Ethiopian Review

For eight years now, the Ethiopian Music Festival has been the gathering place for all fans and musicians, Ethiopians as well as foreigners.
The festival is nothing less than a little miracle that gets better each year. This year the Spanish Embassy is assisting the Alliance Ethio-Francaise to organise the 8th Ethiopian music festival.
It started on Friday, May 15 and runs until May 26 at three main venue: Alliance, Club Alize and Sheraton Addis.
The 8th Ethiopian Music Festival invited two from the many groups in SNNPR that were a sensation in Arba Minch at the Festival of a Thousand Stars. Music and dance have an enormous role in Derashe society. Their music serves for praising heroes, commemorating the dead, healing and celebrating feasts. Derashe’s music is also characterized by the diversity of the instruments. Thus, for this concert, no less than 28 types of instruments will be used. The dances are simply unique and their origin is a bit of a mystery.
Yeha and imperial Tiger orchestra bands, Masinqo players including Seleshi Demise (Gashe Abera Molla) and artist Ouvrier, who is temporarily in the country, will also present their traditional music.
To expand the festival beyond Ethiopian musicians, foreign musicians were invited to the festival. The first European musical influences in Ethiopia date back to the Baroque Era in the early 17th century.
Jesuit missionaries imported various western music instruments like organ, harp, viola or bandorriglia (a string instrument belonging to the lutes family). This had been the case in Gorgora, north of Lake Tana, at least between 1624 and 1632. Despite these promising beginnings, the methods used by Jesuit missionaries did not have lasting effects on the country’s music, unlike in China or South America.
The Ensemble XVIII-21, conducted by Jean-Christophe Frisch, is familiar with “Nomadic Baroque” since it has already followed the footsteps of various aspects of Jesuits musical influence in China, Syria, Brazil and Philippines. On top of musical pieces performed in 17th century Ethiopia, the Ensemble XVIII-21 intends to experiment by combining their music with the azmari music of Gondar.
Ouvrier also presented his work of digital picture painting of the country, including an ancient picture of Abyssinia and both traditional and modern musicians, including the police orchestra, Asnakech Worku, Alemayu Esheti, his Masinqo teacher Gizati Gelayi who died 10 years ago, and the late Tilahun Gesesse.
This year’s festival is dedicated to two Ethiopian musical legends, Sahle Degago and Lemma Demmisew, who dominated the music scene for more than thirty years.
Some of the shows are free while others have a fee. The schedule can be seen on the Alliance Ethio-Francaise’s web site: www.allianceaddis.org
Their concert in Addis is supported by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through US Artists International, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

By Addis Mulugeta | (Capital)