aqumada

Zeritu is a young new artist in the fast developing Ethiopian music scene. Some might recognize Zeritu's beautiful voice from a recently released music video, "mela belu", which was produced through a collaboration of several established and new artists to raise awareness about the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  

 

A friend who just returned from Ethiopia introduced me to Zeritu by suggesting that I listen to her recently released debut album entitled Zeritu. I was so mesmerized by the songs in the album, I have not been able to put it away. It is the best Ethiopian pop album I have heard in a looooooong time.  Zeritu's versatility in terms of voice and genre, the quality of the production, the simplicity and humanity of her lyrics, and, most importantly the quality of her voice makes this album a must have. Those who always wondered what would have happened to  the Ethiopian music (pop) scene if it had  continued on the path that Mulate Astatke and co put it on in the 60's and early 70's, would be pleased to know that Ethiopian pop is slowly getting back on track. Those music fans who are tired of synthesizers, computer simulated instruments, or, waiting for a minute before being able to listen to a song would be even more pleased to know that such nuances do not characterize this album. The album, Zeritu, combines the production quality of Gigi's albums, the versatility of Aster's voice, and, the originality of Teddy Afro. Go buy it! You will not be disappointed.

 

 

Well done, indeed!....and yea "Don't download…buy"J

 

Recommendations:

Track 1 and Track 7

 

 

 

 

http://www.capitalethiopia.com/archive/2005/august/week5/interviwes.htm

The full text can be found by clicking on READ MORE

Yekolotemari talks to Bereket "BS" Simon. It is all a dream but felt so real….

 

Y: Congratulations...

 

BS: Thank you. Thank you. Truth has finally prevailed. I have won 37453 votes to 19758

 

Y: But Mr. Spokesperson you run against no one. CUD boycotted the rerun. How do you explain the 19758 votes.

 

BS: The opposition cheated. That is the only explanation.

 

Y: Why would they cheat if they refused the rerun?

 

BS: Hmmm….Under normal circumstances they should not cheat. These are not normal circumstances.

 

Y: How do you mean?

 

BS: They are abnormal circumstances. It is obvious.

Next time I am counting the votes myself to prevent such incidents

 

Y: What kind of democracy is that?

 

BS: You have to remember...this is an emerging democracy. We can not just let people vote and count the votes.

 

Y: Would not that tarnish the image of Ethiopia's democracy?

 

BS: Do we have other alternatives?

 

Y: Let us move on…So you came out and condemned Ana Gomez's report on the election. Why take such a drastic step?

 

BS: Ana Gomez belongs to the inter... what was it?

 

Y: Interhamwe...?

BS: Yes that group. We have evidences.

Y: What kind of evidences?

 

BS: Audio, video, finger prints on "sini", used toilet papers, half eaten 'beqolo ageda', etc…

 

Y: What are you saying Mr. Spokesperson?

 

BS: These are complicated matters and are being handled by the investigators.

 

Y: Who are the investigators?

 

BS: My cousin, my uncle, my aunt, yedero gorebetachen, and, I.

 

Y: Mr. Bereket, the opposition has called for a nation-wide demonstration, how do you view it?

 

BS: This demonstration is a plot against the constitutional order and we plan to defend the constitution by any means including unconstitutional ones.

 

Y: You mean like using live bullets?

 

BS: That is the only thing these hooligans understand.

 

Y: Who are these hooligans you are speaking of?

 

BS: The unemployed people.

 

Y: They would make up more than 50% of the urban population.

 

BS: You are always concerned with numbers. There are more important issues at stake.

 

Y: Are you saying that the unemployed youth are not Ethiopians?

 

BS: I am merely saying; by killing them we increase the employment rate by further securing the stability of the country.

 

Y: So we are all dead.

BS: Not if you keep your job.

 

Y: Thank you

 

BS: Thank you

 

For the rest, click on READ MORE

For the ending, click on READ MORE

 

            Uganda was once a model for controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS. The infection rate that was once as high as 18% had fallen back to a mere 6%. The secret for Uganda's success was the so-called ABC model (abstinence, be faithful, use condoms). At one point, every African nation was trying to copy the Ugandan model. President Musevini took credit for his role in helping to demystify the disease and for his full support for the ABC model.

            Things started to change after the Bush Administration took over the white house. A new policy of abstinence only was being forced down on the developing world. Museveni, meanwhile, was starting to reveal his true self through his open support to a NO party system and his blunder in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is now in the process of destroying his main legacy, the controlling of the AIDS epidemic, by irresponsibly echoing the white-house's view of abstinence only. His wife, an openly evangelical Christian, is believed to be behind Museveni's new view on the ABC policy. This has affected ordinary Ugandans in a major way. The HIV infection rate has gone back up to 7% for men and 9% for women.  

            In Ethiopia, however, I have read that the use of Condoms has been going up during the past several years. Although I am hoping that the spread of the disease has been limited, I can't help but to feel that there is still a lot to be done to educate the population. In my several previous visits to Ethiopia, I found that many had a casual attitude about sex, prostitution is rampant (as a result of poverty), and, many die of AIDS everyday. Perhaps what we lack is not the "C" but the "A" and the "B". Unless there is a major shift in the living standard and the attitude of Ethiopians, the AIDS epidemic might destroy our society to the point that it can not recover.

 

God Save Africa

           

 

This is how "Yekolo" and "Wegesha" met:
By Wegesha

 

 

Three and half years ago, when, for a brief moment, a
group called "EthioNYC" came into existence in New
York City, someone calling himself Goodfella posted a
very short poem on the EthioNYC website. The poem was left open 

 ended hoping some other person will continue on it. 

Goodfella was not left hanging as Yekolo immediately expanded that
poem and took the number of lines of the poem to the
double digits. That is when I said "when I grow up, I
wanna be able to write just like Yekolo."
I continued the poem, shaped it the way I saw it fit
and finished it my way but it was never posted

Enjoy!  

Gete is straight from the GDR (Gonder!)  

she represents the entire vicinity of Begemidir  

not to mention a couple of kebeles in Debretabor  

something about her caught me from the start  

her nationalist attitude pure from the heart  

so I sat next to her and we began to chat..........

                           Goodfella

 

 

FOR THE ENDING CLICK ON READ MORE

 

...better late than never

            I watched the movie, Constant Gardener, this past weekend. The movie is about an activist who moves to Kenya with her diplomat husband. This woman stumbles upon a case where a drug company was using Africans as guinea pigs to test a drug. Before the woman had a chance to expose what was going on, she dies mysteriously. Her husband's sebsequent investigation of her death leads him to a drug company.

            Although the movie is fiction, such incidents are not unprecedented. Please look at the following sites:

The Body Hunters

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A11939-2000Dec15

Tuskegee in Africa: Deadly U.S. AIDS experiments

http://rwor.org/a/v19/920-29/926/aids.htm

One can do more searches on Google to find related articles.

 

Perhaps this will give others an insight into why certain people in Northern Nigeria were so adamant about being vaccinated for polio recently.

 

For me, this movie repeats the recurrent theme in many works of literature and movies that narrate the hopelessness of Africa whose destiny has become out of the hands of its people. The heavy dependence of the continent on foreigners for its basic livelihood and its people's inability to defend themselves from outside forces marks the continuation of colonialism. We have two tricky choices on our plates: Death or Slavery. We should slowly rid ourselves off foreign dependency and take our tolls and move on. When everything clears, we will be better off. More importantly, those of us Africans who are able (such as the ones in Disapora) should make plans to move back to our communities and strive to make a difference. Only Africans can have genuine reasons to help Africa.

 

Related Book:

 A continent for the taking: A great book on the recent politics of Liberia, D.R. Congo, Nigeria, Mali, Congo Brazzaville... This is a brilliant book by the NY times reporter, Howard French. It is a must read.

 

            "Medrek", a discussion board on ethioindex.com, used to be one of my favorite places to visit. Lately, however, a handful of EPRDF cadres and extreme elements of the opposition with specific agendas have turned the forum into "yemender tej bet". It is not only annoying but also discouraging to have to sift through hundreds of posts with regurgitated messages in order to read few with valuable information

            If participants of the boards do indeed reflect the relatively better education Ethiopian population in Diaspora, Ethiopia might be in trouble (better off without them).  It is, perhaps, unfair to make generalizations about Diaspora population based on few extreme individuals who tend to be vocal but the idea of discussing issues in a rational manner seems to be a foreign concept for most of us Ethiopians. I am not sure whether this has something to do with elements of our culture or if it is a trait of condescending "educated" Ethiopians who believe that they are above the rest. It would be unfair to say, however, that there are not any participants that add value to the discussions to the board. I have had a chance to read the writings of few individuals with entertaining and educational messages. Many of the non-political discussion participants in medrek such as the "coffee-house family" have positive participants with valuable contributions as well. Unfortunately, many of the postings of these people get buried beneath the numerous annoying posts of the idiots.

            Whatever the case may be, I wish "medrek" administrators take some more measures to facilitate better exchange of ideas. My suggestion for the administrators of "medrek" was to limit the number of messages one can post in a day to prevent such flooding of the message board.