By Endale Assefa

'Piano-Oboe' concert captivates audience at Italian Culture

The combination of 'Oboe', a historical Italian Trumpet like instrument of the 18th century and piano concert was presented Tuesday at the Italian Cultural Institute in the presence of Italian Ambassador to Ethiopia H.E R. De Lutio , artists, members of the Italian community and invited guests.

At the opening the ceremony, Dr. Emmiliano Longhi, director of the Italian cultural Institute said, "Today a new instrument with lyrical interpretation known as Oboe will be introduced to you in this concert presented by two well known musicians: Gianfranco abd Paolo Cognolato."

Six episodes of Opera concerts of the 17th and 18th Europe were presented by Gianfranco (Oboe player) and Paolo Cognolato (Pianist). Gianfranco Bortolato was born in 1964 and has given several soloist performances (Orchestra Sinfonica of Sanremo, Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese and Pommeriggi Musicalli di Milano), it was noted at the concert.

He has also collaborated as principal Oboe player with several other Orchestras at the Teatro La Scala and Regionale Toscana among others.

He played with the Avant-garde quintet, one of the finalists in the 46th international ARD competition in Munich and in 1995 was awarded the second prize at the seventh "Concrso Nazionale Vitorio Pitzianti" for a show held in Paris . He is currently Solo-Oboe of the Orchestra del Teatro dell' Opera in Rome .

Paolo Cognolato, the pianist is a graduate of the conservatory "Bennedeto Marcello" of Venice with highest qualifications in Piano, composition and vocal instruments. He has performed at mire than 200 concerts and has huge success in Japan , Australia , Central America and Europe , his biography indicates. Girma Yifrashewa, famous Ethiopian pianist, said at the end of the concert, that the combination of the musical instruments was magnificent.

For our traditional instruments, however, it is rather difficult to combine our Kirar (traditional guitar) with the piano. Still the Washint (flute) could be better adapted for such mixture, he said. The program was sponsored by Ethiopian Airlines, Hilton and BGI Ethiopia among others.

Pre-ADF Celebrations: combination of arts and culture

A mass of 500 African youth out of which, 250 are Ethiopians and the rest from other African countries rally on the streets of Addis under the theme 'African youth and Leadership in the 21st century.'

The rally was held on Wednesday, November 15, as part of pre-African Development Forum (ADF) celebrations.

The group started the rally from the compound of Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and was joined by marching band from Burundi at Meskel Square .

Abrham Gelaw, Communication Officer at the UNFPA said that the aim of the walk is to enable full participation of African young in political, social and economic issues.

Celebration of the African youth and culture festival was also held for five days at the Addis Ababa Exhibition Center with music festivities, African art shows, movies, documentaries and youth circus shows from November13 to 18.

One of the much applauded shows on November15 was the performance of Fikat Circus Groups. Fikat Circus Group that are mainly street children, were funded by Italian Center for Children Aid.

Mrs. Francesca Sorbara, organizer of the circus show at the Exhibition Center said that all members of the circus are from lower class of the society. She further added that their interest in this circus is to make the performers happy, heal them and improve their behavior. "We have been working on the lower sector of the society through humanitarian activities like shelter programs and adoption since 1990" she says.

The circus was founded in 2004 and is aiming for national level performances in the future.

The music festival was the other cheerful moment of the ceremony where an African anthem was played. The singing of the anthem was attended by Mayor of the Addis Ababa City care taker Administration, Berhane Derresa, in his cameo at the Exhibition center.

Indian film festival promotes Bollywood

Indian film festival defying the stereotype image of "Bollywood" and aiming at changing people's understanding of Indian Cinema is organized by the Embassy of India in collaboration with 'What's Up!'

A series of interesting films are scheduled to be screened starting from November 25th to December 2nd at City Hall Theatre located in the municipality.

Indian Ambassador to Ethiopia , Mr. Gurjit Singh said, "The money that will be earned from the festival will be donated to the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency (DPPA) of Ethiopia , at a press conference held Thursday at the Sangham Restaurant.

"As cinema can play a great role in promoting tourism, we plan to host an Ethiopian film show in six or seven big cities of India in commemoration of the Ethiopian Millennium," he further announced.

The Indian film festival will present seven contemporary films on seven consecutive days. All the films are sub-titled in English and a highlight of their content indicated by What's Up! Tickets are available at Book World, Hilton, Sheraton and the National Theatre.

In parallel, the Embassy is organizing a symposium, "Cinema Now: Here and There" to be held on December 24, 2006. The symposium aims to bring together Ethiopians and Indians involved in film making while creating an understanding of cinema in general and Indian cinema in particular, explained the organizers.