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Best of Addis 2012
The task of identifying the best artistic and cultural experiences in Addis in the past year turned out to be much more challenging than expected. Not because there were not a plethora of events to cherry pick from. There were, and many of them were as such interesting but also fairly safe. Only ...
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Our favourite Ethiopian albums of 2012
At Addis Rumble we do not want to lag behind in the ever-intensifying end-of-year-list race. However, we will not overcompensate with endless top 100 lists but will restrict our endeavour to a few areas not covered by dozens of other bloggers out here. We are kicking off with our favorite Ethiopian albums of 2012 and will ...
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The Fresh Harar Sound
Harar is a city full of mystery, hyenas, Rimbaud nostalgia and a deeply fascinating place. However, one thing that most faranjis who have travelled to the city have noticed is the lack of restaurants catering just slightly for Western tastebuds. When the two British producers Richard Russell and Rodaidh McDonald travelled to Harar in 2010 as part ...
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Mulugeta Tafesse in conversation: The loss of the Ethiopian cultural consumer
Addis Rumble contributor Sylvie Fanta met Ethiopian artist Mulugeta Tafesse on a sunny afternoon in the arty town of Antwerp, Belgium, where he has been living and working for the past 17 years. Mulugeta had just returned from Spain, where he defended his PhD thesis: “Headways in the art of Mimesis: an inquiry into the mimetic ...
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Introducing Yeshi Demelash
One of the less know sources of fascination in Ethiopia is the country’s widespread drive inn culture. There seems to be no limits to what can be done in a car in Addis. Drive inn movies, dinners and coffees are so last century. Here we are talking drive inn meetings, parties etc. So it came ...
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MAPUTO DIARY
Renowned Danish photo space, Gallery Image, currently features the work of Danish-Mozambican photographer Ditte Haarløv Johnsen, Maputo Diary. The series is based on personal stories, relations and experiences Ditte had as a child, teenager and later grown woman in Mozambique during times of war, conflicts and transitions. Ditte grew up in Maputo and moved ...
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TEZETA: Documenting the Ethiopian-Armenian Romance
Visitors to Ethiopia can easily spend weeks or months in the country without noticing the Armenian influence on Ethiopian culture and society. However, when you start exploring the old Piassa and Arat Kilo neighborhoods of Addis Ababa you pass by some of the few remaining old Armenian houses that have not yet been demolished to ...
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THE CULTURE OF COFFEE
Ethiopia has been a coffee nation for centuries, in fact the whole adventure and history of coffee started in Ethiopia as early as in the 13th century. According to the myth a sheep-herder, Kaldi was looking for his herd one day, when he discovered the red cherries on the coffee tree, and later invented ...
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Living and Building in Chad
“The road to development depends on the development of the road,” has become a much-used slogan of the Chadian government. This could be Ethiopia, Namibia, Tanzania or almost any other African country. An asphalt road being constructed through a desert. Foreign construction managers, local workers, villagers and pastoralists living side by side in a ...
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FUTURE-MAKERS
Last Thursday Future-makers, an exhibition with works of six photographers from Kosovo, Angola, Ethiopia and Germany, opened at the National Museum Gallery in Addis Ababa. Edson Chagas (Angola), Jetmir Idrizi (Kosovo), Mulugeta Gebrekidan (Ethiopia), Leikun Nahusenay (Ethiopia), Andy Spyra (Germany) and Michael Tsegaye (Ethiopia) displayed selected works at one of the largest photo-exhibitions in ...