Tag Archives: Ethiopian

Ethiopian St. Patrick’s Day Concert with Todd Simon’s Ethio-Cali Ensemble

March 16, 2012 Tadias Magazine

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Friday, March 16, 2012

Los Angeles (TADIAS) – Lesanu (Sonny) Abegaze, aka DJ Son Zoo, believes this weekend’s St. Patrick’s Day concert featuring Todd Simon’s Ethio Cali Ensemble at the Del Monte Speakeasy in Los Angeles will be a joyful occasion.

“I’ll be dj’ing for this show which is taking place in Venice, California,” Sonny said. “It falls on St. Patrick’s day so it should be a festive time.”

The band leader is Todd Simon, a trumpeter, composer, and arranger, well-versed in the Ethiopian Jazz tradition, having performed with Mulatu Astatke for the inaugural Mochilla Timeless concert series. Ethio-Cali followed up their debut concert last summer at the Hammer Museum/UCLA with a sold out performance opening up for the Budos Band last month at the Echoplex. The group features, among others, Alan Lightner, Dexter Story, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Tracy Wannomae, and Kamasi Washington.

(Sonny, right, with his friend Moises at a Southern California record store – Courtesy photo).

Sonny, whose parents moved from Gonder to California, via Sudan, when he was an infant said he became attracted to Ethiopian music when he visited his ancestral home in his college years. “I was born in Sudan, but moved to the U.S. when only a few months old,” Sonny told us. “I grew up in various parts of Cali, and later had the opportunity to live and study in Ghana during my undergrad years.” He added: “This was when I travelled to Ethiopia for the first time, and really got into Ethiopian music. While abroad, I also started a radio show at the University of Ghana in Legon, which is how I got introduced to the whole world of dj’ing.”

Regarding the Todd Simon’s Ethio Cali Ensemble, Sonny said: “They play music inspired by the golden era of Ethio-Jazz, and also bring some modern elements into the mix through some original compositions. The members of the band come from diverse backgrounds and all have a deep appreciation for Ethiopian music.”

As to growing up in California, Sonny quipped: “I find myself eating way more burritos than I do Injera, kinda comes with the territory when you live in the city of angels.”
—
If You Go:
Saturday March 17, 2012
The Del Monte Speakeasy
9:00 pm – 2:00 am
21+
Cover: $5.00
At the Del Monte Speakeasy
Order pre-sale tickets at http://TBCTickets.com/
Venue URL: http://townhousevenice.com

Featured, News

How Gadhafi’s Daughter-in-Law Burnt Ethiopian Nanny With Scalding Water

August 28, 2011 Tadias Magazine 89 Comments

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Updated: Tuesday, August 30, 2011

New York (TADIAS) — CNN recently reported on an incident at a beachfront mansion in western Tripoli, where Hannibal Gadhafi – one of Moammar Gadhafi’s sons – and his wife Aline, had resided in luxury, all the while mistreating their domestic-staff with violence.

The cable news channel interviewed one of the workers, Shwygar Mullah of Ethiopia, who was employed as a nanny at Hannibal Gadhafi’s home. She told CNN that she had been burned with scalding water multiple times by Hannibal’s wife, Aline.

According to CNN, Shwygar reports Aline’s wrath as follows: ” ‘She took me to a bathroom. She tied my hands behind my back, and tied my feet. She taped my mouth, and she started pouring the boiling water on my head like this,’ she said, imitating the vessel of scalding hot water being poured over her head.”

“When she did all this to me, for three days, she wouldn’t let me sleep,” she said. “I stood outside in the cold, with no food. She would say to staff, ‘If anyone gives her food, I’ll do the same to you.’ I had no water — nothing.”

Watch: Luxury, horror lurk in Gadhafi family compound

—

Featured, Reviews

The New York Abay Team: Soccer With an Empire State of Mind

August 25, 2011 Tadias Magazine 9 Comments

Tadias Magazine
By Jason Jett

Thursday, August 25, 2011

New York (TADIAS) – Perhaps it comes with the turf — given the city’s many success stories — that the New York Abay soccer team believes it should dominate the competition.

So a loss last month in the semifinals of the annual Ethiopian Sports Federation in North America (ESFNA) soccer tournament, this year held in Atlanta, has leaders of the New York squad assessing how to better represent their world-capital city.

“We also finished in fourth-place in the Africa Cup last spring,” said Coach Binyam Tsehaye, referring to a March tournament in Macombs Dam Park at the New Yankee Stadium that fielded local teams representing 12 nations. “We seem to be always finishing fourth. We need to be finishing first. We want to represent our community better.”

Towards that goal the team has launched a recruitment drive focusing on New York and New Jersey youths unaware of the opportunity to continue participating at a highly competitive level in the sport they or their fathers grew up playing in Ethiopia.

New York Abay was formed in the late 1980s. Some of the original members now provide management and mentoring services, while the active players have participated for a decade or less.

Aman Tsehaye, like his brother Binyam a resident of West Orange, N.J., has lived in the area since 1989 but did not learn about the local Ethiopian soccer team until 2002. He joined immediately.

Aman Tsehaye noted the team has lost membership as older players started their own families and found they no longer had time for the sport. Several members were lost when their jobs were relocated to Virginia, he added.

Coach Binyam Tsehaye views the action, interjecting instruction, advice and reminders to be prepared for physical play during a New York Abay training at the Van Cortland Park Stadium on Sunday, August 21, 2011. (Photo by Jason Jett for Tadias Magazine)

In addition to the new youth movement the Tsehayes stressed that New York Abay, named for the Blue Nile River originating at Lake Tana near the Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia, seeks veteran, experienced players.

“There are a lot of former stars in Ethiopia now living in the New York area,” said Binyam Tsehaye. “We see them occasionally, at restaurants or events. It would be good to have them on the team. They don’t have to play every game, just two or three times a year.

“With all the pros in the area we should have one of the best teams,” he added “But you have to understand the pressure they are under to support family here and back home.”

Of course some of those same pressures are felt by current team members, several who work odd jobs or attend school and find it taxing to participate in the team’s Sunday- morning practices at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.

Samuel Tesfaye, a defenseman who resides in Manhattan, noted New York City itself is a challenge for a soccer squad.

“Competition is a way of life in New York,” he said. “It is not easy to play soccer in city parks, every place is so crowded. It’s difficult to find a spot you don’t have to pay to use, so we end up having to go to the Bronx. Other teams have an easier time in their communities, but in New York you have to apply and pay a lot of money to get a good field.”

And it can get less hospitable when the team leaves the city for a competition.

Tesfaye said New York Abay typically finds itself in an hostile environment while playing at so-called neutral sites.

When it lost 0-2 to Virginia in the July 6 ESFNA semifinal game at the Georgia Dome, most of the crowd was cheering for the opposition.

“You know how it is,” he said. “In other cities everyone loves to hate New York.”

Tesfaye and other team members said they suspect it was not only the fans in the stands who were against the New York team during the tourney in Atlanta.

“In the Virginia game the referee was a teenager, who had been a linesman in previous games,” said Tesfaye “At most he was 18 or 19 years old, and we thought that was an issue. The referee was very young, had no experience and was afraid to make tough calls.”

Tesfaye said the referee failed to whistle two hand-ball violations by the opposition, one as Virginia scored a goal on a header and the second after New York Abay moved the ball into the penalty box threatening to score a goal of its own.

“In Atlanta, unfortunately it did not turn out our way,” Binyam Tsehaye said. However, he is upbeat about the team’s chances in a regional soccer tournament to be held at Pier 40 in New York City on Sept. 4.

During a break in activity Fitsum Kahsay, one of the youngest members of the team, leaves practice early to accommodate his school schedule. (Photo: At the Van Cortland Park Stadium on Sunday, August 21, 2011. By Jason Jett for Tadias Magazine)

“We have a lot of young kids who have been playing together for a few years now and are jelling,” he said. “I think we can do well in this tournament. We are going to go out there and do our best. We want to represent our community better.”

Coincidentally, Sept. 4th is the final day of the World Championships in Athletics in Daegu, South Korea, with Ethiopian legends Kenenisa Bekele, Sileshi Sihine, Imane Merga, Gebregziabher Gebremariam and Sofia Assefa expected to compete that morning.

Binyam Tsehaye and Tesfaye do not see soccer, or football as it is known universally and among Ethiopian fans who crowd in living rooms and taverns for every broadcast of the national team or the English Premier League, taking a backseat to running.

“Football is the No. 1 sport in Ethiopia,” said Tsehaye. “Runners are more famous, but we all say that football is our national sport. We just are better at running compared to the rest of the world.”

“This is a team sport,” he said of football. “There is always more satisfaction winning as a team than as an individual.”

For New York Abay members the rewards are chiefly measured in personal satisfaction and camaraderie.

“It’s about bragging rights,” said Tesfaye. ” There is some money. The winner of the tournaments gets a monetary prize and trophy.”

Teams members did not hesitate to say they see no reason why they should not be the ones claiming the awards at the end of the upcoming Pier 40 tournament.
—
Prospective members are welcome to attend a team practice 11 a.m. Sundays at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y. The sessions are held in the Van Cortlandt Park Stadium at Broadway and West 240th Street, or in soccer fields north of the stadium.

More photos of the New York Abay team on our new Facebook Page. (Click Here)
Learn more about the Sept. 4th games hosted by Downtown United Soccer Club.

Featured, Profiles

Liya Kebede Named New Face of L’Oreal

June 21, 2011 Tadias Magazine

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Updated: Wednesday, June 22, 2011

New York (Tadias) – The Ethiopian-born supermodel, actress and maternal health advocate, Liya Kebede, has been named the “new face” of L’Oréal – joining Beyonce, Gwen Stefani, Jennifer Lopez, Julianna Margulies and Freida Pinto- in her new role as the global beauty brand’s spokeswoman.

“It is important for me that I represent a brand that reflects my personality,” the 33-year-old said in a statement. “I’m pleased to play a part in sharing the uniqueness, the charisma, and the incredible stories of women of all origins and from all regions of the world.”

Liya Kebede, who is a mother of two children, was first spotted by a modeling agent while attending high-school at Lycee Gebre Mariam in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She has since become one of the best-known and successful models in the world. She was the first black face of Estée Lauder.

In 2005 she was appointed as the World Health Organization’s Goodwill Ambassador, and in recent years, she has been focused on that role advocating on behalf of maternal, newborn and child health issues. The same year she established the The Liya Kebede Foundation, an organization designed to provide women access to life-saving care in partnership with governments, non-governmental organizations, corporations and affected communities.

In 2007, she launched her green clothing line Lemlem (Amharic for “flourish” or “to bloom”), which features handcrafted collection of women’s and children’s clothing that is made by traditional Ethiopian weavers from her homeland. Lemlem is carried by Barney’s, J.Crew, Net-a-Porter.com and numerous boutique shops.

Liya has also made a successful transition to the big screen starring in the film-adaption of the autobiography Desert Flower, the true story of fellow model Waris Dirie, who escaped a childhood nightmare in Somalia and became a global supermodel, as well as acting in movies such as The Good Shepherd and Lord of War.

She was named one of Times Magazine’s 100 influential people in 2010.

We congratulate Liya on her accomplishments.
—

Learn more about Liya Kebede at www.liyakebede.com.

Featured, News, Opinion

Ethiopian, Israeli, New Yorker: Preserving The Jewish Heritage

December 20, 2010 Tadias Magazine 8 Comments

Above: Beejhy Barhany, founder and director of BINA, and Bizu
Riki Mullu, founder of Chassida-Shmella. (Bizu photo via UJF.org)

Tadias Magazine
By Dana Rapoport

Published: Monday, December 20, 2010

New York (Tadias) – “My journey is nothing special,” said Beejhy Barhany at the Hue-Man Bookstore, on 125th street in Harlem. “It’s the every-Israeli, ordinary path.”

In many ways she was right. The curly-haired young Ethiopian woman with a pearl knitted sweater and a ton of charisma, Barhany, 34, pursued a common route for a young Israeli: graduation, military service, backpacking in South America, and finally – New York.

Barhany, founder and director of BINA, Beta Israel of North America, an Ethiopian-Jewish organization in New York, is driven by the same curiosity and entrepreneurial instinct that brought some 25,000 Israelis as immigrants to the city. But going three decades back, Barhany and approximately 500 Ethiopian Jews living in New York, share a saga of traveling that is everything but ordinary.

“We left everything behind — land, property, cattle — when my relatives in Israel wrote to us in a letter: “Now is the time to come,” she recalled of that middle-of-the night in 1980, when the three-year journey began from the northern province of Tigray, Ethiopia. Barhany was four-years–old.

The term for Ethiopian Jews in Amharic is Falasha, a term of derision as outsiders or foreigners. They call themselves Beta Israel, ”The House of Israel.”

For over 2,500 years the Beta Israel community observed Orthodox Judaism, but for hundreds of years, the Ethiopian Jewry was unknown or disregarded by the rest of the Jewish world.

The regime of Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, and persecution by different tribes in Ethiopia, prompted the Israeli government, with no diplomatic relations with Ethiopia, to facilitate the rescue of thousands of Beta Israel.

Barhany and the group of people from her village walked for two months, until they arrived in Sudan. Three years later, they were given the green light to leave, by car, from Khartoum to Kenya, from Kenya to Uganda, then to Italy and finally – to Israel.

With a huge support and millions of Jewish American dollars, in 1991 a secret negotiation with the Ethiopian government was made, and within 36 hours, with 34 jumbo jets, “Operation Solomon” brought a total of 15,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel.

One of those young children who landed in Israel that year is Angosh Goshu (Dorit). After six years in Brooklyn, her memory of the emotional arrival in Israel seemed even more contrasted. “We saw toilets, bathrooms and things like that, things we never saw before,” she said during an interview in a busy, fluorescent-lit Dunkin’ Donuts shop.

For the thirty thousand agriculturally trained, Amharic speaking Ethiopian immigrants, Israel, in the midst of the high-tech boom, was a very different landscape.

After she completed her Army service, like Barhany, Gogshu too, found herself emigrating for the second time in her life. This time, to New York.

She lives with her brother Neo, on Church Avenue and is studying to be a nurse. Between her job and her studies she helps Bizu Riki Mullu, founder of Chassida Shmella, to foster a community and promote Ethiopian culture and tradition.

There’s another advantage to life in New York. “In Israel we are different, we stand out more than we do here,“ Barhany said. “It might be easier for a non-Ethiopian to find a job there, than it is for Ethiopians… here it can be easier, no one will categorize you.”

A recent Israeli study found that, roughly 20 years after they came to Israel, unemployment in the Ethiopian community is more than double than in the whole Jewish population in Israel. Forty percent of Ethiopians are jobless or are not looking for one. It also found that only sixteen percent of Ethiopian Israelis are high-school graduates.

Like many of their peers in their early twenties, they decided to come to New York. Unlike most, however, they founded, or helped to start two non-profits: BINA and Chassida Shmella.

Chassida Shmella is the word stork in Hebrew and Amharic. It echoes an old tradition, of asking the storks as they migrate from Europe, (over Israel) to Africa: “Stork, stork, how is our beloved Jerusalem?”

These two organizations help Ethiopians network in the big city as well as help them to preserve their tradition.

Above: The renowned Ethiopian-Israeli BETA Dance Troupe was one of the highlights at the 2010 Sigd
festival in New York hosted by Chassida Shmella, The Ethiopian Jewish Community of North America,
and the 92nd Street Y Resource Center for Jewish Diversity.

The community has grown in the last five years but these organizations still struggle for support. Their community is too small to receive funding from larger organizations, and they are having trouble growing, because they lack support for education, for Jews and non-Jews about Ethiopia’s Jewish heritage.

Shabbat Dinners with Ethiopian food, Annual Ethiopian Film Festival and other cultural programs by BINA and Chassida Shmella are much needed. It’s crucial not only to strengthen the sense of community, but also to overcome ignorance from American Jews and even Israeli New Yorkers.

“Ninety Nine percent of people did not believe that I was Jewish,” said Goshu, 28, wearing a silver Star-of-David pendant. “And then, there were the Israelis, who asked ‘What, are you Ethiopian? What are you doing here? Were you unhappy in Israel?’” She replied with the same question. “Why are you here? Were you unhappy there?”

American Jewish foundations, which were key players in the Ethiopian Jews’ exodus, replied to Barhany’s request: “Isn’t it enough we brought them to Israel?”

During the Sigd holiday festival in the Upper East Side 92Y in September, Mullu, dressed in a traditionally-embroidered white dress, said they still need a lot of help.

“We are reaching out for everybody, every organization, every individual to be involved, to help us grow this organization, to help a younger generation be a part of the Jewish nation.”

Reaching out to everyone has worked. Barhany said that more than thirty percent of the Ethiopian-American community supports and participates in the community’s events. With fewer resources but a lot of enthusiasm, their help is crucial for these organizations’ growth.

After ten years in New York, Barhany is no longer a stranger, but she’s not ready to announce the end of her journey just yet.

“I call myself the wandering Jew,” she said.

Like the storks, she will keep traveling. Israel, and Ethiopia are her next stops, but not the last.

—
About the Author:
Dana Rapoport is a journalist based in New York. She worked as a foreign news editor for Israel’s largest broadcast news channel, Channel2, before attending the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. Rapoport also holds a BA in History and Theatre from Tel Aviv University. She hopes to keep covering the Ethiopian community here, and in Israel.

Art, Podcast

Zewdy’s Video Goes Viral on YouTube

January 8, 2010 Tadias Magazine 44 Comments

Above: A homemade video by Zewdy, a talented young artist
from New York City is garnering growing attention on YouTube.

Tadias Magazine
Arts & Entertainment News

Published: Friday, January 8, 2010

New York (Tadias) – We recently received several emails directing our attention to a music video by a multicultural artist named Zewdy, born in New York City and of Ethiopian and Eritrean heritage.

Partly owing to the young lady’s savvy use of social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, the homemade clip is fast becoming an online sensation. In a sign consistent with viral videos on YouTube, Zewdi has already received over 15, 000 hits in a span of only six days.

“This is the great promise of YouTube: Your video can soar in popularity through sheer word-of mouth—or rather, click-of-mouth—until eventually people are making T-shirts about it,” writes Chris Wilson, who tracked the traffic trends of more than 10,000 YouTube videos for an investigative article published on Slate Magazine. “I crunched the numbers to find out what percentage of YouTube videos hit it big, cracking even 10,000 or 100,000 views. The results: You might have better odds playing the lottery than of becoming a viral video sensation.”

After one month of observation, only twenty five of Wilson’s ten thousand videos made the high mark: “A mere 25, 0.3 percent, had more than 10,000 views,” he observes. “Meanwhile, 65 percent of videos failed to break 50 views; 2.8 percent had zero views.” Slate Magazine’s advice: Don’t bet your career on launching your show biz on YouTube.

But the vibrant Zewdy is beating the odds. Here is the video in which she celebrates her multicultural background through music and dance.

Video: Zewdy – Into the Night

Featured, Profiles

Interview With Sirak Seyoum: Dreams of Becoming the First Ethiopian to Climb Mount Everest

August 12, 2009 Tadias Magazine 10 Comments

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Wednesday, August 12, 2009

New York (TADIAS) – Sirak Seyoum, an Electrical Engineer living in Nevada, has bold plans. After hiking over 27 peaks in the U.S., some more than twice, he has set his heart on becoming the first Ethiopian to climb Mount Everest. His website states “No peak is too high or too rugged for an Ethiopian man who discovered a passion for hiking.”

Tell us a bit more about yourself. Where you grew up? Who are the main influences in your life?

As a toddler I grew up in Gondar, When my parents came to the states for school, I moved with my aunt in Addis and was enrolled in St. Joseph kindergarten class briefly before moving back to Gondar. I remember visiting my grandparents every weekend. They resided a few blocks away from the castles and the church Abajale where my grandfather was the head “Aleka.” As a teenager I grew up in Addis before coming to the United States. My main influences growing up as a kid were my parents who taught me always to strive for a goal no matter how hard. My aunts and uncles also played an important role in my teenage to adulthood transformation and I always looked up to them during my teenage years. Growing up as a kid I have always idolized Abebe Bikela, considered as the greatest marathon racer in the history of marathon, and Pele, the Brazilian soccer legend. I also have great admiration and pride for all our Olympic heroes, like Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele.

Sirak Seyoum (Courtesy Photo)

You blogged a bit about the role of education in your life? Can you tell us more about your outdoor endeavors and academic/work?

Academic work always took precedence above any activities like sports, music or any outdoor activity. Without my parents knowledge, I took up playing the Kirar (traditional Ethiopian harp). As a kid, I picked it up easily from a neighborhood musician who would play the Kirar near our home where I grew up in Addis and had the pleasure of performing at Yared Music hall along with my late cousin Leul Fikre who also played the Kirar. In college, I was active in all outdoor related endeavors events including soccer. My university didn’t fund soccer as the selected inter-mural sports. My South African friend, Godfred Webster and I organized the Michigan Technological University (MTU) soccer team, soliciting American soccer players to join the team. We were good enough to travel around Michigan at our own expense and earn the respect to play Division-A universities located in Duluth, Wisconsin and surrounding cities.

What was your reaction after climbing your first peak?

My first reaction was, “GEEZ, What have I been doing all these years?” What I was feeling I just can’t put in words. It felt nothing like any sport I have ever participated in. It was different because it seemed so easy at first but yet so difficult once I started. Team work and helping others is also one of the rewards of climbing, I remember a fellow hiker telling me to take deep breaths as we ascended to higher elevation. During one of my first hikes, I decided to wear a jacket weighing 22-pounds. A rookie with a weight jacket was pushing it for most of them, but everyone encouraged me. To my surprise the 22lb jacket was becoming heavier and heavier as we gained altitude and the effort it took to wear it was beyond my expectation. I was literally leaving a trail of sweat as I went to the top and never knew a human could sweat this much. The thought of removing the weight jacket was never an option. I wore it all the way to the top. After getting to the top I felt exhilarated more complete than ever and at peace. I knew right away that I have developed a burning desire to do it more and more. Throughout the years, I was lucky enough to participate in various sports and challenges other than soccer. On my second day of ever putting on ski boots, I was skiing down the steepest slopes instead of the bunny hills. Windsurfing was one of the hardest things to learn. On the very first day when I didn’t wipe out I went across Lake Lansing in Michigan without turning back. I participated in lots of other sports like cliff diving, tennis, racquetball, biking, volleyball and swimming. I knew after climbing my first peak, I have found my passion. A passion similar to life itself, life doesn’t stop if the going gets hard, we simply rise up and keep moving.

Tell us about what prompted you to seek climbing Everest?

The main player who prompted me to climb Everest is my friend Abate Sebsibe, a PhD student currently so busy, he spends all his free time buried in the library. I wish him success. He has been very positive and supportive throughout this mission, he would always say, “Of all the people I think of, that can make it to Mt. Everest, I know YOU will make it to the top.” I will be one of the nine or ten people with Peak Freaks Expedition Team. Once the mission was born, I started researching expedition companies on the internet and various sources. Peak Freaks Expedition Company had a crew that valued quality rather than quantity. They have flawless record of safety and are the only expedition company that sign on less than ten clients. More information of the expedition can be found on Peakfreaks.com. In 2008, the first Saudi who summited Mt. Everest teamed up with Peak Freaks and successfully made it all the way to the top.

What’s your daily routine?

I have been following the training schedule set up by my Mountaineer Expedition expert. I will post it on my website on the blog section. Though I would love to train full time, I still have a career to follow during the day. My professional work takes up my days Monday through Friday. After 5pm I shoot for a 45-60 minutes of running, and about 30 minutes of weight training. On days that I don’t run I substitute with swimming. In the next few months I will include cycling as an alternative to running and swimming. On the weekends I hike between 6-7 hours with a weight pack of 25-30 lbs or more. My goal is to ascend to 2,000 meters with a pack weighing between 22-30 kg in 2-3 hours period. I will strive to make improvements beyond the required goal so that I will be able to climb Mt. Everest.

You’ve completed hiking 27 peaks (some more than twice), and you plan to complete 2 more before Everest Mission, what thoughts are running through your head at the moment?

Well, it’s hard to believe that I am actually doing it. I will be hiking throughout the year until it’s time to go. I am looking forward to climbing Mt Rainier located in Washington, in late September. Mt Shasta has been a favorite by the locals as well. I will feel more confident after climbing Mt. Rainier. I feel I will be well prepared by staying on track on my training and focusing on my goals. As the saying goes, “Practice makes perfect.” Practice will be my top priority until the day comes for me to do this mission.

How can the Diaspora Ethiopian community assist with your fundraising?

Since I started talking about my plans I have gotten lot of encouragement from people I know and from people that came across my website. I have been interviewed by Admas radio and VOC, when I told a friend I was nervous, she said, “A certain someone is climbing Everest and he’s nervous from an interview?!” I have received unparalleled support from various Ethiopian websites for which I am grateful. I believe this endeavor will benefit other Ethiopians in terms of publicity and attention to circumstances in Ethiopia at present and in the future. Any kinds of support, be it donations or words of support means a lot to me. I would also like to take this opportunity to say that any remaining funds from the mission donated above the required goal will be used to support water.org projects in Ethiopia. When I was employed by US-filter Corp. one of my projects was to design a programmable logic controller (PLC) controller for water purification and distribution system to support irrigation usage for farming and potable water usage to a remote village in Venezuela. The controller I implemented was accessible via English and Spanish languages. I remember thinking back then, how a project such as this would be helpful for our country and wishing someday that I might do the same for Ethiopia.

Any plans to climb some peaks in Ethiopia?

Upon my return from Everest, I am planning to summit Ras Dashen located in Simien Mountains, 4,620 meters elevation, the highest peak in Ethiopia. I plan to do this around second week of June 2010. I would love to summit along with my Ethiopian brothers and sisters, provided that they’ve had all the training necessary for such a task.

Sirak Seyoum (Courtesy Photo)

Do you ever listen to music while hiking?

I do listen to music often while hiking, low volume. Its critical to listen to your surrounding at all times, climbers ahead of you might yell ” ROCK” which means one needs to avoid a possible rock coming down the slopes heading straight at anyone on its path. The same principle in snow areas as well, heads up for “Avalanche”. One cannot ignore the true nature’s music as well. The calmness of the area and the wind at those altitudes is like music by itself if one listens closely.

And your favorite movie with subtitles?

One of my favorites is Black Orpheus. This superb retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice Greek legend is set against Rio de Janeiro’s madness during Carnival. Orpheus (Breno Mello), a trolley car conductor, is engaged to Mira (Lourdes De Oliveira) but in love with Eurydice (Marpessa Dawn). A vengeful Mira and Eurydice’s ex-lover, costumed as Death, pursue Orpheus and his new paramour through the feverish Carnival night. Black Orpheus earned an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Superb Movie about Brazilian culture and history.

Thank you Sirak and best wishes with your training and climbing Mount Everest!

—
Join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.

News

Dreadlocked Israeli musician goes international

April 1, 2009 Tadias Magazine 1 Comment

Above: The dreadlocked Israeli composer Idan Raichel,
who popularized the new fusion of Hebrew, Amharic and
Yemenite music, performs live at Divan du Monde, Paris,
October 23rd, 2006.

By ARON HELLER, The Associated Press

JERUSALEM — Israel’s hottest musical export these days is a dreadlocked composer who pioneered a unique blend of Israeli, Ethiopian, Yemenite and Latin music from a makeshift recording studio in his parents’ basement. Idan Raichel’s musical fusion – consisting of catchy melodies mixed with Hebrew and Amharic lyrics sung by artists from Israel’s community of Ethiopian Jewish immigrants – has conquered the charts in Israel and is now making waves abroad. Read more.

Podcast

An Epic Of Ethiopia, Full Of Medical Lore

March 10, 2009 Tadias Magazine

NPR Book Tour
March 10, 2009

Book Tour is a Web feature and podcast hosted by NPR’s Lynn Neary. Each week, we present leading authors of fiction and nonfiction as they read from and discuss their work.

A nun gives birth to conjoined twins in a mission hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The mother dies in childbirth and the father, a British surgeon named Thomas Stone, disappears. It is this birth that sets in motion the action of Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese’s first novel. Listen: Abraham Verghese Reads From ‘Cutting For Stone’.

Related: Ethiopian-born doctor’s epic debut novel about his native country
NJ.COM
By Star-Ledger Book Contributors
Friday February 06, 2009

In 1994, an Ethiopian-born doctor named Abraham Verghese published a breathtakingly beautiful memoir called “In My Country,” about dealing with the AIDS epidemic in a small Tennessee town. A second memoir titled “The Tennis Partner” followed, establishing Verghese’s impressive literary reputation. Read more.

Reviews

Q-Tip to play an Ethiopian drug dealer in the film ‘Holy Rollers’

February 5, 2009 Tadias Magazine 1 Comment

February 4, 2009

Q-Tip returns to the world of film with Holy Rollers, a character-driven drama, inspired by a true event from the late 90s when a young man from the Hasidic community was caught trafficking ecstasy into the US. Q-Tip will play an Ethiopian drug dealer in the indi drama, alongside Jesse Eisenberg (Sam Gold), a young Hasidic man seduced by the money, power and misplaced sense of opportunity; Justin Bartha (Yosef), a young man in his community who is already mixed up in the complicated and dangerous world led by an Israeli drug dealer played by Danny A. Abeckaser. (Source: EURweb)

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