Budweiser Reggae Summer Fest

http://www.reggaesummerfest.net/

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Meron Dagnew with her Students

Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher

> Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher is an African Environmentalist and our hero.

Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher won the Right Livelihood Award in 2000 "for his exemplary work to safeguard biodiversity and the traditional rights of farmers and communities to their genetic resources."

Tewolde Berhan graduated in 1963 from Addis Ababa University and received his doctorate from the University of Wales in 1969. He returned to Addis Ababa University where he served as Dean of the Faculty of Science (1974-78). Other activities include keeper of the National Herbarium (1978-83), the President of University of Asmara (1983-91) and Director of the Ethiopian Conservation Strategy Secretariat (1991-94).

Since then he has been General Manager of the Environmental Protection Authority of Ethiopia, which is effectively that country's Ministry of the Environment.

In the 1990s, he was a leading advocate for the progressive stand to stop the patenting of living material in favor of community rights at many international biodiversity forums held by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and for the Convention on Biological Diversity.

In 2006, Tewolde Berhan was also one of the winners of the United Nations top environmental prize, Champions of the Earth.

Source: Heroes from the Better world

Gabriel Teodros

Gabriel Teodros is the everyday journeyman with more stories to tell than most people twice his age. Having seen both city and countryside through the eyes of a struggling artist and immigrant child, Teodros spins observations and wordplay into internationalism on wax. Linking first and third world people's struggles, he is sincere when he says "we in this together son, your beef is mine."

From ciphers at Westlake to spending months in Vancouver and Brooklyn, Gabriel's story is one of trial, tribulation and a search for redemption. The contrast of his onstage ferocity with his offstage humility reveals a multifaceted spirit who understands that the political is personal. Whether addressing political repression and resistance in East Africa or reflecting on the effects of patriarchy in his relationships, Teodros captures each moment soulfully with his unmistakably (north)west coast delivery.

Teodros has left a mark in the underground NW hiphop scene as one half of the duo Abyssinian Creole (with emcee Khingz & DJ WD4D), and since the late 90's has been seen rocking microphones from classrooms to theatres, clubs, stadiums, protests, prisons to street corners alongside the likes of Zap Mama, Fishbone, KRS-One, Talib Kweli, Digable Planets, Souls Of Mischief, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, Ozomatli, The Coup, GZA/Genius, Aceyalone and Bahamadia to name a few. Even before dropping his upcoming solo masterpiece, Lovework, in early 2007 on MassLine, Teodros has already got love from a community who eagerly anticipate his next story to tell.

Since the release of Lovework, Gabriel Teodros reached the very top of the CMJ Hip Hop Charts, released two new music videos, was featured on NPR and in URB Magazine's "Next 100", and has been recieving rave reviews everywhere from Rolling Stone to Okayplayer.com Gabriel has also been staying busy on tour in support of the Lovework album, working with youth in South Seattle, teaching classes & doing whatever he can to help other artists get their voices heard while recording the future classics right out of his home.

Source: http://www.myspace.com/gabrielteodros

ESFNA

The DC Sports and Entertainment Commission will host the Ethiopian Sports Federation festival in the District June 29th through July 7th at RFK Stadium. 
 
"We are very proud to help bring the first Ethiopian soccer tournament and festival to RFK Stadium," said Erik A. Moses, DC Sports and Entertainment Commission chief executive officer. 

"The Sports and Entertainment Commission and the District are very excited to host the thousands of revelers converging on the city for this unique and important sporting and cultural experience."
 
For more than two decades, the Ethiopian Sport Federation of North America (ESFNA) has been promoting amateur soccer and cultural events within the Ethiopian community across North America.

The Federation strives to provide positive role models for the youth and promote goodwill between the Ethiopian communities in the United States and those around the world.  For more information about schedule of events and ticket information, visit http://www.washdcsports.com/

Queen of Sheba (Saba)

Queen of Sheba's Palace Discovered in Ethiopia, University Says

By Catherine Hickley

May 8 (Bloomberg) -- A team of archaeologists from the University of Hamburg said they discovered the Queen of Sheba's palace and an altar that may have once held the Ark of the Covenant in Axum, Ethiopia.

A Christian king built a new palace over the 10th-century B.C. structure, which probably didn't survive for very long, the university said in a statement. The altar, oriented toward the star Sirius, has two columns and may have been where the Ark of the Covenant, the holiest treasure of early Judaism, was kept until the first temple was built in Axum, the researchers said.

``The special significance of this altar must have been handed down over centuries,'' the statement said. ``This is shown by the many sacrifices found around this spot.''

The Ark of the Covenant, featured in the Indiana Jones movie ``Raiders of the Lost Ark,'' was kept in Jerusalem for centuries, according to the Old Testament. After Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians in the 6th century B.C., the ark's fate isn't documented in the Bible and it entered the realm of legend.

Ethiopian Christians contend that the ark left Jerusalem much earlier -- during the realm of Solomon -- and was brought to Ethiopia, where it has long been enshrined in a church and is now accessible only to its guardian, a monk. This theory was explored by the British author Graham Hancock in ``The Sign and the Seal.''

Fate of the Ark

The Hamburg team led by Helmut Ziegert has for nine years been investigating the origins of the Ethiopian state and the Ethiopian orthodox church. The central purpose of the field trip was to find out how Judaism arrived in Ethiopia in the 10th century B.C., and to seek clues to the present location of the Ark of the Covenant, the university said.

The palace built over the Queen of Sheba's home was also aligned with the star Sirius, the statement said. The researchers conjecture that the second palace was built by Menelik, who, legend has it, was the son of Sheba and King Solomon.

The results of the Hamburg field trip suggest that together with Judaism and the Ark of the Covenant, a cult worshipping Sirius came to Ethiopia and practiced its religion until about 600 A.D., the university said.

According to the Old Testament, God ordered Moses to build the Ark of the Covenant, a box made of acacia wood and plated with gold. It is believed to have contained the tablets listing the Ten Commandments.


Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/
Picture: http://www.specialtyinterests.net/queen_sheba_solomon.JPG

Empress Zewditu

Empress Zewditu was the daughter of Emperor Menelik II and Woizero Abechi. Her mother passed away while Zewditu was still a very young child, so Zewditu was raised by her father and step-mother, Queen Taitu Bitul.

Zewditu had very good relations with her step-mother. Zewditu had earned a reputation of kindness. Zewditu treated everyone with the same sweet friendliness.

In 1900, at the suggestion of her step-mother, Zewditu married Ras Gugsa Welle, son of Ras Welle Bitul and nephew of Queen Taitu. Ras Welle was ruler of Simien and Yejju and younger brother of Queen Taitu. This marriage bound the princess even more closely to her stepmother, and the marriage proved to be a happy union.

Source: http://www.angelfire.com/ny/ethiocrown/Zewditu.html

Mrs. Shirikiana

"The co-producer of the highly acclaimed film Sankofa, Mrs. Shirikiana Aina has been dedicated to independent cinema for over fifteen years. She received a Masters Degree in African Film Studies from UCLA in 1982, and a B.A. in Film in 1980 from Howard University. After starting a family she returned to her alma mater to teach scriptwriting.

Aina is one of the founders of Positive Productions, Inc., a non-profit film company for independent filmmakers of color, and Mypheduh Films, Inc., a distribution company for African and African American films.

Aina also worked as a cinematographer on independent documentaries such as: Politics of African Cinema, On Becoming A Woman and Lois Mailu Jones: 50 Years of Painting. Her film directorial credits include, Brick by Brick, a documentary on urban displacement. Her latest work, Through The Door of No Return, is a documentary feature on the involvement of African Americans in Ghana from the time of Kwama Nkrumah to the present. independent films, by, for, and about people of African descent.

Filmography:
Through The Door of No Return (16mm/Docu./Color/1997)
Sankofa (35mm/Color/125 min./NR/1993)
*Brick by Brick (16mm/Color/Documentary/30 min./1982)

Lecture Topics:
Scriptwriting; Film Production; Directing; Distribution"

Source: www.blackfilmmakers.net

Maritu Legesse

Coming soon to Selam Africa: Interview with the legendary singer, Maritu (the honey) Legesse.

Maritu used to sing inside King Haile Selase’s palace. She comes from Wolo, the birth place for most of Ethiopia’s musical notes.

Haile Gerima

Professor Haile Gerima just completed his tenth move, Teza.¹

“The movie is produced as an ancient riddle,” Professor Gerima explained. Professor Haile extracted the name of the movie also from an ancient African riddle: “Seehade Agegnehuwat - Semeles AtaHuwat,” which means I found it when I was leaving - I lost it when I was returning.” The movie is a truly touching story told in artistically powerful way.

Teza is mainly produced by Negod Gwad² Production and is distributed by Mypheduh³ Films, Inc. Professor Haile Gerima has produced many more powerful movies: some of them include:

 Hour Glass in 1972,
 Child of Resistance in 1972,
 Mirt Sost Shi Amit (also known as Harvest: 3,000 Years) in 1975,
 Wilmington 10 -- U.S.A. 10,000 in 1979,
 Bush Mama in 1975,
 Ashes and Embers in 1982,
 After Winter: Sterling Brown in 1985,
 Sankofa, in 1993 and
 Adwa in in 1999.

The award winning movie producer, Haile Gerima, was born in Gondar, Ethiopia, on March 4th, 1946. He is the first and the best Ethiopian filmmaker. Professor Gerima’s father was a very successful warrior and Play writer and producer. Professor Haile came to the United States in 1968 and studied film production. At UCLA, he was an important member of the Los Angeles School of Black Film Makers.

He has been a professor of film at Howard University, since 1975. Professor Haile Gerima is married to an African American movie producer, Professor Shirikiana Aina Girima. They have five kids.

Professor Haile Gerima is a hardworking pan-African philosopher, activist, and movie producers. His cinematography is powerfully memorable.

Just as his personality, his works are very generous and truthful. All of Haile movies are well researched and well produced. His productions are historical and satisfying for the mind and soul.

Professor Haile has thought many people from the Washington, D.C. area as well as around the world. He gives lectures that help many film makers, actors/actresses, and musicians. Professor Gerima has received many awards and honors for his dedication to the truthful and zestful depiction of life.

His students attest to his positive influence in their work and life. For example, Nato, Haile’s student from Kenya said “Professor Haile thought me to tell my own history, which led me to a successful and fulfilling path.”

Professor Gerima and his wife own a movie and book store as well as a movie studio called Sankofa, which is a place where many conscious people come together. Sankofa carries books and videos by and for African descendents, which are products that can not be found elsewhere easily.

The place is located at:

2714 Georgia Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20001
PH: 202-234-4755
1-800-524-3895

http://sankofastore.com/catalog/homepage.php


Be on the look out for Teza at a theater near you.
________________
¹ The word Teza means - dew.
² The word Negod Gwad means - thunder.
³ The world Mypheduh is a Geez word, which means - archive.

Wayna

Wayna extends an invitation to the CD release party for her new album Higher Ground, THIS SATURDAY APRIL 5th 10pm at Zanzibar on the Waterfront.

The first single from the project is #3 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip Hop singles chart and #12 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles, one slot below Janet Jackson's, Feedback.

You can listen to the song, along with 5 new tunes from the album on my myspace

www.myspace.com/waynamusic and/or facebook pages http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wayna/9669528980

Please support and spread the word where you can!

CD Release for HIGHER GROUND
Saturday April 5th at Zanzibar on the Waterfront
700 Water St SW, Washington, DC 20024
10:00pm

www.wayna.net
www.myspace.com/waynamusic

Setegn Atenaw

The legendary musician and Masinko player, Setegn Atenaw, performing at the Takoma Park Community center. Masinko is an Ethiopian string instrument. (Photo: Naomi Brookner)

By Mike Meno, The Gazette

The aromas of incense and freshly ground coffee filled the Takoma Park Community Center on Saturday, March 15th 2008. Takoma held the city’s first art exhibit to exclusively showcase local Ethiopian artists.

The exhibit, which will be on display throughout March, features the photography and paintings of four professionals, all originally from Ethiopia, as well as about a dozen Ethiopian students from Piney Branch Elementary School.

On the opening day, artist Matewos Legesse came dressed in a traditional white shirt, pants and shoes that he said would be worn to formal events in Ethiopia. Legesse contributed several paintings to the exhibit, many depicting women and apples painted in vivid colors.

‘‘The colors of Africa are so bright, very colorful,” said artist Debebe Tesfaye, whose paintings of Ethiopian market scenes also featured vibrant colors, which he said is a reflection of the dress and culture of the east African nation.

Photographer Andarge Asfaw, who came to the United States in 1972 and lives and works in Silver Spring, said he has traveled to five continents, but nothing compares to being able to capture images of his homeland.

Asfaw’s photos at the exhibit were from a trip back to Ethiopia he took in the 1990s and illustrated scenes that included wheat fields, mountains, churches and marketplaces.

One of Asfaw’s photographs showed an Ethiopian market built around a large tree with far-reaching branches — an image he says is very rare in Ethiopia these days. He said he is trying to use art as a way to alleviate the problem of deforestation, and profits from his recent book will go toward the county-based nonprofit group Trees for the Future.

Tebabu Assefa, a member of the Takoma Park Community Action Group, which co-sponsored the event, said he wanted to give the public a chance to see Ethiopian culture, but also allow local Ethiopians to embrace their own traditions.

Nefes Yemar*

By Solomon Teklai

In the past three weeks three Ethiopians who lived here in the United State have committed suicide. Among those three individuals, one worked with us in organizing the New York Abay Sport team during the late 80’s and early 90’s.

He was a father and a highly dedicated community activist. The second individual was also a father and a devoted Orthodox Christian. He attended and volunteered in churches and in many Gondar development programs. I do not have detail information about the third Ethiopian but I was told he lived in Maryland. I am sure he was a beloved son of someone and with rich personal history.

Mariam mentoring and tutoring program conducts its sessions every Saturday afternoon from 2:00-6:00pm at the Mariam Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The program is designed to tutor and mentor Ethiopian students in the DC metropolitan area. In the past six years, we have seen people of all ages come to this church seeking help to fight their mental afflictions.

We saw some crying, others praying for hours. Some of them come to our tutoring sessions and sit there with no word coming out of their mouth. Few others try to talk about something that has nothing to do with the tutoring in session but it is about the touching and sad story of their life.

Unfortunately, we are mostly engaged in tutoring and do not have the means to be of assistance to those who come there seeking help.

Yes, it is a huge challenge as the Ethiopian population in the area grows in the absence of social programs to help people in such circumstances. Is there anything that we can do as individuals to reach the soul of those people during their time of mental suffering?

Nefes Yemar* is an Amharic equivalent to “God bless the soul.”

Resource for Africa?

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On February 25, 2008, President George W. Bush that the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) would support five new private equity investment funds, with a combined target capitalization of $875 million, designed to invest in a variety of sectors vital to Africa’s economic development, including health care, housing, telecommunications and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The new commitments represent the largest single-day announcement in the history of the agency’s investment funds program.

“Last year, we launched the Africa Financial Sector Initiative. As part of this effort, OPIC mobilized $750 million in investment capital for African businesses,” President Bush said in a speech on the eve of his February 15-21 trip to Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, and Liberia. “Today, I'm announcing that OPIC will support five new investment funds that will mobilize an additional $875 million, for a total of more than $1.6 billion in new capital.”

“The new era is rooted in a powerful truth: Africa's most valuable resource is not its oil, it's not its diamonds, it is the talent and creativity of its people. So we are partnering with African leaders to empower their people to lift up their nations and write a new chapter in their history…The best way to generate economic growth in Africa is to expand trade and investment,” President Bush said.

OPIC President and CEO Robert Mosbacher, Jr. said, “Establishment of these five new investment funds represents additional, tangible support for Africa, but with a dynamic focus on the social aspects of economic development and job creation on the continent.”

“These funds will encourage the growth of sectors critical to Africa’s ongoing development, such as housing and telecommunications, as well as other developmental sectors, including health care and small businesses. Their overall impact will be to broaden African capital markets and provide critical investment for social development, a model that can be replicated in other geographic areas.”
OPIC’s Board of Directors approved financing to support the funds at its January 31 meeting. More information about OPIC’s Africa-related investment funds can be found http://www.opic.gov/investment/participating/africa/index.asp

Three of the new OPIC-supported funds will help to bring new levels of efficiency and productivity to sectors critical to the continent’s continued economic growth: health care, housing development and telecommunications. The two other funds will support the growth of Africa’s debt capital markets and its SME sector.

Source: www.opic.gov

Ethiopians and African Americas

Source: HilltopOnline, Howard University, Washington
NATALIE CONE, 2/26/08

On Monday night, a bus full of New York Abyssinian Baptist Church members drove to Washington, D.C. to join the Ethiopian community to honor the church and its pastor, the Rev. Dr. Calvin Butts III. The event, which was hosted at the Ethiopian embassy, was also intended to celebrate Black History Month and to strengthen the historical and spiritual connections between the Ethiopian and African-American communities.

"During slavery, African Americans always looked at Ethiopia as a place that represented freedom, black culture, history and religion," said Princeton University professor Ephraim Isaac, who spoke at the event. "It inspired the fight against discrimination and religion. When slaves were told they were inferior, they were animals or subhuman, they would think of Ethiopia." Isaacs, who is also the founder of the African-American studies department at Harvard, quoted Langston Hughes' poem, "The Call of Ethiopia." The poem addressed the freedom of not only Ethiopia, but also the entire African continent. Sociology professor Alem Habtu of CUNY Queens College described how, as an international student from Ethiopia, he learned from African Americans during the civil rights movement. Habtu, along with some peers, took over the Ethiopian embassy in protest of issues concerning their country after hearing Stokely Carmichael and members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) speak.

The guests included members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), and the ambassador of Ethiopia, Samuel Assefa. Robert Wallace, CEO of Birthgroup Technologies, said he plans to build orphanages for children whose parents died of AIDS/HIV. Gary Flowers, executive director and CEO of the Black Leadership Forum, addressed the need to get back to the root of black culture. "I am, because we are; and because we are, I am," Flowers said. "There is no individual advancement without group advancement."

The Embassy said the program is the first of many that will recognize the connection between the two cultures. The evening ended with the honoring of Butts, as he was presented with a piece of artwork by a famous Ethiopian painter. His long-term goal is to use the church's developmental corporation to build housing and educational facilities in Ethiopia. "We can not be chauvinistic about our connection to Ethiopia and cannot deny what needs to happen," said Butts.

Ethiopia's DNA

DNA studies trace migration from Ethiopia
Research dates origins up to 100,000 years
Los Angeles Times

Scrutinizing the DNA of 938 people from 51 distinct populations around the world, geneticists have created a detailed map of how humans spread from their home base in sub-Saharan Africa to populate the farthest reaches of the globe over the last 100,000 years.

The pattern of genetic mutations, to be published Friday in the journal Science, offers striking evidence that an ancient band of explorers left what is now Ethiopia and -- along with their descendants -- went on to colonize North Africa, the Middle East, Europe, southern and central Asia, Australia and its surrounding islands, the Americas and East Asia. A second analysis based on some of the same DNA samples corroborated the results. Those findings, published Thursday in the journal Nature, demonstrated that the greater the geographic distance between a population and its African ancestors, the more changes had accumulated in its genes.

The story of human migration revealed by DNA "compliments what's known through history, linguistics or anthropology," said Jun Li, the University of Michigan human geneticist who led the Science study.

Both research groups relied on DNA from blood samples collected by anthropologists around the world as part of the Human Genome Diversity Project, a controversial effort from the mid-1990s to gather genetic specimens from thousands of populations, including many indigenous tribes.

Previous studies have relied on data from the International HapMap Consortium, which cataloged DNA from 269 people of Nigerian, Japanese, Chinese and European descent.

"Instead of saying a particular person's genome is from Africa, this kind of data allows us to say which part of Africa they were from," said Andrew Singleton, chief of the molecular genetics section at the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Md., and senior author of the Nature report. The studies were funded by the NIH, the National Science Foundation and private foundations.

In both studies, the researchers analyzed more than a half-million single-letter changes among the approximately 3 billion As, Cs, Ts and Gs that make up the human genome. Those changes -- called "single nucleotide polymorphisms," or SNPs -- begin as random mutations and accumulate over time as they are passed from one generation to the next.

Each time a small group left its home territory to found a new population, the migration ultimately led to a unique pattern of SNPs. Comparing those patterns, the researchers were able to show that humans spread around the globe through a series of migrations that originated from a single location near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

....

Holly Bass: Poetic Dancer

Holly Bass will perform as Josephine Baker in Washington DC where she lives and works.

She is a graceful dancer and spoken word artist. She is known as a writer-performer.

Holly is energetic and poetic artist. This young diva has dedication, vision, and originality to recreate the Harlem Renaissance sentiment in her performances.

Holly is also very active in her community. She often volunteers her time and talents. She has a very generous personally which makes her performances genuine and joyful.

We wish Holly to continue shining: especially, on her current performance on February 23, 2008 at 2142 Wyoming Ave NW, Washington, DC 2008.

Additionally, Wes Felton will perform as Langston Hughes; Jade Foster as Zora Neale Hurston; Ne'a Posey as Billie Holiday; Dr. William E. Smith as Duke Ellington and introducing Dorothy Tene Redmond as Harlem Socialite "Mamie Mason."

Picture source: http://www.myspace.com/hollybassforever

Behailu Zerihun: Explorer

Behailu Zerihun traveled all over Africa on a journey to explore kinship. Enjoy Behailu’s pictures thought the mother land.

Behailu has been volunteering at the Marima Tutoring and Mentoring Program (MTMP) in Washington DC for several years.

Mariam Tutoring and Mentoring Program (MTMP) was founded in 2002 to operate and develop educational and recreational programs for elementary and high school students. The program has near a 100 percent high school graduation and collage bound rate. The program originally started as an outreach program of the Debre Selam Kidest Mariam tutoring entity. The program has helped over 260 students improve their academic future while encouraging a sense of service toward others.

MTMP meets every Saturday throughout the school year to offer elementary and high school students to help in Math, Physics, English, Chemistry, Amharic as well as mentoring them to build their confidence and community involvements. MTMP also have a confidence building programs such as public speaking and writing exercises.
MTMP also organizes filed trips, which are entertaining and educational for MTMP students, to parks, universities, planetariums and to museums.