Teshome Birhanu, an Ethiopian Migrant who puts Stockholm as a European Cultural Capital

With offices in Stockholm and Addis, and supported by several Swedish organizations as well as the Nordic Culture Fond, SELAM promotes festivals, concerts, tours, club nights and forums presenting global music in professional venues, such as the Stockholm Culture Festival. But, who is behind such big initiative which is bringing thousands of music fans together every summer in Stockholm not to mention other other cultural event?

Teshome, a musician from the start, trained in Russia, but born and raised in Ethiopia and came to Sweden in 1990. Seven years later, he founded SELAM, which is a cultural organization which deals with music, organizing festivals, concerts, club nights and tours throughout Sweden. SELAM focus mostly on music from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and invites international guests to Sweden and organizes events in places like Konsterthuset, Södra teatern, Nalen etc. It also works with international cultural exchanges between Sweden and Africa and supports the Ethiopian cultural work with the skills, contacts, organizing festivals and much more.

Teshome Wondimu started playing with different bands at various locations in the suburbs of Stockholm in the 1990s. But soon he realized why they [ musicians with foreign background] were not allowed to play

Street-kid turnout Cultural Ambassador- an Ethiopian Success Story

Melaku, the Street-kid!

Born around 1980 in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, Melaku (which means the Angel in Amharic) Belay- the household name of Ethiopian traditional music group of our time, has never imagined he would be a cultural ambassador for a country which for some a synonym with famine. The road to his success was not rosy.

Before all this fame and stardom, before Melaku Belay has become the man he is today, he was indeed a a street-kid. During the political conflicts of the 70s and 80 Ethiopia, all of his family fled to the Sudan.
Melaku was alone: "Life was difficult. Imagine Sleeping on the street, going to school alone, living without family, without money, with nothing." But he underscores that he has never regretted having lived that life : It helped him to acquire the strength and willingness to work more to earn a life and become the person he wanted to be today. Melaku has a passion for dance since the age of 4 years. He started dancing at this age in ceremonies in Addis Ababa, as the feast of Timket (Epiphany). The dance, which began as a leisure, has turned into a professional career when an old woman, he considered as his mother, told him

I'll Stop singing Romantic Songs: Legendary Ethiopian Singer Alemayehu Eshete

Alemayehu Eshete is one of the living legends of modern Ethiopian popular culture and one of the outstanding Ethiopian vocalists who emerged during the heyday of Ethiopian music in the turbulent 1960s. Alemayehu, known by many as the ''Ethiopian Elvis'' or "the James Brown of Addis", was a pioneer to modernize Ethiopian music by combining R&B, Ethiopian groove, soul, rock n' roll, and traditional Ethiopian music to create something truly unique. 

His parents wanted and dreamed their only child to be an engineer, a medical doctor or a lawyer and when they found out that Alemayehu was singing at the local night-clubs, their heart broken. Especially, Alemayehu's father, who did everything in his capacity to educate his son, took the news personally and wanted to shoot and kill Alemayehu. The aspiring artist wasn't in good terms with father for more many years. Understandably, singing had a very low status in Ethiopia during those days.   

Alemayehu who was determined to realize his dreams, has dared to adopt elements from rock-n-roll and American soul, including body movements, dance and hair styles, eventually coming to be known as  or "James Brown of Addis." Over the course of years Eshete released over 30 albums that became enormous hits in Ethiopia and led various orchestras, including the famous Police Orchestra and groups that he himself established.

Colonel Retta Demeqe was the one who recognized Alemayehu's talent and

Mahmoud Ahmed's Journey From Shoe-Shine boy to An International Superstar

“In concert, his [Mahmoud's] enigmatic multi-octave voice seizes on a note, brief or sustained, and makes its pitch tremble as it its urgency could barely be contained” The New York Times

“MAHMOUD Ahmed has a rich, deep voice that oozes liquid chocolate down a phone line crackling with static; what a pity I can't understand a word he is saying.” Sydney morning herald

75 years ago a baby named Mahmoud Ahmed brought to this world by an Ethiopian working class parents at a place locally known as Mercato in the center of Addis Ababa. Neither his family nor himself had imagined that this little boy one-day would be an internationally acclaimed artist. Mahmoud coming from Ethiopia's well known entrepreneurial and hard-working Gurage ethnic group, his first profession like many of his fellow mates, was shining shoes on the streets of Addis. He tried a series of other menial jobs before he ended up as handy-man at the Arizona Club which was back then an after-work hangout place for Emperor Haile Selassie I's Imperial Body Guard Band. On a fateful night, one of the singers didn't show-up and Mahmoud

Veteran & Young Ethiopian Artists Rock Stockholm

Internationally acclaimed Ethiopian singers Mahmoud Ahmed and Alemayehu Eshete as well as Ethiocolor, an Addis Ababa based folklore group, took the grand stage at Stockholm Culture Festival on August 13, in an evening curated by Selam — a cultural organization based in Sweden. 

Thousands of music fans from Ethiopia and other countries were first entertained by the eleven-strong Ethiocolor, which fuses music and dances using traditional instruments that are arranged in a modern touch. The musicians and dancers who comprise three different generations, are recognized for their vibrant live shows with rhythmic dances of various ethnic groups of Ethiopia.

The Late Ethiopian Literary Gaint Hailu Gemoraw 'Why I Write? The Basic Motive of My Literary Work'

Hailu Gebereyohannes alias known as in his pen-name Hailu Gemoraw, a renown Ethiopian Poet; Writer; philosopher has passed away at the age of 71 here in Sweden on November 9, 2014. He spent almost of half of his life in exile; first he went to China on scholarship but he was evicted due to research proposal "how anarchism is affecting China's literature". He then sought asylum in Norway but he went to Sweden to finish his Doctoral Studies about China. Norway denied Gemoraw his residency and work permit for being away from the country for more than two years. As a result he was forced to seek asylum in Sweden where he suffered and finally died. It's an honor for me to brought up reading his books and it's very sad that his literary and humanistic contributions have never been recognized or valued. Thank you Gemoraw for opening up my eyes to literature world. I hope, your caring and clean soul finally will rest in peace after such a long long and long suffering. 

As the old "Gibbon's" saying goes " …Encompassed on all sides by the enemies of their religion; the Ethiopians slept near a thousand years, forgetful of the world by whom they were forgotten ", the innocent Ethiopians have been isolated for several centuries from the rest of the world, just to face the brutals of harsh & bitter poverty at the expense of their rich natural resources & the source of world original history.  Due to Her "Geo-political" position situated at the most sensitive zone of the globe, Ethiopia has suffered an immense mass of suppression by outside forces. As a conscious Ethiopian, that is wounded & bleeded from the early age of my Younghood, I don't have any available means to protect my Country from such horrible atrocities except that crying on behalf of Ethiopia and its suffering people.

The whole motive of my writings is based on trying to express their (i.e.Ethiopia & Her people) agony in a literary form. Therefore, the Amharic Poem below is embodied with an actual text that express the soul of my motive – "….to cry aloud the bitter conditions of their miserable life & express their deepest agony on their behalf, — to the whole world in general and to the conscious class of Our People (Ethiopians) in particular as well!!. Their non-stop brutal problems are still missing them now too!!! Thus, my cry through my "PEN" will continue too!! Thank You All!!!

Source: Debteraw

እውቁ ገጣሚ፤ጽሃፊ፤ባለቅኔ፤ ገሞራው ከአርባ ዓመት ስደት በኋላ ዐረፈ

... እንደ ኪሩብ ሁሉ - ክንፍ አካል ቢኖረኝ፣
መች እጠበስ ነበር - በዚህ ዓለም በቃኝ፣
ስላጣሁ ብቻ ነው - መሸሻ መድረሻ
በዚች በሽት ዓለም - የኖርኩ እንደውሻ ...፣"
"... በሥጋዬ ብቻ ውጪ - ሀገር እስካለሁ፣
እወቁልኝ በርግጥ - አልኖርኩም ሞቻለሁ! ...
ኃይሉ (ገሞራው)

በኢትዮጵያ የሥነ-ጽሑፍ ታዋቂ የነበረው ደራሲ፣ ገጣሚና ባለቅኔ ኃይሉ ገብረዮሐንስ (ገሞራው) እሁድ ጥቅምት 30 ቀን 2007 ዓ.ም. (ኖቨምበር 9፣ 2014) በስደት በሚኖርባት ስዊድን ዋና ከተማ ስቶክሆልም በ71 ዓመቱ ከዚህ ዓለም ተለየ። ሥርዓተ ቀብሩ በስዊድን እንደሚፈፀም ታወቀ። 

ከጥንት ጀምሮ ስናየው የኖርነው፡
ሲነድ ሲቃጠል የሚስቅ እሳት ነው። 
ይህንን ስንኝ ለመጀመሪያ ጊዜ ያነበብኩት ስምንት ወይም ዘጠኝ ቢሆነኝ ነው። የኃይሉ ገሞራው  መጽሃፎች የቤታችን መጽሃፍት መደርደሪያ ካጣበቡት መካከል በቅድሚያ ይጠቀሳሉ።  የረከተ መርገም ረቂቅ እንደወረደ፡ በገሞራው ወይም በሌላ አርታኢ በቀይ ብርዕ፡ እርማቶች፡ ከገጽ እስከ ገጽ ተገጥጠውበት ነበር። የኃይሉ ገሞራው መጽሃፍት፡  ከአማርኛ ስነጽሁፍ ጋር አስተዋውቀኛል ብል ማጋነን አይሆንም። ከዘመናት በኋላ እዚህ፡ ስዊድን በስደት በ2004 ዓም የኢትዮጵያ  አዲስ ዓመት አከባበር ላይ ፡  በርቀት፡ ይህን እውቅ ደራሲ ለማየት ችያለሁ። እንዳለመታደል ሆኖ፡ተቀራርበን ለማውጋት አልቻልንም። ባለበት የጤንነት ችግር ምክንያት ዝግጅቱ ሳይፈጸም ወደ ቤቱ ሄደ፡ ከዛ በኋላም ለመገናኘት እድሉ አልተፈጠረም። የኛ ነገር በጅ የያዙት ወርቅ ሆነና እንጂ፡ የኃይሉ ገሞራውን ለትውልድ የሚተላለፍ፡ ወደር የሌለው ትምህርት እና እድሜ የጠገበ የስነጽሁፍ ክህሎት በተለያየ መንገድ ማቆየት በቻልን ነበር። ምን ዋጋ አለው፡ ጅብ ከሄደ ሆነ ነገሩ። ጋሽ ኃይሉ በምድር ለሰባት አስርት ዓመታት በቆየህባቸው ጊዚያት ደስታን የተነፈገችው ንጽሁ ነፍስህ በሰላም ትረፍ።(የጸሃፊው ማስታወሻ)

በአዲስ አበባ እስጢፋኖስ ቤተክርስቲያን አካባቢ በኢትዮጵያ አቆጣጠር በ1935 ዓ.ም. ከእናቱ ከወ/ሮ አመለወርቅ ሀብተወልድ እና ከአባቱ ከመሪጌታ ገብረዮሐንስ ተሰማ የተወለደው ደራሲ፣ ገጣሚና ባለቅኔ ኃይሉ ገብረዮሐንስ (ገሞራው) ትምህርቱን የጀመረው

No Racists on Our Streets: 16 thousand Stockholmers

The rally was organized by Line 17, a neighborhood self-organization against racism and other socio-economic problems, in Kärrtorp in the south of capital with numbers swelled by last week's violence after a similar rally in the same place was marred by violence and attacks instigated by neo-Nazis. Representative of Line 17 group said at a brief press conference at noon that today's manifestation was more than just a protest against neo-Nazis but an overall rejection of racism as well as security problems. DJ pair Bianca and Tiffany Kronlöv in a short speech earlier in the day say

"It is too easy to say 'F you all Nazis,' we must together look at ourselves and understand the power we have in this matter every day."

 Members of the Left party made speeches and solidarity messages from Sweden as well as all over the world were read at the manifestation. The neo-Nazi group were vandalizing the area with Nazi symbols and racist graffiti recently and that why residents of Stockholm took to the street to express that such practices are not welcome on their streets and neighborhoods. Regardless of the cold weather, the atmosphere was jovial and an estimated 16-20 thousand people of all groups (men, women, children, young and old with different religious and ethnic backgrounds) were enthusiastically showing their condemnation against racism and fascism. The highlight of today's protest was that racism and Nazism are not acceptable in any forms and shape. The protesters said loud and clear "No racists on our Streets". Local artists staged performances while representatives of the left party and self-organized youth groups of different areas of Stockholm made speeches. A FaceBook group dedicated to this cause fetched nearly 20 thousands supporters from all over the world and #Kärrtorp is the highest trending hashtag here in Sweden since last week's protest. The protest against Nazism and racism was held under heavy police presence numbering over 100 officers.

Similar protest marches were held elsewhere in Sweden on Sunday including Borås, Luleå, Malmö and Motala.

Is the Riot in Stockholm over?

I know, I should have written this piece last week while Stockholm was on the spotlight from from China to Spain from Russia to the UK due to the riot which engulfed with hundreds of cars set ablaze in much of the suburbs of the town. One of the reasons why I didn't write about it was I just wanted to see how the events develop and the other reason is that I feel like to sit back and see these episodes as an outsider (who lives far from these areas) and as insider as someone with immigrant background. Since I am not a social scientist, all my perspectives and views are only based on my observations and what I heard from residents affected by these incidents; and they shouldn't be considered