Bob's sixty -second
By Tsion Aklilu
It's hard to believe that it’s been 25 years since Robert Nesta Marley passed away. No other singer has become so synonymous with an entire era during which Bob Marley and the Wailers were the embodiment of African pride and the sirens of black emancipation.
Bob Marley’s death in a Miami hospital after complications resulting from a minor foot injury which developed a blood clot, was more than private bereavement for his loving family and circle of friends. It was also Jamaica’s loss of a national symbol of reconciliation. To his hundreds of millions of fans, his life and death has since become the seminal event in their lives -inspiring many to follow the Rastafarian faith.
Bob Marley has never achieved the acceptance he so richly deserves by, of all people, Ethiopians -who remain largely indifferent but were once openly hostile to The Legend, his Rasta message and the lifestyle he advocated. It was only in May of 2005 that the magnitude of Bob Marley’s legacy was brought home when the Marley family chose to celebrate Bob Marley's 6Oth Birthday with great ceremony in Addis Ababa. The ‘Africa–Unite’ concerts and related events were moderately successful in that Bob Marley, reggae and dreadlocks were officially legitimized, .Reggae music in fact, has gone from being banned 20 years ago to becoming the music genre of choice of the better singers in Addis. Africa Unite was organized by the Marley family with the assistance of Dr. Desta Maghoo, founder and manager of Children’s Village, a volunteer center that provides meals for underprivileged children.
She is a friendly woman from Jamaica, who was working behind the scenes to make a success of 2005’s ‘Africa Unite: Bob Marley’s 60th birthday celebration in Ethiopia.
This year, from February 2-9, 2007 she is back to set in motion the 62nd birth day commemoration of the legendary musician. It might be said that every Jamaican is influenced by Bob personally or professionally, and it so for Desta.
Over the nine days, various events are expected to take place. On Feb.2, 2007 Bob Marley’s live music was screened at the Children’s Village center. “The boy from Nine Miles, the Youth Year, of Bob Marley” is a biography of Bob written by his youngest daughter Cedella Marley in a form of Jamaican folk tale. This book will be presented in Amharic and English at Reading Night at the commemoration. Jamaican food will also be served on the occasion.
Photos of ‘Africa Unite 2005’ taken by Courtney Harriot, the official photographer of the AU, will be open to the public on Feb.6, 2007. On the same day, the Marley family’s message for African youth will be transmitted for the party. Since the commemoration is celebrated under the theme of ‘Redemption Song for Africa Youth’, UNICEF will present a film about the role of youth in the Unification of Africa. The documentary film shows youth discussing about Africa during the recent ‘Speak Africa’ event in different regions of Ethiopia.
On the closing day of the event on Feb.9, 2007, Tsedenya GebreMarkos is expected to join Sidney Solomon and his band to entertain the crowed.
All events are to be held at the Children’s Village.
Art as self projection
By Mina Yirga
Tibebe Terffa, one of the most talented contemporary artists in Ethiopia, was born in Harar in 1948. He discovered his passion for art when he heard about the Addis Ababa Fine Art School while on vacation in Addis Ababa in 1965. Later, he joined the Art school and started to realize his destiny. There followed decades of artistic growth as an art student and instructor. His rich record (1969-2004) shows that he has staged more than 34 exhibitions at home and abroad.
“Human beings are products of their environment. Artists portray what’s around them. I don’t want to have a premeditated idea to start my paintings nor do I want to get pressured with what I call external. I always start my work by creating peaceful coexistence with my self and the external world.” Says Tibebe.
An empty canvas was standing in a side corner. Incense was billowing out of his studio, brushes and paints are queued, waiting for him to start on what he calls ‘Self discovery’.
“I like to make such preparations to collect my emotions. My studio is my shrine;
I feel that I can get guardian spirits that assist me with positive energy. As I look at a cupful of paint and look around me, in an instant, my thoughts transcend and I start to paint my imagination”.
“I like to work on paintings that can say something by themselves. You won’t find Picasso now for him to explain his paintings. But his works always say something to you. I believe an audience is an omnipotent individual. My duty as an artist is to give viwers an opportunity to dialog with my work and find themselves from with in it.”
Shetty win receives mixed reception
Capital’s Eskinder Michael is currently on a working visit to India from where he
dispatched this story on the impact in New Delhi and Bangalore streets of the
Controversial Shilpa Shetty Big Brother-UK triumph of Bollywood actress
Shilpa Shetty’s win on the UK reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother, was received with mixed emotions in three of India’s major cities, with those who believe that she deserved the win and those who believed that it was blown out of proportion split down the middle.
Shetty, who was the subject of racist taunts from fellow contestants, won the show with 67%, as compared to the first runner up who earned 35 points, showing that she literally swept the show. However, some of New Delhi’s and Bangalore’s residents tend to believe that the whole thing was shot out of proportion
“Shetty has nothing special and the only reason that she won the show was because they wanted to make it up to her for the alleged racist taunts. It is all a consolation prize,” said a journalist.
Rohan, another Delhi resident, working in a hotel believes that Shetty won the contest because the judges felt sorry for her and that she just used the opportunity.
“I believe that she is a deserved winner. All through the show, she made it a point to promote Indian culture and was gracious in the ways that she dealt with racist taunts from her fellow contestants. Even at 31, Shetty was beautiful all through the show and displayed all the characters of a true Indian and she deserves all the things that are heading her way,” says Nita, a shop owner in Delhi.
Another hotel employee in Bangalore believes that though Shetty’s acting career was never as colorful, she deserved to win the Big Brother show. “She might not have been an ideal choice of every director in Bollywood, especially as she got older, but this was deserved,”
Shetty, whose acting career was headed down the drain, has all of a sudden become hot property as offers from Hollywood started knocking at her doors, not to mention the movie and advertisement offers that will be waiting for her when she arrives home.
Though she started the show at odds of 14/1, Shilpa Shetty emerged winner on the world’s biggest reality show, and won a prize money of Rs 86 lakh, which she said will be donated to a charitable trust.
Many believe that this actress whose 10 year career altogether that started with a romantic movie led by superstar Shah Ruk Khan never produced any moments that could even compare to what she is facing now.
While her first British magazine, television and newspaper interviews have already made 300,000 pounds, a further 200,000 dollars is being negotiated for worldwide media interviews to take place within the next week. The beautiful actress is also set to make 10 million USD when she finishes signing biography, interview, endorsement, advertisement and movie deals.
Ethiopia’s ‘Selus
Gebeta’
By Mina Yirga
Though not instantly recognizable, 238 different traditional games are assumed to exist in Ethiopia. Among these, only 10 have been well researched to meet the national games standard. Every 2 years, the Culture and Sport Federation organize cultural games festivals among regional clubs in Ethiopia. Each club is expected to come up with 5 ‘new’ games.
Selus Gebeta( Gebeta for 18) is the most popular and is believed to have subsisted for over 5500 years in Ethiopia. As evidence of the its existence, game boards were found at the foot side of Axum. The game has been popular among the royal families of Ethiopia. Fitawerari Amedie Lemma, 86, speaks about the game “Selus Gebeta exists in many parts of Africa. There have been many sighting of it being played in Algeria, Nigeria and Togo. Similar to European chess, it has a king and soldiers. Making moves in the game is called ‘Kurkora’. The king has the advantage of owning kingdoms at one place only; having a kingdom is referred as ‘Tuzi’ in Amharic. The game is quite challenging and tests the player’s patience. Winner is the side which destroys the knights and when he check mates the king.
Fitawrari Amedie Lemma gets the acclaim
for being the pioneer in helping the game to linger as one of Ethiopia’s cultural sport. “70 years back I used to play this game very well at my birth place, Wollo,Werhimona. At some age, I failed to remember the rules. Fortunately, my friend, Gerazemach Haile Gorgis Beru once came for a visit at home and helped me refresh my memory.”
“By the time, the Sport Federation President was the late Yedenekachew Tesema. We discussed the importance of keeping such enlightening playoffs. Immediately after our introduction, 30 trainees were selected to be coached by Gerazematch HaileGorgis Beru at Jan Meda. And he continued on coaching roving around Ethiopia.”
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