Selome kifle

Teddy Afro releases song for reggae superstar

The Ethiopian famous musician, Theodros Kassahun, popularly known as Teddy Afro, released a new song titled “Bob Marley” on Saturday, January 29 on FM 97.1 dedicated to the reggae superstar on his 60th birthday celebration that began last Tuesday in Addis Ababa.

Teddy, who is well known for writing the lyrics of all his songs, is one of Ethiopia’s musicians that will perform at the Meskel Square concert on Sunday, February 6. Capital learned that the video clip for Teddy’s new release was shot in Shashemene, a town about 250 km away from Addis Ababa where a lot of Rastafarians in Ethiopia live. The singer and songwriter is expected to entertain the audience with this song at the concert.

A fan of the musician told Capital that the lyrics “Promise...Rita Marley, Promise Ziggy Marley to bring his body” on Teddy’s song is something that has a great message.

In 2001 Teddy released his first album Abogida, which won him a lot of admiration from all walks of life. On the Abogida album two of Teddy’s songs “Haileselassie” and “Haile Gebrselassie” were written after the Ethiopian Emperor Haileselassie and the Ethiopian long distance legend Haile Gebrselassie. And recently he recorded a song for Kenenisa Bekele, Sileshi Sihin and Haile after their Athens Olympic exploits.

Iranian embassy organizes art and handicraft exhibition

The cultural section of the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran has organized an eleven-day Iranian art & handicraft exhibition, and a film festival to commemorate the 26th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran.

The event, which is the 12th of its kind to be held in Ethiopia, began on Tuesday February 1 and ends February 11, the day that marks the 26th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, which brought about the end of the monarchy system in the country.

The celebration that started with the Iranian art and handicraft exhibition on Thursday, February 3 at the exhibition hall of the Bulgarian embassy has on display photos of various historical places and those taken from various movie scenes that show the development of the Persian Empire.

According to information obtained from the Iranian embassy, the art of making handicraft is a consistent and extreme solid ancient tradition. Relying on the knowledge and experiences of their ancestors, Iranian craftsmen had solid ground in passing the many states of evolution and with the special mentality of the mystical culture of the country. They have left behind the minor elements and reached major goal.     

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Iranian Ambassador, Kiomars Ghiam, said that his country has a documented and recorded history of more than 7,000 years and the country has a cradle of an ancient civilization that had significant importance on the formation of the world civilization throughout the history which has enriched its culture. “The rich history and civilization of the country is a huge mental support to all Iranian people to overcome the challenge of the contemporary era,” he said.

The ambassador highlighted that the exhibition will play a useful role in further revealing his country to Ethiopia, creating cultural interaction and eventually leading to the expansion of relations between the two countries.

On his part, Ahmed Ge’as, vice minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, said, “Organizing events hold a particular significance in our society where handicrafts have greater power to portray the diversity of our culture, express the identity of the people who own the culture and serves as a means of income. Lesson that can be drawn from such festival is also deemed to enhance the competence of cottage industry in the modern era.”

He added that this is a rare opportunity for those who are engaged in the art and handicraft business and industry, the youth and Ethiopian artists in particular to develop new techniques and styles, and create additional perspectives to expression their future endeavors.

Ahmed further said that this exhibition and other cultural programs have been carried out under the framework of the cultural, scientific and education cooperation agreement signed in October 2003 between Ethiopia and Iran.

The exhibition at the Bulgarian embassy remains open for the public until February 7, while the second event, a film festival will be held at the Addis Ababa City hall from February 7 to 11. 

Tibebe Ethiopia’s film set for Berlin film festival

Tibebe Ethiopia’s short film “thank you for the daily bread” has been selected as “talent of the year” at the 55th Berlin Film Festival which takes place Thursday, February 10 in Germany.

Owner and founder of Tibebe Ethiopia, Daniel Worku, told Capital that his short film has been selected with 49 others from an initial list of 2,500 short films that were submitted for the category. The list was first cut down to 500 based on how they presented their messages, and finally to 50 films who are all selected as “talent of the year” in 2005.

“For me this is something hard to believe and amazing because it is my first experience in film making as well as to participate in an international film festival with other film makers from around the world,” Daniel said.

“Thank you for your daily bread” by Tibebe Ethiopia will be screened at the 55th Berlin Film Festival with all the other selected short films from which 10 films will be selected to be “talents of the year” for 2006.

According to Daniel, the 55th Berlin Film Festival organizers selected the “talents of the year” from different genres from feature to documentary presented by directors from all over the world including countries like London and Germany where technology has reached a very advanced stage.

Recalling how he got into the film making business, Daniel said he read and collected lots of materials; and also wrote the script for Geta Mekonnen’s film illustrating the HIV situation in the country, which showed him the techniques in filmmaking.

He said every director has his or her own techniques of using various elements like lighting, setting, prop, color coordination and selection, and costume designs as these elements have their own purpose, style and uniqueness. “I have also tried to create harmony, and beauty using colors on these elements on the scenes because the colors must express the mood of the scene.”

Explaining the difference between short films and normal films, Daniel said the script writer as well as the director must be creative and that the directors of short films have to show their messages in a very short version, for instance, compressing their ideas into a five minutes film.

He disclosed that the Ethiopian film industry is still at its infant stage but has to reach the advanced level and this can be achieved if film directors and critics comment on newly released films or premiers.

Before working on this short film Daniel had written several books including a short story book on science fiction titled “Dansos - Daniel’s new space society” and Yemaebl Asoch. He also brought to Ethiopia the hosts of the popular Africa cultural program Goge Africa.

Tibebe Ethiopia was established in 2000 with the aim of providing free training in journalism, literature for the destitute. The company also plans to organize an exhibition for artists who have not had the opportunity to exhibit their works.

Marley’s life in pictures at exhibition center

As part of the Bob Marley 60th birthday celebration, a photo exhibition organized by the Bob and Rita Marley foundations was opened at the Addis Ababa Exhibition Center on Thursday, February 3.

The photo exhibition, which illustrates the life of the reggae legend, was officially opened by Bob Marley’s mother, Cedella Marley Booker. About 125 photographs that describe the reggae icon’s life history from his childhood until his death are on display for the public.

The exhibition remains open until February 10.