Color & identity in Ethiopia

Color is a relevant to us now, but has it been so before the rise of European cultural and political dominance? Where do we stand on color? In other words, are we on one side of the black/white divide, or are we just a temporary stop on the color continuum ranging from the lily white of Northern Europe to the deep black of Equatorial Africa?

Find an interesting interview on this issue with Professor Ayele Bekeri from the then popular but now-defunct web magazine Seleda?

The first work of Amharic literature

Here is an interesting article from the English Reporter.

The question of who was the first writer that employed Amharic in literature is open to debate. Kemal Abdulwehab of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies (IES) argued at the Institute’s annual conference this week that it was Getaw Telah Jafar of the late 19th century in Argoba.A participant at the discussion said that a competition for pre-eminence had always hovered over that question. Blata Gebregziaber is one writer who is widely believed to have been the first writer to use Amharic in written literature.Other participates pointed out that Portuguese missionaries had translated the Bible into Amharic long before any other work of literature was written in Amharic. However, researchers have not come up yet with sufficient evidence to support the assumption that the Jesuits might have produced works of Amharic literature besides the translation of the Bible.Another work which is considered to be the first book that raised Amharic to the status of the language of literature was Afework Gebreyesus’s novel “Tobia” which was published in 1916.

Art linking two cultures

An art exhibition entitled “Meeting Here” is being shown at the German House here in Addis starting from October 29, 2009.Over 70 works of two Ethiopian and two German artists are on view at the show organized by GTZ.
Intended to be as a synthesis of cooperation and linkages between two cultures, the artists Merikokeb Berhanu, Christian Voight, Karin Fiedler and Mulugeta Gebrekidan have come up with works that differ widely in style and presentation, nevertheless sharing a common theme: the impersonality of art that transcends boundary.

Sahag Boghossian dies

A prominent member of the Armenian community Sahag Boghossian has died at the age of 98 last Monday. He was buried at the St. Kevork Armenian church near Seba Deredga area yesterday afternoon.
A lawyer, businessman and patriot, Boghossian has been one of the most recognized and well-liked figures in Addis Ababa.
Born in Addis Ababa in Arat kilo on July 22, 1911, Sahag was the 8th child of ten children.His father Krikorios Boghossian settled in Ethiopia during Emperor Menelik’s time and was important in the affairs of the state.

Sara Nuru is coming to Ethiopia

Guess who is coming to town!
Germany’s top model of Ethiopian descent Sara Nuru will be here shortly, it was announced.
The 19-year-old Sara will be coming to Ethiopia on a humanitarian mission in a week-long trip.

Birtukan Mideksa and the law

Chairperson of the Unity for Democracy and Justice Party, Birtukan Mideksa was re-arrested six months ago after the pardon given to her was revoked. She is still behind the bars, where she isn’t allowed to any visitor other than her mother and her five-year-old girl. This article by Professor Mesfin Wolde-Mariam that appeared in the party’s newly published magazine, Tsinat states the condition of Bertuakn’s arrest which the author says has no valid legal reason and violates the provision provided in the proclamation.

To provide for the procedure of granting pardon Article 12 states the following proclamation No .395/2004,
12 Application for pardon- Any person who is convicted and sentenced by a Court may, unless the granting of pardon is prohibited by law, apply for pardon in person or through his spouse, close relatives, representative or lawyer.
The statement that Birtuakn is supposed to have made while she was visiting Sweden as far as I could verify from people who heard her directly, and from evidence of audio recording is completely consistent with what is stated in (1).

Eminent Islamic scholar passed away

The eminent Ethiopian Islamic scholar Hussien Ahmed has died at the age of 56 on Sunday. No cause of death was given.
A doctorate from Birmingham University of United Kingdom, he was a prolific writer on Islam, with an important book, “Islam in Nineteenth-Century Wallo, Ethiopia” published in the Netherlands in 2001. According the publisher’s note, the book presents a historical account of the internal dynamics of Islam in Wollo, with particular emphasis on the modes of its introduction and dissemination, and on its relationship with the Ethiopian state and regional power structure. It also describes the background to and manifestations of, the revival and consolidation of Islam in the region in nineteenth century by assessing the role of Muslim scholars, traders and chefs in that process.

Pictures of the week

A model with a decorative outfit poses for an outdoor photo shoot.

A severe shortage of coins persisted in Ethiopia. Anyone purchasing a newspaper or traveling in a taxi has to have the correct change. Coin boys like this one are in demand.

Soprano honors Gebrekirstos

Ruth Dunkan who is from Scotland has moved to Addis with her husband and children a year and half ago. Though trained as a high school teacher, she has always enjoyed singing and performing.
Ruth joined Girma Yifrashewa on Thursday night, May 14, 2009 for a wondrous recital at the Italian Cultural Institute held to honor the late Ethiopian poet and artist Gebrekirstos Desta. She performed Girma’s composition “Zimitegna Liboch” (Silent Hearts), written by Getnet Enyew and originally sung by Michael Belayneh. It is a difficult piece, with its long, flowing lines requiring strong vocal technique, and a wide range. But Ruth managed to execute it with elegance and sensitiveness, singing in delightfully articulated Amharic that rang out so clearly in the hall.
How did a Scottish woman come to be part of the Gebrekirstos tribute and did it so adeptly?

Famed Nefertiti bust ‘a fake’: expert

The bust of Queen Nefertiti housed in a Berlin museum and believed to be 3,400 years old in fact is a copy dating from 1912 that was made to test pigments used by the ancient Egyptians, according to Swiss art historian Henri Stierlin. Stierlin, author of a dozen works on Egypt, the Middle East and ancient Islam, says in a just-released book that the bust currently in Berlin’s Altes Museum was made at the order of German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt by an artist named Gerardt Marks. “It seems increasingly improbable that the bust is an original,” Stierlin told AFP.