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Much ado about statuary
A new statue erected in the chic parts of Addis is getting residents talking. Standing serene and sedate in the western parts of Bole Medhani Alem Church, the sculpture depicts someone who is currently...
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Addis’s growing art scene
It has been an important week for Addis’s cultural life as the city has come to declare its emerging artistic identity.The third edition of Art of Ethiopia exhibition took place from the 21st to the...
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Painting chosen for jazz fest poster
An artwork by an Ethiopian artist Eskender (Alex) Maffi has been selected as a poster for an international jazz festival. The acrylic painting titled “The Pianist” would be the 2011 official Montreal...
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New Gigi album arriving in November
It has been five years since Ejigayehu “Gigi” Shibawbaw released an album of new material with Gold and Wax in 2006.Though her last album has not been a commercial success at home, fans have been...
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Addis Acoustic Project on RFI
The Addis Acoustic Project, a project that has been attempting to revive sounds of the ’50s and ’60s, has been playing regular gigs on the home front and has been making a name for itself. The group is...
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Tessema Eshete’s Medina
A restored classic recording of the acclaimed Ethiopian musician and vocalist Azmari Tessema Eshete was reissued last month by the French label Buda Musiques. The luxuriously restored and compiled CD...
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Palace to be transformed into cultural center
The Ras Sehul Michael’s palace, also known as Ras Ghemb, is one of Gondar city’s remaining examples of historically significant architecture. It lends a touch of old majesty to Piassa area where it is...
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Exihibit shows skill of portrait artist
Around forty art works by an artist Tewdros Hagos is on show in Addis’s Alliance éthio-française gallery. Human figures and portraits form the basis of the pieces in the exhibit which opened on Tuesday...
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Addis photo fest
Salima Punjani, an intern with Oxfam Canada, who is also a part time photographer and writer currently based in Addis, contributes this article about the recently-ended Addis Photo Fest, a major...
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Photographer recounts photo fest experience
Award-winning young Nigerian photographer, Emeka Okereke, took part in the First Addis Ababa Foto Fest held December 7 through December 11, 2010. He recounts his experience, hinting the lessons and...
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Exhibition explores themes of childhood and love
An exhibition featuring the work of an Ethiopian artist Workneh Bezu is on display at the Alliance Ethio-Française starting from 15 February. Entitled “I did what I think”, the main subject of the...
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Addis to get in the rhythm with jazz fest
About five thousand people are expected to attend a series of concerts in Addis in this year’s Acacia Jazz Festival that runs across a weekend on 26-27 March. Live music performances will be held at...
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Rasta root explored in rare exihibition
Rasta is resilient: That’s what comes through in the “I’N’I story” documental exhibition by the Rastafarian community at the gallery of the Alliance éthio-française from March 17 to 19. The community...
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Artist found his calling in banana plant
Simple, stylish, warm and with uncanny ability to look casual and almost carless. His sentences come slowly, the ideas carefully exposed to release his inner self. The 60-year-old slight, soft-spoken...
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The First Lady of Ethiopian Music
Like eyerusalem and Axum Tsion I saluted before his eyes and his teeth. Woe unto me to fall for one who can’t be disclosed. What mess did I involve myself in? Loving one who belongs to someone else....
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Jazz in the garden
This last weekend music lovers in Addis converged for the 2nd annual installment of the acacia jazz fest for two days of jazz appreciation. True to its promise, the fest offered the best fusions of...
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A Talk with Teferi Assefa, Drummer
Teferi Assefa is a quiet, at times effervescent, and friendly person. A returnee from the United States, this thirty-eight-year-old drummer is one of the new generations of musicians leading the...
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The First Lady of Ethiopian Music (Part 2)
In 1952 the Municipality of Addis Ababa launched the first department of music and theatre. Nineteen young men were freshly recruited to form the core foundation. Help and inspiration in the theatrical...
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Yirga Dubale (1929-2011)
Yirga Dubale, an iconic masinko player, raconteur and poet, left a lasting musical legacy when he died from nerve damage last week aged 82. Over the course of his career, which spanned more than 60...
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Patriarch’s sidekick speaks out
The Patriarch’s unofficial close advisor, Woizero Ejigayehu Beyene, denied abusing her power and influence at the Ethiopian Orthodox Church for unlawful personal gain. Ejigayehu, 66, worked as...
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