Addis Calling II featuring works by Addis Gezahegn, Mulugeta Kassa, Abiy Solomon, and Bezawit Wondwossen is scheduled to be opened at Addis Fine Art Gallery on March 25. The exhibition is a mix of painting, glass mono-prints, and photography, representing a new selection of local talent engaged in a diverse range of artistic expression. Addis Gezahegn, a long time artistic presence in Addis Ababa, is known for portraying the multifaceted characteristics of the city’s residents by detailing the external facades of their homes. Mulugeta Kassa, co-founder of the experimental collective Netsa Art Village, considers the singular nature of conception and fertility through his glass-mono prints. Abiy Solomon is a photographer and one of the most prominent graphic designers in Addis Ababa. In his photography series, primordial Modernity: The Raw Spirit of Lalibela, he offers a meditation on spirituality and the profound interiority of faith. Bezawith Wondwossen uses bold, thick strokes of blues, oranges, and browns to create an abstract yet vigorous cityscape, against which splashes of black silhouette.
Poetry@ Addis Ababa University Cultural Center
In celebration of World Poetry Day, the cultural section of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran has organized a poetry event on March 20, 2017 at Addis Ababa University Cultural Centre hall. In this event, young and famous Ethiopian artists and poets, and poetry fans will attend the event.
World Poetry Day is celebrated annually on March 21 and was declared by UNESCO in 1999. The purpose of the day is to promote reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world and, as the UNESCO session declaring the day says, to “give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional and international poetry movements.”
It was generally celebrated in October, sometimes on the 5th, but in the latter part of the 20th century the world community celebrated it on 15 October, the birthday of Virgil, the Roman epic poet and poet laureate under Augustus. The tradition to keep an October date for national or international poetry day celebrations still holds in many countries.
Bassekou Kouyate @ Alliance Ethio-Française
The renowned Malian musician, Bassekou Koyate, is scheduled to perform today at Alliance Ethio-Française. Bassekou is one of the true masters of the ngoni – a string instrument originating in West Africa. At the age of 12, he started playing the ngoni. In the late 1980s he moved to the capital Bamako. Bassekou’s debut album Segu Blue was released internationally in 2017 by Out Here Records and distributed in the UK by Proper Music Distribution. The album was produced by Lucy Duran. He has also appeared on a number of albums by Toumani Diabate and has performed in several European countries. In 2010 Bassekou has been on tour with Bela Fleck. Kouyate’s wife, Amy Sacko is also a successful solo artist and sings lead in his band. His father Mustapaha Kouyate was a ngoni player and his mother Yagare Damba was a praise singer. Bassekou won so many awards including BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music. He won Album of the Year and African Artist of the Year.
Lichter @ Goethe Institut
In connection with the month of March and the issue of migration, a film entitled Lichter was screened on March 16 at the Goethe Institut in Addis Ababa. This movie reflects on the situation around the border between Poland and German and defunct east-west love story. The fate of many single characters creates a picture of life in this region: some Ukrainians want to cross the border illegal to get into Germany, a company wants to build a new factory, a polish taxi driver desperately needs money to buy his daughter a communion dress. After the end of the cold war, the former conflict between east and west has continued on an economic level. A group of Ukrainians is determined to enter the Federal Republic of Germany as if it were the Promised Land; their illegal entry fails.
First, their paid guide leaves them in Poland, not in Germany; when the group tries to cross the river Oder by night, they are arrested.