Adam “Aminé” Daniel, professionally known as Amine, is an Ethiopian American hip-hop recording artist from Portland, Oregon.
Aminé has scored an unlikely hit with the wavy love rap “Caroline” currently at 39 million You Tube views and counting. “Caroline” finds a sweet spot between theatre-geek sincerity and cool-kid braggadocio, between neo-soul and ringtone rap, between romance and vulgarity. The song has racked up some hundred and fifty million streams in recent months and reached No.18 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week.
Among this year’s uncommonly vibrant cohort of breakout rappers, Amine, a wild haired twenty-two-year-old from Portland, Oregon, stands out for his warm, restless energy.
He also studied business, advertising and marketing at Portland State University (he recently dropped out with 15 credits left towards his degree), and creates his own cover artwork. A child of Ethiopian immigrants Amine also made a powerful political statement on Donald trump and his election “you can never make America great again, all you ever did was make this county hate again’. (Various Sources)
“Currents” @ Lela Gallery
Featuring six prominent artists, an exhibition entitled “Currents” will be opened today at Lela Gallery. The artists are Behailu Bezabih, Dawit Abebe, Eyob Kitaba, Tamrat Gezahegn, Tesfaye Bekele and Tewodros Hagos. Currents engage with social currents that are local and international. In addition to that, it serves as a snapshot of where these artists are in their work at this moment. Eyob has a genuinely formal approach to the notion of painting, as well as, on a purely theoretical level, questioning the posture of the artist within the society. He has lived and worked on the edge of the city as well as of the art milieu and created works, with no given narratives, that defy categorization. Behailu’s outstanding contribution to Ethiopian contemporary art is his unique and intriguing style. His subject matters can include social contemporary on Ethiopian street life, the immigrant experience in Europe, the political life of Africa, and globalization. The exhibition will open to the public until December 15.
Zerihun Yetimgeta’s “For Peace” @ Alliance Ethio-Française
One of the prominent Ethiopian artists Zerihun Yetimgeta’s solo exhibition entitled “For Peace” is showcasing until December 3, at the Alliance Ethio-Française.
Born in Addis Ababa his inspiration for the art came at the early age and got a nickname ‘scientist ‘because of his eagerness to work with his hands and create things.
At the age of 18, he won a gold award of Haileselassie I Prize Trust for fine Arts. Zerihun is renowned for his iconography paintings that explore ancient civilizations, mythologies and symbols. His brand is magic scrolls which he uses wood and the weavers work, shema.
He exhibited countless exhibitions starting from the 1960s in Europe, the US and traveled all over the world where he endlessly created himself through his traveling. He is also a guest lecturer in many prestigious universities. He also won many international awards including Second Dakar Biennale of Contemporary African art and also won Kenyan panorama award. He currently teaches graphic art in Ale School of Arts and Design.
Pianist-composer Girma Yifrashewa @ Ginny’s in Harlem
The acclaimed Ethiopian pianist and composer Girma Yifrashewa returns to New York City this month for a Thanksgiving weekend performance on November 27th at Ginny’s Supper Club.
Girma, who was trained at Sofia State Conservatory of Music in Bulgaria, says he got started with his musical career at a very young age playing Kirar while growing up in Addis Ababa before being introduced to piano as a teenager when he was accepted to the Yared School of Music. Girma Yifrashewa “offers a rare and fascinating example of aesthetic adaptation and convergence,” the New York Times wrots three years ago in its review of Girma’s last concert here in 2013 at Issue Project Room in Brooklyn. In an article entitled From Chopin to Ethiopia, and Partway Back Again, The Times added: “since returning to Ethiopia in 1995, Mr. Yifrashewa has promoted awareness there of the standard classical repertory, while also writing new pieces that apply European techniques to Ethiopian musical folkloric sources.”