Ginbot 7 Formed

Press Release

Ethiopians’ long quest and struggle for justice and freedom is continuing today. The march, though torturous, towards democracy is on. The millions that participated in the May 15, 2005, general election have vowed that no amount treachery and oppression shall break their will to live in a just, free, prosperous and united Ethiopia.

In 2005, 25 million Ethiopians, trusting the words of the ruling party and its western backers and hoping that the election of 2005 will be different from previous elections, went out and registered to vote. The people, along with opposition, were led to believe that for the first time in the country’s history will have the right to elect those who should assume power and put an end to the chaos and misery associated with the thorny issue of power struggle.

Almost there

According to this week’s the Economist print edition, Barack Obama deserves the nomination.It is not yet clear whether he deserves the presidency.

This is how it starts.

IN CARTOONS there is often a moment when a hapless character, having galloped over a cliff, is still unaware of the fact and hangs suspended in the air, legs pumping wildly, until realisation dawns, gravity intervenes and downfall ensues. Hillary Clinton’s campaign looks a bit like that this week. After her heavy loss in North Carolina and her barely perceptible victory in Indiana, a state she needed to carry triumphantly, Mrs Clinton’s campaign is surely close to its end.

To read the full article, clik here.

ZEA’s Ethiopia Tour

The Ethiopian Music Festival is well under way with a variety of musical offerings.One group touring from Holland, ZEA is performing this Firday at Club Alize, above Red Bean Cafe, end of Bole road.

For those who are looking for a little energy in their music, you can’t do better than this.There is something innovative, uninhibited and experimental about thier music, if two of the music that I’ve had the chance to listen to are anything to go by.”Muziqawi sil”‘ and “Song for Electricity” that you could download from thier site are appealing with inspiration from Ethiopian music and with a mix of electronic rock and roll.

Find them at Alize on May 16 20H00 or at Le Bateu Ivre on Saturday May 17 22H00, a bar at Kazanchis and at Hager Fikir Theatre on May 19,20H00.

A mother pours out her heart

Here is a story that I translated from last Saturday edition’s Addis Admas with a haunting tale of a mother who had to go through terrible ordeal at the hands of uncaring medical staff in different government hospitals while trying to give birth. The terrible reality of what happened, not only to her but to many others in Ethiopia, is unavoidable. Here it goes.

 

Chuchu looked young but had already two children of her own. She was expecting her third child. Even though the due date had passed, she wasn’t overly worried. Her return visit to hospital was on April 28, day after the Ethiopian Easter. Chuchu and her husband had a wonderful Easter celebration and they had dinner at a neighbor’s house. But around 8:15 after they got back home, Chuchu began to suffer stomach cramps, which got sharper with each passing minutes. She was rushed to Yekatit 12 hospital. When she reached there mucous flew out of her body, which the attendant took an unhealthy sign. He told her she might need Caesarean section but he said there wasn’t any doctor who would perform it. So he could only provide her referral to Gandhi hospital, where such an operation was possible.

Queen of Sheba Palace Discovered in Ethiopia

Here is a link from Bloomberg on the discovery of Queen of Sheba’s palace in Ethiopia.

A team of archaeologists from the University of Hamburg said they discovered the Queen of Sheba’s palace and an altar that may have once held the Ark of the Covenant in Axum, Ethiopia.

A Christian king built a new palace over the 10th-century B.C. structure, which probably didn’t survive for very long, the university said in a statement. The altar, oriented toward the star Sirius, has two columns and may have been where the Ark of the Covenant, the holiest treasure of early Judaism, was kept until the first temple was built in Axum, the researchers said.

“The special significance of this altar must have been handed down over centuries,” the statement said. “This is shown by the many sacrifices found around this spot.”

Read the whole story here.

Ethiopians for Obama

By Teddy Fikre

There is something powerful occurring in the Ethiopian-American community. People who were never inspired to take part in the political process are realizing that the we have a duty as citizens to partake in the political process and be a part of the change that is taking place. While they will always love the land of their birth, they realize that they are deeply engrained in United States and are vested in the direction of this great country. Never before has a politician inspired so many people from so many backgrounds and countries to unite for our common purposes.Senator Obama speaks about the power of one–the power that a sole individual has to change their community and eventually change the world.

Magazine Issue Seized

I’ve been meaning to link this story since yestereday but I couldn’t because of the poor internet connection.Here it is now.Better late than never.

“Ten thousand copies of a non-political monthly magazine, “Enku”, have been impounded by police and the publisher and deputy editor of the magazine, Alemayehu Mahtemework, imprisoned.The magazine  was impounded on the night of 2 May, just before it was set to hit the market early on May 3.

Along with the publisher, three other persons in no way connected to the magazine, but who were in the van carrying the magazine out of the printing press, were also imprisoned. The magazine’s cover story is about the imprisonment of Ethiopia’s pop icon and critic of the government, Tewdros Kasahun, which is stirring political passions in the country. The imprisoned are due to appear before court on 5 May. Read the whole story in AllAfrica.com.”

A new development after the report - they did appear before the court yestereday morning, got a hearing but the police demanded extra 14 days to make up the case, for which the court readily agreed.Hence, the case was adjourned to May 19.This makes little sense.

For one thing, there are a number of newspapers and magazines writing and reporting about Teddy’s trial.So what makes Enku different is beyond comprehension.

And the facts don’t seem sufficient for the case to proceed.The only thing they came up so far is  the magazine in question intended for the wide readers and what on earth the police would look for in the extra 14 days isn’t clear at all. 

An American singing in Amharic

“Sheggeye,sheggeye

 Sheggitu, wetatu ……..

 

Tega bilesh tegni we degidgidawu.

Kelebie lay bitmoch yeman new edawu?”

Yeagere ledge, Ye wonze ledge.”

 

This old Amharic melodic tune, Sheggitu, Assefa Abate’s classic was sung by an American Charles Sutton at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies (IES) last Friday, May 2. It is one of the eleven songs included in a new CD, Zoro Gettem (Reunion), recorded in Washington, DC in September 2006 and premiered here on that night.

The CD that Charles described as ‘a flowering of musical partnership’ was done with his three Ethiopian colleagues Tesfaye Lemma, Getamesay Abebe and Melaku Gelaw of the former Orchestra Ethiopia.

Teddy Afro fans to face charges

Teddy Afro is making the headlines in Friday morning papers and one reported about the twenty fans detained during the singer’s court appearance on April 29.

Negadras, an Amharic weekly, revealed that twenty fans of the singer were denied appeal for bail when they appeared before the Addis Ababa City First Instance Court on April 30.

Among the charges brought upon them are wearing T-shirts with the singer’s picture, provoking a riot and distributing ‘unnecessary’ leaflets.  

They are to appear before the court to face the charges on May 13 and 14.

The heavily armed security-obsessed police swept down the Lidta area on two days of the singer’s appearance and arrested several people, of whom some released later.

Festival to honour legendary musician Girma Beyene

The 7^th edition of the Ethiopian Music Festival will be held from the 7^th to 17 May 2008 in Addis Ababa. Organized by the Alliance Ethio-Francise as a part of its centenary celebration and as a tribute to the Ethiopian pianist, composer and arranger Girma Beyene, the festival is expected to bring along renowned and young musicians.

Francis Falceto in his book Abyssinia Swing, a pictorial history of modern Ethiopian music describes Girma as one of a pioneering generation of artists that has a huge influence on the current Ethiopian music.

From the very beginning of the 1960’s and for some twenty years, he ranked among the Ethiopian musical scene’s most creative and prolific artists. He left precious few recordings behind him as a vocalist: it was above all as a pianist, organist, composer and arranger that Girma made his mark on what is today agreed to be the golden age of Ethiopian music. Throughout the heyday of Vinyl record production (1969-1978), the figure of Girma Beyene dominated the recording sessions. The then-privileged partner of Alemayehu Eshete, Girma innovated, through his simple and to-the-point playing, melding the lightness of pop into the ethos of a changing Ethiopia. Admired for his musical elegance, Girma none the less met one of the saddest fates in Ethiopian music. Though his countrymen still remember his charming voice and his knack for pop, they have totally forgotten his role and importance as an innovator.

Going into exile in the USA in 1981, Girma departed the Ethiopian music scene, sinking into the anonymous “Little Ethiopia’ of America’s East Coast.

According the Alliance booklet, there has been a renewed interest of late in the work and personality of Girma Beyene.International groups such as the Either/ Orchestra, the Daktaris, Le Tigre (Platante), The Ex, Badoum Band and Antibals have added some of Girma’s major compositions to their repertoires.

View programme in PDf here.

 

Related: Ever heard of GB? Bernos.