In the framework of the 125th anniversary of Ethio-French relations, the Alliance Ethio-Française launched a monthly activity programme dedicated to show the cooperation of the two countries in the field of music.
Opened as of June 7, 2022 the Alliance presents retrospective of the French musician Francis Falceto through an exhibition recounting his musical adventure in France and Ethiopia.
Staying from June 6th to July 4th 2022 the program includes film screening for the general public in the Aef auditorium, concert by Girma Bèyènè & Akalé Wubé, at the Hager Fikir Theater Exhibition “From éthiopiques to éthioSonic”, Francis Falceto, tireless purveyor of Ethiopian music, Scenography and museography: Mohamed Beldjoudi, Sébastien Cailleux to open from 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. from Monday to Saturday for the month.
A new partnership with the mythical “Hager Fikir” theatre will allow to listen again to one of the emblematic artists of Ethio-jazz, Girma Bèyènè, accompanied by the legendary French group, Akalé Wubé on June 20th.
Ethio-French relations
CULTURE: AFRICA’S SAVING GRACE
Ethiopian artists are gearing up for the East African Cultural and Art Festival, June 15-22nd, planned as an annual event to be hosted in rotation among countries in the region. In line with the African Union’s Agenda 2063, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Culture and Sports emphasize the impact such events may have towards transforming socio-economic development and integration of Africa. With three months of glorious rain and cool weather ahead, causing many to retreat for the season, the warm sounds and sights of music, dance, art and theater will be a treat for all. However, Sosina Wogayehu kicked of the kermt (rainy season) with a reception organized by the Embassy of Australia promoting her Ethiopian Circus Centre in Entoto. Sosina is a trailblazing mentor and motivator with a “… stellar career as a world-class, international, circus performer, contortionist and juggler…” according to aussietheatre.com. Australia’s Ambassador to Ethiopia, H.E. Ms. Julia Niblett, described Sosina, an Ethio-Australian, as an ‘inspiration to youth and example of commitment to improving lives through training and creating a corresponding business model to ensure sustainability for those who choose this profession’. The event hosted at Hyatt Regency Hotel brought attention to the need to support such initiatives spearheaded by the Diaspora, returning home as positive change agents.
Abroad the summer festival season is also in full gear with the Love Supreme Jazz Festival, known as the “largest outdoor jazz festival in Europe” kicking off July 1 with Dr. Mulatu Astatke amongst a list of other artists such as Erykah Badu, The Brand New Heavies, Ife Ogunjobi, and Cubaafrobeat. The list is long. Dr. Mulatu is well known worldwide, for his musical brand, Ethio-Jazz, which fuses the best of indigenous sounds with musical genres from jazz, funk and Ethiopian folk melodies. The first African to graduate from the renowned Berklee College of Music, he was given an honorary PhD by his alma mater, a nod to his continued influence on a new generation of music connoisseurs with his compositions. Maestro Mulatu ensures Ethiopia’s narrative, as a key contributor to culture, is maintained every time he steps on stage, dressed in his African attire emanating sounds of Africa and her Diaspora.
Reggae artists have also began summer concert tours and the Marley clan is booked from Europe to USA. Stephen Marley’s tour began in California this weekend with the colors of the imperial Ethiopian flag fully represented. The second son of Bob and Rita Marley, Stephen is a producer and writer penning some of the most prolific songs promoting Pan Africanism. In the reggae royalty’s song, Made in Africa, Stephen chants,
“Scholars and scientists now concede that Africa is the first place of mankind. Africans were the first builders of civilization.
They discovered mathematics, invented writing, developed sciences, engineering, medicine, religion, fine arts and built the great pyramids an architectural achievement which still baffles modern scientists.
They infiltrate our homes,
They call it as their own, Africa, Now, we must stand tall,
To break down all these walls.
How beautiful are thou, all nations have to bow, Africa don’t you fall from grace, You’re the secret place.”
Imagine, thousands of concert goers from all walks of life and socio-political orientation will be jamming to such lyrics. Passionate words which speak for billions of Africans and their descendants dispersed throughout the sixth region of Africa. In reality this is an example of soft power to influence minds and hearts into seeing the humanity of Africans. Through culture, ambassadors- at large for Africa are created. They share history, current affairs and the future of the continent through music and myriad cultural forms. Senegal, no stranger to cultural festivals hosted the First Festival of Negro Arts in 1966 under the auspices of President Poet Leopold Sedar Senghor. Ethiopia, Mali, Chad, Ivory Coast, Niger, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cameroon, Gabon, Zaïre, Congo, Zambia, Burundi participated. Top jazz musician Duke Ellington, dancer Josephine Baker, and poet Langston Hughes were in attendance. Almost 60 years later Senegal’s President Macky Stall, upholding the legacy of the arts through the 14th edition of the Biennale of African Art in Dakar, presented the grand prize of the contemporary art event to Ethiopian visual artist, Tegene Kunbi Senbeto. We have lots to celebrate and in the words of playwright Langston Hughes,
“Ethiopia
Lift your night-dark face,
Abyssinian
Son of Sheba’s race!
Your palm trees tall
And your mountains high
Are shade and shelter
To men who die
For freedom’s sake
But in the wake of your sacrifice
May all Africa arise
With blazing eyes and night-dark face
In answer to the call of Sheba’s race:
Ethiopias free!
Be like me,
All of Africa,
Arise and be free!
All you black peoples,
Be free! Be free!”
Dr. Desta Meghoo is a Jamaican born Creative Consultant, Curator and cultural promoter based in Ethiopia since 2005. She also serves as Liaison to the AU for the Ghana based, Diaspora African Forum.
The setting of the sail
Some time ago I was travelling in the countryside over a rather rough terrain. The driver was really stepping on the gas and the drive was becoming uncomfortable. I didn’t feel in safe hands anymore. Suddenly there was a hump in the road and the vehicle was air born for a moment before it bounced back hard to the surface. The driver worked very hard to keep the vehicle on the road. I had enough though and told him to slow down. I was very surprised when he answered loudly, while hanging on desperately to the steering wheel: “It is not me, it is the road!” I couldn’t believe what he had just said. What did he mean “It is not me …”, of course it was him! At the next opportunity to take a break, stretch our legs and have a coffee, I took the car keys off him and decided to drive the next part of the journey myself.
I am often reminded about this incident when I observe similar responses of people to the circumstances they find themselves in. There seems always to be something or someone else to blame when things are not going well. Some other person or condition is causing the situation we are in.
On the road it is the other drivers, at school it is the teacher or the test, at home it is the husband or the wife or the children. And in the business? It is the workers, or the administrator, or the tax collector, or the importer, the exporter, the forwarder, the government, the policy, the regulations, the internet, etc. Really? Is it normally somebody or something else or could it be that we ourselves are part of the problem? Let us look at this issue a bit closer. Could it be a cultural thing that we say that things happen to us instead of recognising that we play an active part in the situation? If that is so, we may need to change something here. I am not saying that culture is bad and needs to be abandoned, not at all. But if culture is standing in the way of us reaching our most important goals, assuming we have set our goals of course, then we may want to stop for a moment and try and see if things couldn’t be done in a more effective way.
In any case, many businesspeople blame their problems on other persons or external circumstances. They are not to blame themselves, they think. They think of themselves working so hard, shouting their instructions so loud, sweating so much. They find it difficult to accept that they may be making a mistake, that they are part of the problem themselves, that they are responsible.
Having responsibility is an intriguing concept. It literally means “having the ability to response”. Response to other people, to circumstances, to anything that comes our way. That ability to response is a skill that can be developed. Yes, the way we react is determined for a great deal by our culture and the way we have been brought up, the role models provided by our parents, teachers, bosses, leaders. But that does not mean that is the only way or necessarily the best way to response. Just because somebody else reacts in a certain way, doesn’t mean we have to repeat that behaviour, certainly not when it doesn’t seem to be effective, when it doesn’t change the situation for the better.
In other words, we are in a position to choose the way we response and if we base our responses on certain values and on principles, the chance is higher that our responses will have better results.
Responsibilities in running a business are many. The ability of the business owner or manager to response to the internal and external environment of the business will in the end turn the business into a poor, mediocre or successful business. There are choices to be made. How to respond for instance to developments in the market, policy changes, tax regulations, suggestions from workers, demands from clients? This is where you have the opportunity to set the standards and lead the company where you want it to go. To illustrate the point, I quote a poem from Ella Wheeler Wilcox:
One ship drives east and another drives west
With the self same winds that blow
“Tis the set of the sails
And not the gales
That tells us the way to go.
Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate;
As we voyage along through life,
“Tis the set of a soul
That decides its goal,
And not the calm, or the strife.
Ton Haverkort
Waliya’s boss Wubetu led Ethiopia to historic victory over Egypt
Egypt were upset by Ethiopia at the Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe, losing 2-0 in their second Group D match in the TotalEnergies 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The quick Ethiopian forwards repeatedly troubled a slow Egyptian defence in the opening half and goals from Dawa Hotessa and Captain Shemeles Bekele gave them a two-goal half-time advantage.
Hotessa broke the deadlock after 21 minutes with a sliding finish that beat keeper Mohamed Abou Gabal. The forward stretched in to direct the ball home after some fine work from Abubaker Nasser who had done the donkey work on the right to lay in a cross.
Just before the goal, Ethiopia had tested Gabal with Gatuoch Panom’s shot from distance which the keeper calmly collected.
Nasser came inches close to making it 2-0 for Ethiopia in the 24th minute when he ran on to a through ball from the middle, but his shot past the keeper hit the upright and rolled away.
He thought he had scored in the 34th minute when he tapped home a cross from the right, but the referee’s flag was up for offside.
The Walia Ibex however finished the half with the second goal five minutes to the break through Bekele’s thumping shot from inside the box. The skipper had started the move himself, spreading to Amanuel Gebremichael who played him through on goal.
Despite these attack-minded substitutions, Ethiopia forced them to play deep in the second half, and their attempt to claw their way back into the game failed. Although all four teams now have won one and lost one each, Egypt is bottom of Group D because of a -1 goal difference.
Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers draw consists Egypt, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Guinea in Group D.
Only Ivory Coast guaranteed its presence in the 34th edition of AFCON, as the hosts of the tournament.
