Addis Journal

Crisis of climate, land use underlies Ethiopia’s drought

arefe — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:24:43 +0000

Chris Herlinger, a New York-based freelance journalist, reports frequently on humanitarian issues. He was recently on assignment in Ethiopia and after a visit to Adigrat, a town in northern Tigray that borders Eritrea, he wrote about how crisis of climate, land use is underlining Ethiopia’s drought problem. “It is a place where forests once thrived but where rain is now scarce. It rained only five days here from June to August, a third of the usual amount, and the land resembles the desert border areas between Mexico and Arizona,” he says in his apparently well informed article, whose full text that I am taking the liberty to publish here.

It says a lot about Tigray that people can’t legally cross the border with Eritrea but cattle can. “It is a chain of disaster,” Fr. Teum Berhe Danne mused one morning recently about life in this northern province that borders Eritrea — a locale that almost seems to define the word hardscrabble.
Tigray is a complicated place. It bore the brunt of Ethiopia’s two-year war with Eritrea more than a decade ago, felt some of the worst effects of the infamous 1984 drought and famine, and is the home region of many of the leaders of Ethiopia’s current government.
War, migration and drought have long been thorns to those who have resided here, and the markings and detritus of conflict and insecurity are widely visible. It is still a militarized area — hence the difficulties in crossing the border — and in the course of a few hours it is possible to see military checkpoints that dot the dry, mountainous area and the occasional Kalashnikov rifle swung casually over the shoulder of a civilian walking down a dusty road.
Also visible: the signs for the Italian War Cemetery in Adigrat, where more than 700 Italian soldiers who perished in the mid-1930s during Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia are buried.
“Displacement has been the norm here,” Danne said, shaking his head, recalling migrations and disappearances that occurred during Eritrea’s occupation of the province during the Ethiopian-Eritrean conflict.
Beyene Bayru, 85, a farmer, laughed when asked how many times he has had to move because of conflict, war or drought — the latter being the most recent cause of concern throughout the whole of the Horn of Africa. “It’s a lifetime of moving,” he said. Another farmer, Gebrhiwest Meles, 66, recalls a number of droughts throughout his lifetime, both during the reign of Haile Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, and during the mid-1980s. While a severe drought in the 1970s is most often recalled by Ethiopians of a certain age, it was the 1984 drought and famine, which resulted in some 1 million deaths, that brought Ethiopia unwelcome international attention as the “poster child” of famine.
That is an image about which Ethiopians, and the Ethiopian government in particular, remain extremely sensitive — so much so that few Ethiopian humanitarian workers want to be quoted by name on the subject.
It is clearly evident that the Ethiopia of 2011 is not the Ethiopia of the 1970s or 1980s. Ethiopians have learned to deal with and live with acute emergencies, and have tried to avoid the media images of starving babies and rail-thin adults.
The problems of the 2011 crisis, however, point to what may be a more subtle, insidious crisis: If famines rooted in war and political unrest were the challenge of the 1980s, the crisis of 2011, though also human-made, is rooted in climate change, population pressures, deforestation and poor land use.
The current situation causes one Addis Ababa-based humanitarian worker to muse, “How do we solve this problem permanently? This is a concern shared by many, many Ethiopians, who want to renew our country’s name, our profile, our pride. How can we permanently have enough food?”
Certainly there is progress, and humanitarians in the field point out that in comparison to the 1980s, authorities are doing their best to respond to drought, prevent famine and adapt to climate change by finding ways to mitigate the effects of such changes.By nearly all accounts, the Ethiopian government’s response to the current drought, while not perfect and hobbled by the problems and snafus that characterize humanitarian interventions in any country, has been relatively effective, at least in preventing famine, which is defined as the widespread scarcity of food that can have one or multiple causes, including drought or government policies.
Early warning systems have generally worked and have brought emergency food to areas that need it.“We don’t have famine in Ethiopia,” said Lane Bunkers, Catholic Relief Services’ country representative in Ethiopia. “But there are people who are in need of emergency food assistance — whose food pantries are empty.”
Ethiopia’s response has to be seen in the context of larger regional issues.The current drought that has gripped the Horn of Africa for much of 2011 has caused severe hardship in Ethiopia and neighboring Kenya — though not famine, which has occurred in parts of politically unstable Somalia; in all there are about 13 million in the Horn of Africa who are in some way affected by the current crisis.
In a recent interview, Paul Weisenfeld, who heads the Bureau for Food Security for the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, the principal relief and development agency of the U.S. government, noted that in contrast to Somalia, which does not have a functioning government with control over the entirety of the country, Ethiopia and neighboring Kenya have been able to respond to the drought, and have been able to prevent the famine that has gripped parts of Somalia.
“In a famine situation, there is obviously some outside stimulant, like a drought or major disease, that has a negative effect on food security,” he said. “But the question is how do a country’s social and political systems respond to that stimulant? In Kenya and Ethiopia, the governments are able to step up and do something about it. Not so in Somalia.” While the crisis overall in the region has eased some in recent months both because of needed and welcome rains and because humanitarian interventions by both governments and humanitarian agencies have paid off, the problems besetting the Horn of Africa are far from over. The United Nations, for example, estimates that 4.5 million in Ethiopia will still need some type of emergency food assistance in the coming months.
In short, 2011 has not, as farmer Meles, says, “been good a year.” And persistent problems will continue through at least 2012.
When there is little or no water, a lack of overall irrigation systems and an agricultural economy still dependent on rain, people in rural areas “can be easily affected by a shock,” said Legesse Dadi, an agricultural specialist with Catholic Relief Services. In some ways, Tigray is lucky at the moment. According to USAID, Tigray is an area that is “stressed” by the current drought — a level below crisis, and three levels below catastrophic or famine.And parts of the area have long experience with the hardships wrought by extremes of climate. “Even in the best of times, Irob has been a tough place,” Jerry Jones, the Addis Ababa-based representative of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, said of the Irob region of Tigray.
Yet the land in Ethiopia is a delicate organism, and the cycles of rain or drought are closely linked — drought in one area can easily overlap bounty in another. Western and central Ethiopia, for example, make up the country’s coffee belt, and that area has been spared the worst effects of the drought.
People in affected areas talk of “green hunger” — the paradox of some parts of Ethiopia producing coffee and not feeling any effects of the drought while those of other areas are struggling to feed themselves.
That some areas have been spared drought is small comfort. As Ethiopians like to point out, “You can’t eat coffee.” That is particularly the case given the persistence of droughts — which are occurring now in closer intervals of every few years rather than once a decade. Such frequency erodes resources — the result being that “people don’t have that much to save for the problematic days,” said Dadi.
“If I lose my job, I can sell my house and support myself,” Dadi said, speaking as an urban resident. But those in rural areas can’t do that. “They don’t have the resources. And if drought comes, it becomes that much harder to survive.”
Particularly affected are women, many of whom face a harrowing cycle once their husbands leave their households to look for work outside of areas where food is scarce.Women, left with children and trying to find ways to support themselves and their families, will move to larger towns and work as maids, vendors or, when most desperate, sex workers. Sometimes they will move from city to city, with some ending up in the capital of Addis Ababa, where, more often than not, they end up on the street.“A woman becomes too weak to beg and if she’s lucky, she will end up at a Missionaries of Charity home, where she dies quietly, leaving orphaned children,” Dr. Dehab Belay, an HIV/AIDS specialist with CRS, said of an all-too-common scenario.
That is the reality of the urban street. But at the root of the country’s problems are the realities and stress felt in Ethiopia’s rural areas. The one-hour flight from Addis to Tigray shows up one problem. From a plane, what is most striking is that it seems as if every bit of usable land in Ethiopia — even the top of plateaus that jut deep gorges — is in use.
In early November, golden barley was the crop being harvested, so that from the air, the land looked like a crowded checkerboard of asymmetrical yellow blocks, mixed in with brown and green areas. During several days in Tigray, the evidence of stress was not hard to find.
Terhas Sibhatu, 38, who lives in the town of Anitena, says she and other residents are worried about the future — about water wells drying up, about crops becoming harder to grow or to buy, with the increase in food prices.The growing scarcity of water is now affecting day-to-day life, putting pressures on the amount people drink and use for cleaning and cooking. As for food, Sibhatu is concerned that the growing scarcity of food threatens traditional cultural norms of communities sharing things to eat during times of trouble.
“There is tension now, yes,” she said of life within and between communities.
Abraha Haylu, a construction worker who has lived in the region all of his life, recalled an earlier time of springs and trees, of forest and shade — now evolving into desert. “We have seen the change. This was once land covered by forest,” he said as he worked on a dam project coordinated by the Adigrat Diocesan Catholic Secretariat, a local church-based relief, development and advocacy group headed by Danne. The father of four adult children, Haylu said none of them live in the region — in fact, two are now working in Saudi Arabia and one in Kenya. “Young people don’t want to work and stay here,” he said, noting the lack of substantial economic opportunities.
In a region where the needs, Danne said, are “100 times greater than what we are able to respond to,” that is one problem. Another is how to solve the problem of persistent drought in an area where the dry, rocky soil is being overused and overcultivated. There are some signs of hope. One point of pride for the local church is a 38-meter-deep dam that took more than a decade to build, funded by both local and international donors, including Caritas Switzerland. The dam, helping supply water to an immediate area of some 35,000 people, has eased some of the water pressures in the region. Its sheer scale is impressive.But are building dams and other efforts sustainable and practical in an area where insecurity is common and the effects of drought seem to be expanding, not contracting?
As he overlooked the dam and peered at a steep hillside in which every conceivable parcel of land is being used, Danne said that recent data have suggested that living on the land as it is now is sustainable — but only if population numbers remain roughly the same or decrease.He said people in the region are hoping that mining could offer some economic boost to the area. Still, most will continue to look to farming for their livelihoods.“Those who have said, ‘I can eat this much and educate my children,’ they will continue to stay,” Danne said. For those who cannot find work and want to leave for schooling, they will in all likelihood leave. “There is nothing to attract them back. The land is so small, the productivity is so small,” he said. Danne looked again at the steep hillside across the valley. “Look at that. It’s 1-inch soil. Only a very few people can harvest such a tiny plot of land. No, the rest will immigrate.”
The cleric noted that erratic rains not only do not help the parched land but actually help destroy it because the soil is now so unaccustomed to moisture. “The right name for it is desert. Irob is now a desert,” he said. “A rocky desert.”

Art exhibition at German House

arefe — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 08:49:16 +0000

An emerging Canadian photographer, Salima Punjani, came up with twenty seven engaging body of work, most of them taken at Addis Ababa’s Merkato market. Objects and people in the market seem to be her preoccupation, and her vivacious picture of chaos at Menalesh Tera sparks this show.” I started focusing on photography as a primary medium when I first visited Merkato in Addis Ababa,” she wrote in a flyer describing her works. “Each object, person and process involved in the market is reflective of struggle, symbiosis and perseverance. I couldn’t stop taking photographs after being exposed to such aesthetically beautiful and meaningful interactions,” she says.
Though some of the works look a little too easy, most of Salima’s photographs are clean, cool and immensely appealing. The complete range of her activity is laid out in wonderful rooms of German House four-floor galleries, in an exhibition that will run from December 8th until January 20th 2012.
A series of semi-abstract paintings made using the technique of impressionism by the Addis-based artist Henok Getachew is also part of the exhibition. The colorful geometric abstractions of repetitive lines are made with oil and acrylic.
Henok says he started experimenting with art when he was seven years old. He recalled creating art pieces using found objects and keeping his brothers awake while sketching and painting the night away. After graduating from the Addis Ababa University School of Fine Arts in 2008, he helped to establish Netsa Art Village, a collective of artists dedicated to providing an open space for creative collaboration and discussion.
Henok has participated in numerous group exhibitions between 2008-2011 at variety cultural institutes in Addis Ababa, including the National Theatre Gallery, Alliance Franicaise and the Gothe-institue. His solo shows include Wolmo at Netsa Art Village and Ferekesa at the Addis Ababa Goethe Institute. Henok is currently running art workshops and therapy sessions with children alongside painting and producing video art at his studio.
The young female artist Nitsusew Terefe opted for a more introspective, meditative approach in a more minimalist form. She has presented 19 works, exploring rhythm, interval and volume through black and white, shadow and light.
Nitsuew was born in Assela, in southeastern Ethiopia. She displayed a strong towards art early in her life and completed her B.A in Art from Addis Ababa University School of Fine Arts and Design in 2009.
As she explains it, she is concerned about the violence and harassment that women face and how they internalize it. “I believe that every woman represents beauty, but my artwork is not only about beauty, it is about my interpretation of violence against women and the psychological and physical effects it has on women around the world,” she says. Not every of Nitsuew’s work is excellent and some isn’t any good at all but the exhibition traverses the crests and gullies of her career with passionate thoroughness.

Going on a photo road trip

arefe — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:49:14 +0000

A presentation on photography and writing craft was hosted by the Museum of Modern Art of Addis Ababa yesterday,December 6, 2011. Displaying snaps they have taken during road trip in four sub-Saharan African countries, different photographers explained about the collection that they said were able to capture ordinary people going about their daily lives in the street.The 12 photographers (ten from Nigeria and the other three from Ghana, Sudan and Ethiopia) traveled about 12 000 km from Lagos to Addis Ababa to record, document and share visual imagery that reflects contemporary African life.Each shared wonderful stories about his photographing and what he hoped to share with spectators.

The project named as ‘Invisible Borders, Trans-African Photographic Initiative’ was founded in 2009 with the aim to take road trip across Africa to explore and participate in various photographic events, festival and exhibitions. The endeavor involves traveling together, working as a team, having a good time and sharing their experiences using blog posts and Twitter. Ten participants traveled from Lagos to Bamako with stops in Benin, Ghana, Togo and Burkina Fasso in the first edition of the photography road trip project. A year later, in 2010, the group traveled from Lagos to Dakar with ten participants. The latest one is the 3rd edition comprising participants of the old and new members, traveling from Lagos to Addis. Eleven photographers and two writers writing for the blog are now in Addis, in their last leg of the road project. The group made stops of about five to seven days in the capital and important cities of Nigeria, Chad, Sudan and Ethiopia to create artistic works in collaboration with the indigenous artists in the cities, while networking within the art community.

The photographers described their project as the first in a series that will tell Africa’s stories, by Africans, through photography and inspiring artistic interventions. They said the project also strives “to encourage exposure of upcoming African photographers towards art and photography as practiced in other parts of the continent; to establish a platform that encourages and embraces trans- African artistic relationships within the continent, and to contribute towards the socio-political discourse shaping Africa of the 21st Century,” they said.
The group held a workshop involving local photographers from Addis, in an event organized in collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art director, Aida Muleneh. The results of the trips are expected to be published in a book.

The Arc of Covenant on the move?

arefe — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:53:00 +0000

A British newspaper says a problem of a leaky church roof could be about to give the world the chance to glimpse the legendary Ark of the Covenant.
That’s because the claimed home of the iconic relic – a small chapel in Axum – has sprung a leak and so the Ark could now be on the move, Daily Mail wrote.
The Ark is a sacred container written of in the Old Testament. It is said to contain the original Ten Commandments tablets, as well as some manna, the mythical food that the Israelites ate while wandering through the desert.
It was made of wood, but covered in pure gold. On top, two cherubim faced each other, their wings outspread to form the “throne of God”. It’s supposed weight has been widely debated, with numbers ranging from 180 to 8,000 pounds!
Theologians have never been able to agree on the Ark’s fate, but many believe Menelik I brought it to Ethiopia. Menelik was the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, and was the first Jewish emperor of Ethiopia.
Ethiopians say that they have had the Ark for centuries, and since the 1960s it has apparently been kept in the chapel.
This small and curiously-styled building is surrounded by spiked iron railings, and situated between two churches, the old and new, of St Mary of Zion in central Aksum.
No one has been allowed to see the holy object,except one solitary elderly monk, who must watch over the Ark for the remainder of his life, and is never allowed to leave the chapel grounds.
But now the chapel – which was designed by the Ethiopian leader Emperor Hailie Selassie – has had to be covered in a tarpaulin to stop rain getting in.
The Daily Mail story said the water damage could mean the Ark will be moved for the first time in decades giving religious worshippers and adventurers alike a chance to see it.
British photographer Tim Makins, 54, who is a travel photographer for publications like Lonely Planet, discovered the church had sprung a leak whilst travelling through Ethiopia last September.

Quiet and secluded, Aregash Lodge offers luxury

arefe — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:20:32 +0000

The last decade has seen a number of exciting new lodges make their debuts in different parts of Ethiopia. Though not yet numerous, the new breed of country hotels and lodges are every bit as polished as their chic urban counterparts. The eco-friendly lodges have the added advantage of protecting the heritage and culture of the land whilst at the same time increasing in a small way, knowledge and understanding of this country. In a series of posts, Addis Journal will feature ten unique spots that are spread out in every direction from the capital. The lodges are chosen for their spectacular locations, outstanding guest amenities and commitment to conservation.

Located in the outskirts of Yirga Alem town, midway between Awasa and Dila, Aregash Lodge is by far the most attractive of those lodges. Situated in 11 acres of land, the bold and beautiful house deep in the wood is inspiring of awe in the true meaning of that word: a feeling of solemn wonder. 317 kms away from Addis, it is only three hours drive.
Yirga Alem (meaning cool world) is one of the most biologically diverse flora regions in Ethiopia. It is home to the Sidama peoples who are known for their ingenuity, fortitude, and sense of the outdoors. Bamboo is the material used for the framework of their beehive-shaped tukul and is covered with grass and enset leaves as the rainy season approaches. Ten elaborately woven Sidama tukuls of such types are fitted out with modern facilities at Aregash Lodge, giving it impeccable environmental credentials.

Innkeepers Marica and Gregory Missailidis, owners of the Aregash Lodge, strive to render scene typical of the Sidama region at its best – the calm area bordered by immense forest. I have the good fortune of knowing and chatting with the couple on a number of times. I am a great admirer of their extraordinary taste in, and knowledge of, their hospitality. During our encounters, I have come to learn how Mr. Gregory is a true historian of the region and a skilled raconteur.
The couple makes it a point to provide a personalized and sustainable experience for visitors. After 75 years of growing coffee and oranges, it was Gregory’s mother’s dream that one day the family would do something worthwhile with the land-and-so –Aregash was named in her honor when it opened in April 2004.
“We’ve used Ethiopian made products as much as possible’ says Marica. ‘It took 3 years to complete the buildings and 10 months alone to make beds, chairs and other furniture using bamboo from 60km away. The curtains and bedcovers are made of fabrics, designed by a local entrepreneur. Everything reflects the local materials,” she adds with satisfaction.
There are twin, double and quadruple rooms with electricity and hot water. Each has a large separate lounge. The only draw-back is the lack of veranda or private outside space, which would be ideal given views over the forested valley below.

Yet a stroll inside the lodge would offer you stunning vistas of an oasis of coffee plantations and immense fig, guava, avocado, indigenous zigiba (podocarpus) trees. The fruit trees are harvested for the kitchen, as is the salad garden. You could also get closer to the Vervet and colobus monkeys and bushbuck that roam here. The reserve is home to endemic bird species such as white-cheeked turaco (a bird that has been idolized by the Sidamas for ages and today serves the symbol of the lodge) and black-headed oriole whose song will wake you up in the morning.

You can wander through the forest and be shown the cave where Haile Selassie’s daughter, Princess Tenagework hid for some time during the Italian invasion.
The gourmet restaurant is dining at its finest, with an emphasis on local, seasonal and organic food. At 6pm each night, guests gather for the coffee ceremony which has a grand finale of hyenas and vultures competing for morsels of meat in an area down below the viewing point.

There’s no TV or internet. If that’s your idea of hell, don’t go. But sitting around a bonfire under the glow of a million stars, it seemed rather heavenly to me.

The sad story of our films

arefe — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 11:46:33 +0000

A graduate of Theatre Arts at the Addis Ababa University, Aron Yeshitila wrote two stage plays and three screenplays. He received an award as best screenwriter at the 3rd Ethiopian International Film Festival in 2008, for the film he wrote and produced MIZEWOCHU (The Best Men), for which he received outstanding reviews. Aron has worked as a journalist and editor for several weekly newspapers in Ethiopia, including Addis Fortune. In 2010, he contributed an article for a book entitled Theater in Sub-Saharan Africa, published in Germany. In this contribution to Addis Journal, the young film maker laments about the poignant story of the nascent film making in Ethiopia, how an excessive tax of the state is making it difficult for the film makers to get financial return and how this all is affecting the quality of the film production.

Few months ago I received a phone call from a friend who just released a new film. He had to wait for six months before his turn was due to screen his movie at cinemas in Addis Ababa.
“Hi John, how is the movie going at Ambassador Cinema?” I asked.
“Good we are getting 900 to thousand people in a day.” I could feel his high spirit.
“Wow! Congrats that is it. You hit it finally” I said.
“Yes, but we are expecting more because . . . you know . . . this is not a lot”, this time with a slight concern in his voice. It is a feeling that I sympathize with.

He doesn’t want his expectations to be shattered in the midst of his vision for better audience and business which could take him to the next production. Expectation keeps him and all fellow Ethiopian film producers running and alive, when they release new movie; until eventually frustration takes over with the reality they face on the ground.
I refrained from saying further to John, fearing I would give him the impression that I was trying to put off his optimism. The truth is, given the trend of audience turnout for similar movies with a mild popularity, he may never see an audience turnout more than a thousand people in a day. His movie could be at the peak of its time already. After all, a thousand people attendant for a day is a great number at most film scenes around the world.
But as any other Ethiopian producers, John had every reason to be uncomfortable with a thousand people audience for a film he had devoted more than a year of labor and 400,000 Ethiopian Birr (ETB) (little over 23 thousand USD) to prepare.
Here is a quick calculation; John’s film earns 15,000 ETB (about 900 USD) from one thousand people, from that income 1,500 birr [10 percent from gross income] is paid for the so called “entertainment tax”, eight thousand birr goes to cinema rent, add a couple of 30 seconds advertisement of TV which is worth 2,500 birr. Without deducting costs for posters, administration and miscellaneous John is left with 3,000 Br (around 175 USD).
The Addis Ababa Cinemas Administration that operates under the City Administration manages Cinema Empire and Ambassador. At any moment since last three years the administration has 90 movies lined up on its waiting list. Among the liners, half of them have not yet seen screen even though they are ready for screening. After waiting for months, a movie is assigned to one day of a week to run regularly for four months, meaning the movie is featured for 16 days, regardless of quality or market.
With only one day show in a week, the film would need more than a year to retrieve John’s investment. But John has only four months contract to show his film with zero chance of extension.
This might also look a fair deal in contrast with lot of other countries´ experience where a film can access main cinema for much shorter time. But Ethiopian film has lots of peculiarities that make such scenario very difficult to work with. In Ethiopia films are financed entirely by private businessmen, who anticipate profit out of film production; in a best case, individuals who want to finance films for the love of the art and as a side business with less anticipation of big profit. Yet both groups of producers want to see their production at least covering its own cost and become a sustainable sector.
Other funding bodies of government, NGOs, cultural or art institutions are nonexistent in financing film productions. Therefore the film industry is entirely dependent on cinema shows and DVD distribution for its existence.
In order to guarantee the sustainability of her or his career, a film producer should make a movie that is profitable enough withstanding the costs of Entertainment tax (a tax levied by the imperial regime 40 years ago to discourage the spread of bars and overnight clubs), Value Added Tax and high cinema rent bill. The rent of Ambassador Cinema which was 3,000 ETB six years ago has now increased by more than 100 pc and reached 7,000 ETB. A luxury good tax is levied upon imported cameras making camera rent and film production cost even higher.
The private cinemas like Edna Mall, Alem Cinema and Sebastopol try to choose marketable films. These cinemas that take half the income of the show similarly have a high turnover rate of movies as they always enjoy the new releases.
Movies get replaced with new release without achieving any substantial amount of income to cover its cost while the house stays at the peak time of every film. With the limited time of stay in local screens movies should make all income needed to sustain the company.
This fact put producers in a dilemma of deciding whether they should produce what could turn out to be the next popular material rather than what they believe they should really present. The pressure of making profit can influence every component of film production from selecting genre, theme, casting actors, picking places; as a result changing the general philosophy behind making the film.
Market has also influenced the overall artistic tendency and trend of films. Since a couple of comedy films made a good profit few years ago, comedy film productions have more than dominated the film industry in Ethiopia.
Despite the very large amount of video film productions made, Ethiopian films are hardly seen in international festivals, shows and distributions. Poor production quality, language barrier and absence of organized structure to exchange films between African nations have curtailed the way to international screenings and distribution. But the main problem can be attributed to lack of quality of the films for failure to harness what would become another financial lifeline for film production. At this infant stage of the film sector, lack of capacity in exploiting the medium to visually develop and express Ethiopian context is prevalent.
In terms of content, Ethiopian films “are not Ethiopian films” as most common criticism saying goes. Though I think all movies made by Ethiopians can all be called Ethiopian films, I share the fact what critics meant to say when saying the movies are not Ethiopians. The value of the films in contributing to Ethiopian culture or representing it is mostly very low.
Regardless of traditional or modern Ethiopia they are trying to depict, the films lack depth in portraying the society. Most of its depiction goes superficial like presenting socio class differences mostly in terms of material and physical than exploring the inherent meaning of characters being what they are in Ethiopian context. A persistent confusion of culture and tradition, and a failure in viewing them apart from each other have led their search for own identity to be very cumbersome.
They have the difficulty to understand the cultural departure occurred in the past decades in a deep level. As a result the movies are forced to restrict themselves to material level of food, clothing, music and historical events in depicting the traditional Ethiopia or the values of the modern Ethiopian culture.
Lack of an in-depth understanding of their own culture has made the movies to languish behind and become a kind of relic to the contemporary real life culture rather than becoming mirror or leader of it.
One of the symptoms to this crisis was the repeated plagiarism committed by Ethiopian films from part or whole film of Bollywood and Hollywood films. Instead of creating own style, view and image that really represents Ethiopian context in international scene, the filmmakers were seen busy in copying and pasting materials that could be applicable to Ethiopian context and make themselves safe in the local market.
However the film industry can be commended for maintaining its existence and reclaiming the audience that was lost by the theatre scene. Theatre has been part of city culture since 1960s in Ethiopia. It was quite customary to experience thousands of people congregating to watch a theatre performance at the five public theatres of Addis Ababa.
After losing its quality for presenting deeper psychological, social and political issues in its realistic based performances, theatre had started to lose even the role as entertainer. By the end of 20th century theatre audience had starkly dwindled from the houses. But theatre as a scene survived for a reason that the theatre houses are run by government budget and all personnel from actors, dancers, directors and administrators were permanent theatre house employees.
Film by its own essence is a powerful medium of the modern era, and in Ethiopia it can be said that it has achieved to fill the entertaining role that was voided by theatre.
But when the film fails to entertain and with a very discouraging environment rather than support created by the government, its demise can be foreseeable.
Whether the film sector is regarded by regulators as no more important than a luxury business or as a powerful communication tool that cannot be controlled once it boomed is still in question. But the concerned government body is making no effort to make the situation better for the film sector, despite repeated demands.
But in the post colonial Africa and post modern world we are living in films can have more benefit to this continent than any other place in the world.
As it has been said repeatedly, film paves way to new philosophical, cultural, artistic, scientific thoughts as a result keeps a society alive and dynamic. Especially films made by Africans, has a potential to create and promote new ways in understanding and adopting our traditions in the modern society. This stimulates cultural transformation and utilizing our knowledge to further development of our artistic capital. It can visually inspire other art fields such as fine arts, music, dance and literature. In Ethiopia it can be a very powerful tool to raise and initiate discussions on sociopolitical and socioeconomic problems, ranging from the subtle ones like generation gap, collective apathy and social trauma to obvious ones like gender inequality, migration and corruption etc . . .
The financial benefit of film production as an industry, in terms of job creation and initiating tourism, is also evident in part of the world where the industry has developed.
Popular movies like Lord of the Ring, Lost in Translation, The Last Samurai, Cold Mountain have sparked interest on audience to travel to the actual locations of the films they indulged in on the silver screen. Uzbekistan had a tourist advertisement with a motto The Land of Borat. There is no reason the magic charm of tourist wouldn’t work for Ethiopia and other African countries if the film sector is properly handled and allowed to nurture.
If targeting small and medium scale business is a companion to job creation then the film industry should be taken more seriously.
The real film making army can be found in the movie theater when the credits are rolling for minutes after the movie is finished; only the projectionist and people in the film business may stay to see that. What we see on the screen is a list of hundreds, if not thousands [in Hollywood productions] of people, companies, services and facilities that were employed to make the film. Job titles many people might not even contemplate in relation with filmmaking like carpenter, electrician, driver, caterer and many more basic ordinary tasks are performed by citizens in all areas of the economy. Eventhough the sector is unreliable thousands of Ethiopians has made a career out of film sector and tens of thousands of individuals benefit from it financially at different level of film production.
In USA the states wage vigorous competition between themselves in trying to lure film projects to be produced in their home state by providing projects with different kinds of tax reduction and incentives mainly rebating. This program allows a qualified film projects to claim a refund in an amount up to 25% of the total direct cost incurred in the State while filming. The reason behind is that in addition to job creation film production spends about 40 percent of its budget on the city it is filming.
Between 2004 and 2009 around 198 films have been produced in Addis Ababa spending nearly 69 million ETB (4 mln USD), an average of 350 thousand birr individually. The movies have generated more than 35 million ETB revenue through rent and tax. This figure may not be something to be boasted for an industry at a moment but it can grow exponentially or vanish totally depending on how the sector is treated. From the people who invested in the fledgling film sector, nearly 95 percent of producers haven’t produced their second film. the cause for this was clear they couldn’t recover the money they invested at their debut production.
It would be silly to ask for a rebate in Ethiopia’s context. But justice should be done on amount of taxes, venue rents and media advertisement paid by producers in order to see the sustainability of the industry. The so called “Entertainment Tax” must be lifted off because it is completely inappropriate and has lost its touch with time. From its name it is has derogatory connotation that reduces the field of performing and recording arts to a mere entertainment machineries, and artists nothing more than entertainers as traditionally used to be called (Azmari, Achawach, Keledegna).
Distribution of DVD and TV show are other means of incomes after films retire from theatre screens. Sadly our movies are not lucky to benefit from either of them. If the widespread copyright infringement couldn’t be combated to its last with sincere commitment from both regulators and practitioners, it will stifle all the recording arts to their death.
The director and producer of “Kezkaza Welafen” (Cold flames), Tewodros Kasahun, has seen good days in the film industry when he put “Kezkaza Welafen 1” on screen five years back. When he distributed “Kezkaza Welafen 2” on DVD all over the country, he was only able to get his hand on five thousand birr from the sales of original copy. Many producers have suffered loss because of theft and illegal distribution of cheap CD copies.
Nevertheless all these facts do not set films and film practitioners free from being one of the culprits for the plunge of the film sector. Most of the films are done by practitioners with a little or no knowledge and experience in their respective role of directing, writing and acting coupled with opportunistic producers attracted by the big chunk of profit. The sheer fact that film production is increasing at such uncertain time for recovery of investment, shows that new producers do not even try to learn about the current situation of the sector before they invest. Due to the fact that most producers come from other business sectors and careers they have much lesser capacity to choose from bad and worse film script to produce. Bad soap opera stories, mostly cliché tic themes of romance and family conflict, platitude characters, poor plots, bad acting, poor sound and picture. . . you name it; all are the traits of our movies.
But again I believe quality problem cannot be solved in a fortnight. It needs experience as an individual, as a team and as an industry. We have also witnessed a lot of improvement mainly from technical perspective of cinematography, sound and editing quality.
I also believe that the aesthetic quality of films will mature in time as the audience’s taste and experience improves. Despite the sharp discrepancy between good and bad movies, it is seen that the audience turnout is also highly dependent on the day of the show. Any film viewed on Sunday generally enjoys the best number of audience. The audience mostly looks for the usual feature film dramas than trying to explore other styles. The reality-show style film “Guzow” (The Journey) which was new in its kind for Ethiopian screen had a hard time in cinemas in Addis Ababa in 2010. Some viewers who watched the film have asked the theatre house for refund because they said “Guzow” was not a film and they were swindled. Such experience of audience reaction can make filmmakers anxious to try to explore and experiment new genres and styles and genres. It is a kind of reaction that restricts filmmakers and producers to the customarily made cliché tic realistic dramas that has shown a little change from the stage dramas presented for over half a century.
But we have to act on problems that give no time and can be solved with some amendments. I believe initially government should correct its view of the film sector and make drastic policy and regulations, to make its burden easy if not to support it. Unless anything is done from the administrative side, as we read the sad story of our movies, we may later read their obituary.

Messay Kebede’s book receives critical acclaim

arefe — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 10:02:31 +0000

A new book by the renowned Ethiopian professor and author Messay Kebede dissecting the Ethiopian revolution has been met with great acclaim, University of Dayton’s website wrote.
Ideology and Elite Conflicts: Autopsy of the Ethiopian Revolution is the best and most thorough analysis of the causes and implications of the Ethiopian Revolution to date, Theodore M. Vestal, professor emeritus of political science at Oklahoma State University, is quoted as saying on the website.
“Messay Kebede has written an enormously important book. He definitively places the Ethiopian revolution as one of the 20th century’s ‘great revolutions,’ on par with the Russian or Chinese in terms of scope of transformation,” said Terrence Lyons, co-director of the Center for Global Studies at George Mason University. “Everyone interested in contemporary Ethiopia or comparative revolutions will benefit from this book,” read the bulletin.
“There are books, and then there are Books. Messay Kebede has written a Book,” said Donald Dunham, a University of California-Davis anthropology professor and editor of American Ethnologist. “With sustained analytical brilliance, he demonstrates how understanding Ethiopia contributes to the understanding of the world. Ideology and Elite Conflicts represents a major achievement in combining comparative history with political and cultural analysis, all set within a philosophical frame.”
The notes on the back cover explains, Ideology and Elite Conflicts provides a theoretical explanation of the major outcomes of Ethiopia’s social revolution, namely the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974 and the implementation of a far-reaching Marxist-Leninist revolution by a military committee (the Deg) and its collapse in 1991. “Messay Kebede extensively discusses the question of whether existing theories of revolution shed light on the eruption of a radical revolution in Ethiopia and, most of all, whether they can accommodate the major anomaly of a socialist revolution being executed by a military committee that radicalized after the removal of the imperial regime,” it reads. Hence the central theses of the book: both the overthrow monarchial order and the radicalization of the Derg must be tied to social conditions that exacerbated elite conflicts for scarce resources, with the consequence that the espousal of radical ideologies (socialism and ethnonationalism) became the soul avenue for the exclusive control of state power, it was stated.
In 2009, Ethiopia’s largest newspaper, Addis Neger, named Messay among the 25 most-influential living Ethiopians for his studies and writing on the nation’s sociopolitical and cultural issues.
Messay taught at Addis Ababa University for 15 years before political turmoil landed him in jail for five months. He left the country in 1994 and joined the University of Dayton’s philosophy department in 1998, wrote the webpage.

New reggae music preaches African unity

arefe — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 08:53:00 +0000

“Chiggae” is the debut Amharic language album from Hailemichael Getnet, better known by his stage name as Haile Roots. The 31-year-old singer came up with a display of real roots, showcasing compelling, melodic riffs and interesting lyrics. The 13-track album, arranged and composed by Elias Melka, takes you on a journey of love, righteousness, empowerment, and is filled with rhythms that blend perfectly with his incredible voice.
Haile first came to attention years ago when he was featured in Teddy Afro’s ‘Bob Marely’ and he later released a single track tilted ‘Yes I’ that he played live at Juvents Club and Millennium Hall. That single track is included in the newest album under a different title, Ethiopia.
Recorded in Addis Ababa’s Begena Studio, the new album is engaging and entertaining collection on issues of solidarity, unity, exile, loss of youth and transcending bitterness. Jamaican and Ethiopian stars ranging from Luciano to Mikey General and Eyob Mekonnen have been featured in the album. Continental drift has rarely sounded funkier.
Album opener “Woudnesh” is an encouragement for women and affirmations of faith in the power of the human spirit. The singer appeals to young Ethiopian women to be strong in the face of sexual exploitation, and material obsession. Life’s challenges can be met, he says.
The title track Chiggae is a hybrid of the Ethiopian chikchika and Jamaica reggae, putting a distinctly local spin on the reggae form. The lyric goes
Leave me alone sadness and sorrow
The sun will shine tomorrow
No more cry and sad life again
I will be stronger than my pain
The relative manner provides the ample story telling for that particular thing that has happened to us all. This is particularly evident in the sixth track, “Yetefa yigegnal,” where the claps summon the urgency required to claw forth the truth for the prospective listener. “Melkam Yamarech,” showcases the singer’s romantic side.
The twelfth track “Harambee” (which in Swahili means unity) also shows strength in arrangement. It has a very nice atmosphere and the instrumentation progresses enough underneath it to give you a sense of development.The message calls for creating the environment for African to move together as one people. “The more we realise what we can do together as a unit, the farther we will get as an African nation,” he says. The lyrics go
Weh need so much love inna Africa Land
Righteousness di way fi all human kind
No more tribal war no more confusion
One love my people one revelation
Overall, “Chiggae” is one of the better contemporary reggae albums to be heard in a while, with its evocative songwriting and neat production. His homilies about peace, hope, love, unity are sincere, delivered with power, accurate time and pitch.

Sultan to be crowned in Afar

arefe — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 10:39:02 +0000

Hanfare Ali mirah

A ceremony to celebrate a new sultan’s accession to the throne will be held in Afar Region in a week’s time. Hanfareh Ali Mirah will succeed his late father, Sultan Ali Mirah as the spiritual chief of the Afars. The new sultan will be crowned at an outdoor coronation ceremony to be held in Asayta, capital of the Afar region on November 10, 2011.
Both spiritual and traditional leader to the two million Afar people who live in a triangle shape region between Eritrea, Ethiopia and Djibouti, the sultan will assume important responsibilities at both regional and national levels, Aramis Houmed, advisor to the new sultan, told Addis Journal. The move follows the death last April of Sultan Ali Mirah.Aramis said the appointment will make the process of succession smoother and more orderly.While traditional leaders hold few constitutional powers, they continue to exert significant influence, the advisor said.They are seen as custodians of both religion and tradition.

Hanfreh Ali Mirah, aged 60, is a member of the most powerful family group in Afar, and one of the sons of sultan Ali Mirah, the spiritual chief of the Afars and founder of the Afar Liberation Front (ALF). Thousands of members of the Afar community, clan leaders and elders from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti, representative of the federal government of Ethiopia and Djibouti, and diplomatic corpses in Addis Ababa are expected to participate in the historic rites and wish the new sultan well. Another of heir to the sultanate, Habib Ali Mirah who at times has been at loggerhead with older brother will also be attending the event.
Born in 1951, Mirah along with his father fought in the guerrilla war against Mengistu Haile Mariam and later joined forces with the EPRDF collation, which came to power in 1991. When the new Afar region was set up in 1992, Mirah joined his father as an administrator of the Afar region set up in 1992 and later served as president of the Afar regional State (1995-96). He has been the leader of a faction of the Afar regional Front since 1996. He also served as ambassador of Ethiopia to Kuwait.
The late Sultan Ali Mirah was a revered figure and one of leading players in Ethiopian and regional politics for four decades. Following the installation as the sultan of Awsa by Emperor Haile Selassie in 1944, Ali Mirah Hanfre served as leader of and spokesmen for Afar. With the overthrow of Haile Selassie in late 1974, Ali Mirah soon became a target of the military leaders because of his alliance with the Emperor, his semi-autonomy, and his role as a feudal landowner. On 3 June 1975, the sultan fled to Djibouti and formed the ALF that declared an armed struggle against the Derg. After the Derg’s downfall the ALF supported EPRDF and participated in the 1995 elections for Afar Region’ council but fared woefully, winning only 12 of 48 seats, because of internal squabbling. The Alf suffered from an internal dispute between Habib Ali Mirah, who was hostile toward Meles Zenawi and his pro-EPRDF brother Hanfraeh Ali Mirah, who was president of the Afar Region. In April 1995 the sultan suspended his son, Hanfareh Ali Mirah, as ALF chair in response to electoral dissention within the Front.
More than one millions Afar lives in Ethiopia. Theses nomadic peoples are organized into the four Sultanates of Tadjourha (Djibouti), Rahaital (Eritrea and Djibouti), Baylul (Eritrea) and Aussa (Ethiopia). The 14th Sultan of Aussa will be coroneted in the traditional procedure.

Paintings capture movement & color

arefe — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 18:19:18 +0000

Amare Selfu, an accomplished artist and art instructor, has been working and teaching at the Addis Ababa University’s School of Fine Arts since the past six years. He is being featured in an exhibition at National Museum of Ethiopia from October 6 to October 12. The exhibition titled En Gulf offers a varied selection of vibrant, color-drenched works, capturing the nuances of social interaction, urban life and landscapes. Amare’s paintings, an impressionist artist, captures movement, color, passion and produces an immediate emotional reaction.

Grief-stricken people gripped by powerful hands intrude into almost every canvas he has made. Though trapped in day-to-day challenges, the subjects seem to possess strength and courage to fight on against all odd. Static movement is uniquely portrayed in the work through his brushstroke technique, use of light and sumptuous, bright color. Using very bright color, the artist seems to create balance and harmony into the world which at times seemed dim and despairing.
As he explains it, the artist constantly struggle to find meaning in his work. “The process of the making always seems to be more important than the final product, “he says. The act of making the painting was for him is an emotional response to a subject and a process of solving visual equations between shapes.
One of his paintings, The Anger Land, composes images of deracination, loss and abuse of nature. The literal eating-away of our world seems to be a metaphor for all sorts of ideas of threat and decay. The subject matter, point of view, light, and psychological tension are all elements of common to many of his works.