Category: Arts
Thirty years ago on July 29, the poet and playwright, Mengistu Lemma, who Richard Pankhurst considered the Bernard Shaw of Ethiopia, died at the age of 65. Mengistu made a remarkable impact on the development of Ethiopian literature with his…
Mahmoud Ahmed is one of Ethiopia’s greatest performers, whose career started in the country’s ‘Golden Age’ in the ’60s and ’70s when a thriving indigenous jazz and funk scene swept the nation. Since his first trip abroad in 1994, he…
Renowned Ethiopian washint (folk flute) player and a member of the influential yet long-dissolved Orchestra Ethiopia, Melaku Gelaw, who settled in the United States in 1996, died on Tuesday in Arlington, Virginia, his family announced. A friend and close associate…
Mengistu Lemma (1928-1988) was a leading Ethiopian playwright, novelist, poet, and scholar, who in the words of the late Prof. Richard Pankhurst may be considered the Molière, Bernard Shaw, or Gogol of Ethiopia. In this extract from interviews conducted on…
Jano Band, a full band and one Ethiopia’s prime acts, is disbanding, Ethiopia Observer learnt. After 6 years together, the Jano band members are splitting up over disputes over ownership of the band name and financial problems.
Getachew Desta is a legendary disc jockey and radio show host who used to host listeners’ music choices in Radio Ethiopia in the 1960’s and early 70’s. For while, his show aired every Sunday for an hour but it was…
The popular Ethiopian lyricist, arranger, vocalist and accomplished pianist Girma Beyene performs at the National Theatre in Addis Ababa with a Parisian band, Akalé Wubé on Saturday, June 10.
A rising star in photography, Ethiopian photographer Hilina Abebe, 30, captures individuals and communities undergoing social change. She describes being drawn to photography at a young age by her father who used to take pictures of the family. “I think…
I finally caught Getachew Kassa for an interview. Other than listening to his greatest hits on the radio and watching him on television, I was able to see him once or twice in person playing at the Jazzamba Lounge in…
Raised in Addis Ababa, Maheder Haileselassie, 26, is a photographer of genuinely humane sensibilities, as her photographic work illustrates. Though originally trained as a Civil Engineer, Maheder has been focusing on photography for the last three years and her images…