday.

Chris Tucker told ENA on the spot that “Hopefully, I can come back and do a movie. I have to figure out.”

He said “I love Ethiopia. It is my favorite African country. Because of the history… it is just beautiful and the people are beautiful and nice.”

He said “I am happy to be here, this is like my second home.”

“Hopefully I can come back in a year or two …and just show that Ethiopia has so much beautiful greenery. This is a great, great flourishing land.”

“This is my second time (to be in Ethiopia). I am looking forward to coming back. On my first time, I didn’t go out the countryside. Today we went out a little further out. And see beautiful trees and hills. That was really nice,” he said.

Another member of the delegation, CB Hackworth, is also planning to come back to Ethiopia on a film documentary project on Ethiopia.

He said he wanted to stopover before heading to Arusha for a number of reasons, one of which is because he “…wanted to have some meeting here to discuss the possibility of doing a film here in Ethiopia.”

“What we do … is we tell positive stories about Africa,” he said.

According to him, what people outside of Africa know about the continent is what they are told by the media. Mostly, he said, the international media make Africa look a bad place, which he observed is not the true story of Africa.

“People in the US don’t realize they can visit a beautiful city like Addis that there are wonderful hotels and it is peaceful, that they are safe, if people come to know this then they will visit. And it will increase tourism and help the economy. So that is what we are trying to do with the film.”

“We are trying to find positive stories,” he said adding, the initiative of Ethiopia to replenish its lost forest resources in connection with its millennium celebration, which he considers as a wonderful way of marking the millennium, is a positive story.

He said “… News is something happening. For large news organizations, they don’t rush out and spend money and resources to report good things are happening. They rush out and spend money and resources to tell you about a war or a famine. If things are going good they generally don’t consider that news. We are trying to bring some balance to that and say there is more to the world. There is more to Africa.”

“Ethiopia is very civilized. Ethiopia also fought against colonialism. So unlike a lot of parts of Africa, Ethiopia really was able to put its own imprint on its own country. So a lot of your developments are from Ethiopians. So I think that is unique, I think that is something that people who visit will find very interesting,” he said

The golden age of Ethiopian music

2008-05-01T21:09:00.000-04:00

For 17 years, Addis Ababa resounded to African rhythms, Western pop, and European band music. Now that heady mix is coming to the UK. By Andy Morgan

Let's compare two snapshots of recent Ethiopian history. The first is from 1968, when Emperor Haile Selassie I ruled over the proudest and most eccentric nation in Africa, with its Christian Coptic church (that was already well established when the British still worshipped pagan gods), its feudal menagerie of princes, barons and serfs, its vast and verdant central plateau, and its pulsating capital city Addis Ababa, which was then one of the pre-eminent cultural, social and diplomatic hot-spots of independent Africa.

At this time, down in the Wube Bereha, the red-light district of central Addis, royalty rubbed its haughty shoulders with generals and gigolos, bar-room philosophers and peace-corps workers, diplomats and prostitutes, in an intoxicatingly illicit celebration of youth and freedom. Plush hotels resounded to patent-leather-clad feet dancing to the sounds of resident "soul" combos like the Ras Band, All Star Band, Zula Band, Venus Band, Wabe Shebele Band, Roha Band and Dahlak Band. The old guard fumed against youthful decadence and the unwelcome "foreign" influences that seemed to be invading the nation's cerebral cortex. The old order was dying, and those who could either afford or blag their way into the party were dancing like tomorrow would never come.

Fast-forward a mere 17 years to 1985 and the headlines were monotonously brutal: famine, corruption, Eritrean separatists, Live Aid, Bob Geldof, Stalinism African-style, starving children and flies crawling across the face of a desperate nation. Francis Falceto, a young music promoter from Poitiers in France, stepped nervously off an Aeroflot flight from Moscow and into the dark, empty streets of Ethiopia's capital, which had been cleared of all joy and nightlife by the midnight curfew imposed in the wake of the revolution of 1974.

The "swinging" Addis of the late 1960s had become a ghost-town populated by bristling armed patrols and legions of stray dogs. Fear and suspicion reigned supreme. The merest human initiative required a rubber stamp, a visa, a nod from the appropriate apparatchik or minister. Falceto had given himself one week to find two giants of the golden age of modern Ethiopian music – the singer Mahmoud Ahmed and the composer-arranger Mulatu Astatqe – and bring them back for a tour of France. The meetings happened, but the mission failed. It would take many more trips and years of research and frustration before Falceto could begin opening the ears of the world to Ethiopian music.

The tragic discrepancy between these two images of Ethiopia, and the urge to re-establish a just equilibrium between them, is at the heart of Falceto's 20-year-old devotion to the country and its music. Sitting in a hotel room in Camden Town hours before receiving a 2008 BBC Award for World Music for Ethiopiques, his epic CD reissue series, the Frenchman explains his motives while chain-smoking. "Until recently I couldn't start an article or interview without first trying to put things right. Now, I feel that I've spoken enough on that particular subject and that what you can hear or see through the Ethiopian music of that era is like a plea for us to revise the vision we have of that country."

Quite apart from breaking the simplistic bond that has yoked Ethiopia and famine together in the popular imagination, Ethiopiques has won numerous awards, scored a world music hit with its recent Very Best of Ethiopiques release, corralled a cosmopolitan fanbase and revived the careers of some of the leading lights of the golden age, which lasted a mere decade and a half from 1960 to the mid-1970s.

Ahmed is now an A-list attraction on the global-music circuit, saxophonist Getatchew Mekurya has penetrated new musical realms and audiences thanks to his collaboration with Dutch impro-punks the Ex, and the ubiquitous Astatqe travels the world, basking in the adulation of fans of leftfield jazz such as Gilles Peterson, who played host to him at a recent day of gigs and workshops at London's Red Bull Academy.

Now all three along with the singer Alèmayèhu Eshèté will be reunited to perform in a concert - their first ever together outside Ethiopia - in London next month. The 23 beautifully packaged and annotated CD volumes in the series have achieved something that even the Ethiopians themselves believed would never happen.

"When I first met Mahmoud Ahmed in Addis," Falceto explains, "he couldn't imagine, and Ethiopians in general couldn't imagine, that their music could appeal to foreigners. It took years and years of touring in the West for them to accept that non-Ethiopians could swing, groove, jump and love this music."

Cultural isolationism is a natural product of Ethiopia's unique history and geographical location. High up on their lush green plateau, Ethiopians have enjoyed a spiritual and political independence that has lasted thousands of years and was sullied only briefly by Mussolini and his delusions of imperial grandeur in the 1930s.

The earlier victory of Emperor Menelik and his general Ras Makonnen over the Italians at the battle of Adwa in 1896 brought diplomats and bounty-hunters from all over the world to the Imperial court. It also prompted the Tsar of Russia, impressed by the fierce resistance of this ancient Christian kingdom to European colonialism, to donate a full set of brass-band instruments along with the services of a Polish bandleader by the name of Milewski to Emperor Menelik. This is largely how an unorthodox love of European orchestral music was injected into the Ethiopian bloodstream.

By the 1950s, every imperial institution of note, from the army, the police and the imperial bodyguard to the Haile Selassie Theatre, had its own orchestra, comprising scores of disciplined musicians who enjoyed the tutelage of dedicated foreign bandleaders, such as the Austrian Franz Zelwecker or the Armenian Nerses Nalbandian. But it was only after the failed putsch of 1960, in which the imperial bodyguard and its orchestra were heavily implicated, that the strictly regimented system of institutional bands started to crumble and smaller, hipper, funkier groups began to forge a new sound that was both brazenly modern, with a sonic approach broadly synchronised to the soul, jazz and funk that spanned the globe, and resolutely Ethiopian at the same time.

Listen to any of the Ethiopiques CDs, but especially The Very Best Of... or Volume 1: the Golden Years of Modern Ethiopian Music, and this essential quality of alien familiarity hits you from the first note. It's as if Falceto stumbled on a kind of modern musical equivalent of the Galapagos Islands, where inbound musical species, immune to the Latin American, Arabic or Asian influences that dominate the rest of Africa's musical landscape, mutated into strange and wonderful hybrids, executed with a level of musicianship that could stand alongside the best in the West. The quavering vocal style of Muluqen Mellesse, Teshome Meteku, Seyfou Johannes or Alemayehu Eshete, and sparse jagged arrangements of Astatqe or Girma Beyene all provoke the same reaction in the receptive novice:" What on Earth is this?"

"There's nationalism, even at times a chauvinism that borders on the xenophobic, in the Ethiopian spirit," explains Falceto, "and it predates the colonial era by many hundreds of years. You feel that in the music. An Ethiopian will never slap you on the back and say, 'OK, mate, how's it going?' They look down at you and think, 'OK, if you're here it means that things are better than where you come from'. I find that very impressive, but it means that it's sometimes hard to work with them."

The payback for Falceto's obsessive perseverance has come not only in the shape of the international success of Ethiopiques but also the hard-earned respect of Ethiopians both at home and abroad, who have rejoiced in the reversal of the cultural surgery performed by Colonel Haile Mengistu Mariam and his Stalinist Derg regime after the revolution. Ethiopians in their fifties or sixties finally have hard evidence with which to convince their children and grandchildren that their homeland really did achieve musical greatness.

Ethiopiques in concert, 27 June, Barbican, London (020 7638 8891; www.barbican.org.uk) 'The Very Best of Ethiopiques' is out now

Beyonce, Jay-Z wedding confirmed

2008-04-23T18:21:00.001-04:00

A licence confirming the marriage of Beyonce and Jay-Z has been filed with the authorities in New York, an official has said.

The couple held a lavish party in Manhattan earlier this month, but have refused to confirm that they were celebrating their nuptials.

Donna Conkling, a clerk in the suburb of Scarsdale, said the licence had been received by their offices.

The pair have not publicly acknowledged their liaison, dating back to 2002.

Ms Conkling also confirmed the licence had been signed by the official conducting the ceremony.

White tent

The celebration, which took place at Jay-Z's apartment on 4 April, was attended by actress Gwyneth Paltrow and Destiny's Child stars Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, according to US media reports.

White flowers and silver candelabras were delivered to the building in New York's Tribeca district, while a white tent was set up on the roof.

Knowles, 26, and 38-year-old Jay-Z - real name Shawn Carter - have collaborated musically on singles such as Deja Vu, '03 Bonnie and Clyde and Crazy In Love.

It was recently reported that Jay-Z was in talks with concert promoter Live Nation over a proposed $100m (£50.1m) deal which would cover recording, publishing, live shows and other rights.

He was president of hip-hop record label Def Jam until he stepped down in December, and will headline the Glastonbury festival this summer.

Protests over Ethiopia pop singer

2008-04-23T11:01:00.000-04:00

Ethiopia's most popular pop singer, Teddy Afro, has pleaded not guilty to causing the death of a young man in a hit and run incident 18 months ago.

Thousands of young people mounted an impromptu protest after the High Court hearing, running through the streets, shouting, "Teddy is innocent".
Unauthorised demonstrations are almost unheard of in Ethiopia and there was a heavy paramilitary police presence.
At a previous hearing, the noise of his fans almost drowned out proceedings.

More on http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7362885.stm

Ethiopian pop star in custody over hit-and-run

2008-04-21T14:56:00.000-04:00

ADDIS ABABA, April 21 (Reuters Life!) - Ethiopia's best known pop star, Teddy Afro, was remanded in custody on Monday on a murder charge connected to a hit-and-run incident.

The 31-year-old singer, real name Tewodros Kassahun, was charged last week in connection with the death of an 18-year-old homeless man, Degu Yibelte, hit and killed by a BMW registered to Afro in Addis Ababa late last year. He denied the charge in court on Monday, and his appeal for bail was deferred to Wednesday.

Afro, who is hugely popular among young Ethiopians, sings mainly in the local Amharic language.
His last album release, Yasteseryal (Redemption), coincided with Ethiopia's 2005 election that led to violent protests and the jailing of opposition leaders.
Some of his lyrics were construed as politically controversial at the time.

Teddy Afro – An Ethiopian Hero & a Prisoner of Conscience

2008-04-20T07:26:00.000-04:00

By Golto Aila
Teddy Afro is a son of Ethiopia in the purest sense of the word "son"! He has used his talent to entertain us, all of us - young and old, from all backgrounds, and from all walks of life! What many of us preach on this kind of FORUMS, Teddy takes with him on the road - city to city, country to country and continent to continent! Teddy does not only entertain us with music, but he has used his musical as the most effective medium to convey the pain our people live through, day in and day out!

This advocate of justice for our people; this voice for the voiceless; this champion of the oppressed; this ultimate entertainer could have lived in luxury abroad and enjoyed life as most of us do, but knowing the risk to his own life, he returned home to continue the mission he has set for himself! Today he sits in the notorious Kaliti Prison, precisely because of what he does for his down-trodden compatriots! The humiliation he has suffered so far and will continue to suffer hence will be the most poignant symbol of our peoples' suffering for the last two decades!

The tyrannical regime in Ethiopia has spared no effort to silence the voices of those who dared to challenge them, and by locking up Teddy Afro, while simultaneously disenfranchising Ethiopia once again, it has clearly demonstrated its contempt for Ethiopia and its people!The Ethiopian dictator is doing what all dictators do - eliminating those who pose a threat to their grip on power! What shocks me time and again is the utter paralytic inaction on the part of the people into whose eyes this regime has been poking its fingers with impunity!

In the absence of an effective defense of the people’s interest, the regime has been riding roughshod on all Ethiopians irrespective of their background, as long as they are not toeing the line. As I have warned repeatedly in my many write-ups our Tigrean compatriots may well be bearing the brunt of this oppression – history will tell! In my recent write-ups many of which have appeared on these pages, I have tried to lay out why it is imperative of Ethiopians inside and outside Ethiopia form a solidarity forum to try and prevent Ethiopia from slip down the face of a cliff on the brink of which it is currently tittering! As in any culture, our youth are our pillars and future depends on them. I recently lamented that our generation is proving ineffective in the face of an onslaught on everything we value in our culture, I appealed to our youth to make a covenant with our Motherland, and advised the formation of “My Solidarity Forum” youth league!

We have lacked effective tool against this heinous regime, and not because of its strength, but rather because of our weakness! There is no any other way one can explain such humiliation of a population of 80 million people by a handful thugs! There is no organization that I know of in Ethiopia or outside Ethiopia today, to which we can turn and that is a crying shame!!!!

Let us show that we have spine! Let us show that we still have some residue of self- respect, let show that we have a culture we value, let us demonstrate to the world that we have what it takes to regain the dignity which has been the trade mark of our forbearers. Let us show our SOLIDARITY with this young hero who has given all he has for the dignity of his motherland. Let’s honor his mobilization at grass-root level to carry forth his lyrics of emancipation! Let’s show him something as a token of our appreciation for what he has done and continues to do for us! Let us show we have SPINE!

In making this call, may I refer you to my recent write-up “When Our Home is Burning”! Please study and use principle listed therein, and take responsibility to help our Motherland move get out of this darkness. Avoid waiting for someone else to take action and take the lead - evidence from our recent history does not support such an approach! Accept 100% responsibility for Teddy Afro's freedom and Ethiopia's freedom. Do something new, establish a new contact, call a meeting, distribute a flyer, and initiate “My Solidarity Forum”, anything! Don’t let Teddy Afro perish in the hands of one of the most inhuman administration on the continent of Africa today! We can save him, and we can save Ethiopia – we just need to demonstrate self-respect and pride in ourselves and our heritage!

Teddy Afro released a new song

2008-04-18T12:47:00.002-04:00

Teddy Afro, Tedros Kassahun released a new religious song called "HaleLuya". Listen and comment about this music.

Click Here to Listen

The Verdict's In: Paparazzi and Driver To Blame for Princess Di's Death!

2008-04-07T13:00:00.000-04:00

It's been officially confirmed.

Jurors in the inquest into the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed decided Monday that they were "unlawfully killed" by the reckless driving of their chauffeur AND the paparazzi who chased them.

The purpose of the inquest was to determine who died, when, where and how.

Some of the disturbing evidence presented included eyewitness testimony of photographers climbing on to the car in which Diana and Dodi were dying to take photos instead of helping the couple and blood test results that revealed the chauffeur was three times over the French blood alcohol limit.

The six-month hearing into Diana and Dodi's deaths was clouded by conspiracy theories, colourful witnesses and evidence blemished by lies, according to reports.

Monday's decision also firmly puts to an end the many conspiracy theories put forward by Dodi's father, Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed (i.e. that Prince Phillip had them killed so Di couldn't marry Muslim Dodi).

Let them rest in peace now.

Source:perezHilton.com

Ethiopia: Millennium Queen Part of World Record

2008-04-03T13:45:00.001-04:00

The Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa)

Reigning Millennium Queen Kidan Tesfahun is Ethiopia's representative at Miss Tourism Queen Int. 2008 currently under way in China which concludes on the 12th April 2008.

A record number of delegates from around the World are taking part and this contest now holds the world record with 115 delegates attending this years event thus surpassing even Miss World in popularity.

"Ethiopia's Queen of the Millennium is proudly flying the flag for Ethiopia by taking part in this record breaking event and taking centre stage for Ethiopia," The Ethiopian Life Foundation said in a media statement issued in China.

"Kidan Tesfahun As the reigning Miss Millennium Queen and Ethiopian Goodwill ambassador has also just returned from The Congo where she was specially invited by the first Lady as a special VIP guest at Miss Congo 2008, further demonstrating good will and cultural exchanges between Ethiopia and other countries in the millennium year," it added.

Several delegates from the recently held Miss Tourism of the Millennium Beauty pageant, the first ever International beauty pageant to be held in Ethiopia are ironically also taking part in this same event in China i.e. Miss Bahamas, Miss Congo, Miss Liberia, according to the foundation promoting, and sponsoring, Ethiopian women and girls in the outside world.

Ethiopian broke his own record in non-stop laughing

2008-04-01T07:14:00.001-04:00

Belachew Girma, an Ethiopian king of laughter, breaks his own world record of non-stop laughing at the 14th World Genius Impossibility Challenger Competition held near Munich, Germany.

Belachew of Ethiopia improved his world record of non-stop laughing to 3 hours and 06 minutes, which was 2 hours and 14 minutes.

Belachew also registered a new world record by running 111 meters carrying 7-kg flower with a flower-case.

The international competition attracted lots of contesters drawn from 13 countries worldwide.

Ethiopian cowboy film “Kekurbaw Bestejerba” hits screens

2008-03-18T11:18:00.000-04:00

By Alemayehu Seife Selassie

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – The Ethiopian cowboy genre copycat film, “Kekurbaw Bestejerba” (“Behind the Curve”), produced and directed by Nebyou Engdawork, started premiering in Addis Ababa Tuesday at the Sebastopol Cinema.

Nebyou Engdawork has acted in the film as Abraham, a character who lost his father – a long distance truck driver – who was killed during a robbery in the countryside. In the film, Abraham grows up without his father and later be becomes a driver for the Ministry of Health.

Driving cross-country, the young man comes across another mugged driver who just lost his brother. The incident reminds Abraham of his dad, leading him to form a partnership with his new friend. The two become vigilantes on the hunt of the killers.

“I wanted to make an adventure film portraying Ethiopian natural elements, such as the forest and horse. This has made our film unique,” the director explains.

“We should not always try to use modern elements in film, such as the fancy cars and beautiful houses. Those are not the things that most of the people in our country have. Ethiopia has the largest number of cattle in Africa, and the tenth largest in the world. That is our true identity,” the director explains.

Despite having no experience, Nebyou took up the art of filmmaking, with which he fell in love when he was a child. The film “Kekurbaw Bestejerba” consumed over 450,000 birr to produce, but the cost would have been much more if it was not for the assistance the director found from close friends. But shooting in the countryside, some 200-300 kilometers away from Addis Ababa, raised the cost. “We bought some six horses, and transporting them was difficult,” the director said. “I grew up watching those Texan films, and horses are really beautiful. Such horses cost in the millions of birr around the world, but here they cost just 3,000 birr each. But the beauty they add to the film is a lot more than that,” he added.

According to Nebiyou the film is based on true events. “There are still people that rob long-distance drivers and passengers, using various curves to stop cars.”

Kekurbaw Bestejerba in a way also shows the harmony of religions in Ethiopia. In the film, the two vigilantes are a Christian and a Muslim. “My character is brought up in the film with a Muslim uncle, though the rest of the family is Christian. So that shows you not only that we can coexist – tolerating each other – but also that we are family,” Nebiyou said.

The production company that released the film is Tatek – the name of the Ethiopian Emperor Tewodros’ horse. In the near future, the filmmaker hopes to collect the opinions of viewers and make another Ethiopian film that shows battles fought by horsemen.

After screening at Sebastopol Cinema this week, Kekurbaw Bestejerba will premier at City Hall and Ambassador Cinema. Kekurbaw Bestejerba finished its final editing two months ago and had its official release two months ago, but had to wait for a venue.

25 main actors and over 150 extras took part in the film. With the exception of one actress, the actors are all new to film.

Source: Sub-Saharan Informer

Ethiopian artists in Maryland connect to homeland

2008-03-12T14:37:00.001-04:00

By Naomi Brookner, The Gazette

The aromas of incense and freshly ground coffee filled the Takoma Park Community Center on Saturday during a reception for the city’s first art exhibit to exclusively showcase local Ethiopian artists.

The exhibit, which will be on display throughout March, features the photography and paintings of four professionals, all originally from Ethiopia, as well as about a dozen Ethiopian students from Piney Branch Elementary School.

Setegn Atenaw plays the mesinko, a violin-like instrument widely played in Ethiopia, for a crowd gathered Saturday. (Photo: Naomi Brookner)

Alice Sims, who organized the exhibit through her Takoma Park-based nonprofit group, Art for the People, said the show was meant to provide an opportunity for cultural exchange between the area’s large Ethiopian population and the community.

Several dozen people attended the reception Saturday, which included an Ethiopian coffee ceremony, Ethiopian food donated by local restaurants, and the music of Setegn Atenaw, who plays the mesinko, a one-string Ethiopian instrument.

Artist Matewos Legesse came dressed in a traditional white shirt, pants and shoes that he said would be worn to formal events in Ethiopia. Legesse contributed several paintings to the exhibit, many depicting women and apples painted in vivid colors.

‘‘The colors of Africa are so bright, very colorful,” said artist Debebe Tesfaye, whose paintings of Ethiopian market scenes also featured vibrant colors, which he said is a reflection of the dress and culture of the east African nation.

Photographer Andarge Asfaw, who came to the United States in 1972 and lives and works in Silver Spring, said he has traveled to five continents, but nothing compares to being able to capture images of his homeland.

Asfaw’s photos at the exhibit were from a trip back to Ethiopia he took in the 1990s and illustrated scenes that included wheat fields, mountains, churches and marketplaces.

‘‘When you travel to a new place, you have no idea what it’s like; you have no understanding of the culture,” he said. ‘‘But when you travel back to a country after 27 years, you can see if it moved backward or forward.”

To Asfaw, Ethiopia has moved backward in one major way. Three decades ago, he said, the country was 80 percent forest, but as nomads cut down trees for cooking and fires, that number is down to 3 percent.

One of Asfaw’s photographs showed an Ethiopian market built around a large tree with far-reaching branches — an image he says is very rare in Ethiopia these days. He said he is trying to use art as a way to alleviate the problem of deforestation, and profits from his recent book will go toward the county-based nonprofit group Trees for the Future.

Tebabu Assefa, a member of the Takoma Park Community Action Group, which co-sponsored the event, said he wanted to give the public a chance to see Ethiopian culture, but also allow local Ethiopians to embrace their own traditions.

‘‘Each community has its own rich history, rich culture, but all of them are busy in life,” said Assefa, who came to the United States from Ethiopia in the 1980s. ‘‘They’re busy assimilating and trying to make art, and they don’t have the opportunity to bring their culture out.”

Next to the main exhibit, in the passageway that leads to the atrium’s main hallway, hangs the art of several Ethiopian students from Piney Branch Elementary School.

Rachna Rikhye, the ESOL teacher at Piney Branch, said she was approached by Sims after collaborating with Art for the People on a previous project. She thought it would be a great way to involve her Ethiopian students, several of whom drew self-portraits for the exhibit.

‘‘The kids really enjoyed themselves and had a very positive experience,” Rikhye said. ‘‘They showed a lot of pride in their culture.”

Asfaw said that kind of community involvement was welcomed by the artists.

‘‘It’s great,” he said. ‘‘You appreciate the community to be able to embrace and appreciate our work and support our causes.”

Mulatu Astatke performs at Harvard Univ.

2008-03-07T07:47:00.000-05:00

By Corydon Ireland, Harvard News Office

It’s not easy to be a musician in most of the Third World, said legendary Ethiopian composer and musician Mulatu Astatke, who is a 2007-08 Radcliffe Fellow. Music is not typically taught in elementary schools, and in later life, opportunities for musicians are limited by poverty.

In Ethiopia “we have beautiful music, beautiful dance, and in general we have a beautiful culture — but little chance to develop,” said Mulatu (Ethiopians are generally referred to by their first names) in a Feb. 27 presentation.

The slight, soft-spoken composer was at Radcliffe’s 34 Concord Ave. Colloquium Room to give an audience of 70 a primer on Ethiopian contributions to world music — and on his own contributions as a transnational composer. (Mulatu originated a jazz fusion form known as Ethio-jazz. He recently composed music for the soundtrack of director Jim Jarmusch’s 2005 “Broken Flowers.”)

Early on, Mulatu wanted to be an engineer. But he went to high school in North Wales, where a rich arts curriculum allowed him to uncover his talent for music. “I found my calling there,” he said.

Then came more music schooling in London, before Mulatu moved to Boston, where in the late 1950s he was the first African student at the Berklee College of Music — “the only place in that time,” he said, to study jazz.

After further training in New York City, and more than a decade in the West, Mulatu moved back to Ethiopia, where he survived decades of civil war and the vagaries of changing political regimes. Mulatu taught for a living, though he was pressured out of one university job for promoting “imperialist music.” He also pioneered a groundbreaking radio music show in Addis Ababa and traveled frequently into the countryside to perform.

Today, the 67-year-old composer considers part of his musical mission to revive and improve upon the traditional instruments of his country. Modern groups are recording music based on Ethiopian rhythms and musical themes, said Mulatu, but none is reawakening the potential of traditional instruments.

For one, he pioneered the idea of increasing the number of strings on the krar, a bowl-shaped six-string lyre traditionally made of wood, cloth, and beads. He upgraded the instrument — now commonly amplified — to eight strings, then to 12.

If traditional instruments are limited, young players will turn to more versatile Western instruments — and lose a sense of their own culture, said Mulatu. There are ways to alter and improve the old, he said, without compromising the tonal qualities that underlie Ethiopian music.

The composer’s own signature instrument is the vibraphone, a set of graduated aluminum percussion bars that resemble a marimba or a xylophone. In Mulatu’s hands, said Kay Kaufman Shelemay, “the vibraphone becomes the dawal” — the resonant “bell stones” that call the faithful to prayer at Ethiopian churches. (Shelemay, also a Radcliffe Fellow this year, is Harvard’s G. Gordon Watts Professor of Music and a professor of African and African American studies.)

After his Western training in music, Mulatu made a study of the complex layering of regional Ethiopian music traditions. It’s “a very diverse and a very [musically] rich country,” said Radcliffe Fellow Steven Kaplan, a professor of African studies at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. At the presentation, he praised Mulatu for delving into lesser-known musical traditions among tribes in southern Ethiopia.

The composer once brought musicians from four different tribes together in an Addis Ababa television studio and orchestrated a cross-tribal fusion performance. Clips from that filming were among the several musical and video interludes played or shown during the Radcliffe event.

To the Western ear and eye, the wind instruments were captivating. They included long trumpetlike wooden horns called malakat and end-blown flutes that each produce one pitch and together a complex melody.

The ideal way “to explore multiple forms” of music, said Mulatu, is through jazz.

Performance opportunities like the one in Addis Ababa also give obscure musicians (many of them farmers) artistic exposure beyond their villages, he said. “These people have been deprived of being heard in the world, or even their own country.”

Performance is also one way of bringing Ethiopian music into the modern age, and to “give identity to modern Ethiopian music,” said Mulatu. “I’ve been writing music here to come up with that identity.” He described the Radcliffe experience — with its opportunities for reflection, collaboration, and composition — as “one of the best years of my life.”

Mulatu is writing music for an electronic opera, and the first section of it will premiere in Harvard’s Sanders Theatre April 14. “The Yared Opera” will blend the old and the new, and incorporate traditional chant texts in Ge’ez, the Ethiopian liturgical language.

Part of the opera score was sneak-previewed on DVD for the Radcliffe audience. It’s based in part on the chant of St. Yared, the founder of Ethiopian church music thought to date back to the sixth century. Mulatu hopes future performances will feature live musicians in concert with the electronic version, and staged at the rock churches of Lalibela, a holy city in northern Ethiopia.

While at Radcliffe, Mulatu is also working on an oral history project with Kaplan and Shelemay. The two scholars have recorded 11 sessions with him so far, including the Feb. 27 presentation. Kaplan and Shelemay sat on either side of him, and alternated asking questions.

The oral history sessions, including DVDs and recordings, will be added to a new collection on Ethiopian musicians in the United States that Shelemay is assembling for the Library of Congress. She called Mulatu an “ambassador” for Ethiopian artistic tradition.

The premiere of the first section of Mulatu Astatke’s ‘The Yared Opera’ is part of a free performance of his works by the Either/Orchestra at 8 p.m. April 14 in the Sanders Theatre. The concert is the final note of an April 13-14 Ethiopian Cultural Creativity Conference at Harvard, which features scholarly presentations on the visual, musical, and literary artistic contributions of the Ethiopian diaspora.

The World's Richest Black Person is from Ethiopia

2008-03-07T07:34:00.001-05:00

Ethiopia born Mohammed Al Amoudi is the World's richest black person with a net worth of $9 Billion. Forbes magazine March 2008 edition puts him at number 97 in the world and the 6th richest person in all of Africa and Middle East.

Forbes wrote "Two of the most noteworthy new entrants are South Africa's Patrice Motsepe and Nigeria's Aliko Dangote, the first black Africans to make their debut among the world's richest. Dangote is also the first-ever Nigerian billionaire." I have no idea what Forbes editors think of Mohamed Al Amoudi who was born and raised in Ethiopia, whose mother is Ethiopian.

By our count of the World Billionaires list from Forbes, Ethiopian born Mohamed Al-Amoudi is the World's Richest Black Person. The second richest black person is Nigeria's Dangote.

So let it be known, the richest Black Person is Ethiopian.

Other Black Billionaires

The second richest black person is Nigerian Aliko Dangote after Ethiopia born Mohamed Al-Amoudi shown below.

Aliko Dangote

And 46 year old South African Patrice Motsepe is the third richest black person

South African Patrice Motsepe

Source: Nazret.com

miss tourism of the millennium - ethiopia 2007

2008-03-05T13:07:00.001-05:00