A conversation with Tsegai Medin

(Left) TSEGAI Medin in Buia, Nov. 2010


Issayas: Would you tell us about yourself?

Tsegai: My Name is Tsegai Medin, I am a doctorate student in Quaternary and Prehistory (Paleontology) at the University of Rovira I Virgili, Tarragona (Spain). My studies involve Early to Late Pleistocene paleontological researches (macro-fauna) with special focus at the Danakil Depression of Eritrea (Buia, Mulhuli-Amo…etc) and the Orce sites (Venta Micena, Fuente Nueva-3, and Barranco León) in Southern Spain. More to the point, I am interested in Early Pleistocene sites of Africa, the Levantine Corridor, the Caucasus, and southern Europe, chronologically spanning from ca. 1.8 to 1.0 Million years. I was working as Director of Heritage Management at the National Museum of Eritrea (still I am closely working with the Museum) and I'm still involved on various national and international research projects and conferences. I have international membership in the “East African Association of Paleoanthropology  Paleontology within Eastern Africa” http://www.eaapp.or.ke/AboutUs.html

Issayas: What is Archeology?

Tsegai: Archeology is the scientific study of the past and the way people lived, and interact with their environment based on the things they left behind. The shared ways of life learned by a group of people, including their language, religion, technology, and values are closely studied by Archaeologists by examining artifacts objects made, used, or changed by humans. 

Issayas: What does archeology tell us about Eritrea?

Tsegai:  It is too early to narrate about Eritrean archaeology since the coverage of research on various layers of history is still pending.  However, based on the potentially documented information, from the National Museum of Eritrea, I could summarize the answer of your question as follows; Eritrea is a country of tremendous prehistoric, historic, medieval and recent events, in which the oldest of its evidence is as old as humanity. A number of these archaeological sites have evidences of ancient traces of Human settlements, ancient historic civilizations (which predates the civilizations in our region) and evidences of first introduction of Christian and Islam (in our region) having international significance.  The discovery of such significant archaeological sites in the country can tell then its importance in nation building process as an engine to economic, social and political development in the nation.

Issayas: I have heard some people say what does fragmented pottery found here and there got to do with modern Eritrean history. I guess the comment suggests what does having bread on the table got to do with some pottery from the remote past. What is your response to this kind of comment?

Tsegai: I already mentioned on the second question, that, archaeology is a scientific study of people in the past based on the artifacts they left behind. These artifacts include bones, ceramics, stone tools, iron, shells, charcoal …etc. Like all of these artifacts the importance of fragmented pottery in understanding the life ways of societies in the past is ineffable. Archaeologists spend a lot of time looking to recover the small remnants of material culture left behind by prehistoric societies. Pottery is particularly useful for reconstructing how past groups lived. It is used to determine a person’s social ranking, gender, or even possibly their relationship to others in the group. Archaeologists use pottery and the designs placed upon it to decipher how various areas within the archaeological site were used. For example, one would expect to find pottery in a food preparation or cooking area, but would not expect to find it in a sleeping area. For example, the introduction of pottery was a breakthrough in complex agro-pastoral societies in the highlands of Eritrea. Before the introduction of modern technologies, archaeologists were highly depending on ceramics for typological study and further to relatively date the site under investigation in comparison to other relatively well studied sites. Italian Archaeologist Rodolfo Fattovich was conducting ceramic typological analysis http://www.dankalia.com/archaeology/2709.pdf to understand the development of urban-ism of societies in our region (lowlands and highlands of Eritrea).

Issayas: What are the significant archeological findings to date in Eritrea?

Tsegai: The most significant archaeological sites known to archaeologists in the country are dated from 27 Million years to the present (the recent history of war for liberation). To mention chronologically;

1.The  discovery of new elephant species from Kudo-Felassi which was dated to about 27 Million years; the well recognized Late Early Pleistocene sites of Buia and Mulhuli-Amo (evidences of large mammals among these, the 1 Million year Human evidence having decisive place in filling a gap in the phylogeny of Human evolution); http://www.rivistaitalianadipaleontologia.it/doc/01_abbate_et_alii_RIPS_2004.pdf

2.Evidence of first Human exploitation of marine resources (Abdur Gelàlo and Asfet);  http://personnel.univreunion.fr/ppinet/ECOMAR/papers/2004_Bruggemann_Palaeo3.pdf
https://sites.google.com/a/asfet.net/amanuelbeyin/publications

3.Inventory and documentation of rock art and engraving sites (Hishmele, Adi-Alewti, Quarura, Beati-Mariam…etc);

                                  Fig. 1. Rock art from Der’a, in the southern part of Eritrea

4. Evidences of complex agro-pastoral societies on the highlands and lowlands of Eritrea- E.g. Sites of Greater Asmara Area (Dated to 800-400BC).
http://www.africaworldpressbooks.com/servlet/Detail?no=284

5.The sites of Aqurdet, Bisha and Harenay in the lowlands and Qohaito, Adulis, Metera, Keskese, Toqondaè in the highlands (potential sites that could possibly had a close  mention as part of the mysterious Land of Punt).

                                             Fig.2. The pillars of Qohaito, known as temple-8

6.The 30 years war for liberation (E.g. Naqfa - the triumph of Eritrean perseverance over adversity and oppression and as such is symbolic of a culture of independence, self-reliance, and resistance to oppression that is central to the cultural fabric of Eritrea today).

                                            Fig. 3. One of the many trenches  of Naqfa


Issayas: Where is Buia located and what is the significance of the site?

Tsegai: The fossiliferous area of Buia (100 Km south of Massawa, northern Danakil Depression, Eritrea) was discovered in 1995 during a preliminary geological survey under the aegis of a collaborative research program between the Department of Mines (Eritrean Ministry for Energy and Water Resources, Asmara) and the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Florence. Further studies were carried out in the area during several field seasons in 1995-1997 and 2003-2004, also involving research teams from the National Museum of Eritrea as well as other Italian and European institutions. These activities led to the discovery of a new important paleoanthropological site at Buia http://www.rivistaitalianadipaleontologia.it/doc/01_abbate_et_alii_RIPS_2004.pdf where an abundant fossil vertebrate collection was recovered, among these was the most complete Human cranium.

                                                                      Fig. 4. Buia Homo Cranium

A large number of archaeological localities with extraordinarily abundant and well preserved Mode 1 (Oldowan) and Mode 2 (Acheulean) tool industries were also identified in this area. The chronology of the site has been established at around 1.0 Ma. The research works on 2011 and 2012 led to the discovery of an important site within the Basin, named after the local name, Mulhuli-Amo. In this locality, evidence of Human parietal bones probably belong to more than three individuals was found. The research will continue at the end of this year and the finding of further evidence is promising.  http://www.shabait.com/articles/nation-building/8016-eritreas-new-specimen-fossils-expected-to-announce-the-progressive-evolution-of-homo-heidelbergenesis-part-ii One of the most important findings from Buia is the 1Million years old Human cranium which is found in association with very rich vertebrate faunal species and highly concentrated Acheulian Hand axes. Therefore, the date of the Human evidence from this site, chronologically fills the big gap between Homo erectus (1.4 Myrs) to Homo heidelbergensis (0.65myrs). The finding of this complete cranium is among the most important discoveries in Human evolution research.


Issayas: What was Adulis and its significance? What are the latest findings in Adulis?

Tsegai: Adulis is well known by classical sources, as the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea (1st c. A.D.) and the Christian Topography (6th c. A.D.) as an important port of trade in the Red sea in Antiquity. The site has been identified for the first time by Henry Salt at the beginning of the 19th century in the Zula Bay. The first field-survey was conducted in 1840 by Vignaud and Petit, as part of the Theophile Lefebvre mission. After 28 years the first excavation has been conducted in 1868 by British soldiers under the direction of Captain William West Goodfellow, under the auspices of the British Museum. At the end of the 19th century the British explorer Theodore Bent produced a graphic documentation of the site. In 1906 Richard Sundström, a team member of the Enno Littmann, excavated a large building in the North Eastern sector of the site. After one year, in 1907 the Italian archaeologist Roberto Paribeni conducted a substantial excavation in different areas of the site. As a result, two Byzantine “Churches” and the early levels of occupation of the site were identified at the South West limit. At the end of the 1960s Francis Anfray, French archaeologist, also conducted an excavation in the central sector of the site focusing on the documentation of a residential area. All these investigations were colonial by nature and failed to follow scientific standard of study, as a result, they produce a biased and distorted publications which totally underestimates the culture and history of this country; precious artefacts were found discarded on the surface; and other important materials recovered from the excavations were transported to their respective museums (Italy, England, France and Ethiopia) awaiting official reclamation process.

In early 2011, a five-year joint Eritreo-Italian project started to conduct the first  scientific excavation, survey, ethnographic assessment, maritime environment studies, geological surveys, and management works, at the ancient port city of Adulis. The result of the stratigraphic excavations revealed masonry structures of an ancient church having an area of 180 sq. meters. Various archaeological artefacts (pots, ceramics, charcoal samples, amphora, stone tools, wall structures, bones, iron materials, coins, beads…etc) were also collected from the stratigraphic excavations and survey. The architecture of the ancient church shows close similarity to the already identified churches in Metera and the Byzantine world. The design of the wall structure of the church enlightens to the locally dominated civilization in the area with trade-connected outside influence. This fact significantly confirms to the locally dominated establishment of the ancient port city of Adulis in particular and the civilizations of the hinterland of Eritrea in general.

                Fig.5. The exposed masonry structure of the ancient temple from Adulis

Even though results of scientific carbon and ceramic seriation dating are pending the results of ceramic typological analysis shows ancient occupational levels that belong to the Adulite civilizations. Based on the findings from the stratigraphic excavations, the lower occupational level predates the Axumite civilization. The discovery of the Adulite civilizations will surely concern the previously known civilizations in the region and this is an incredible result in the ancient history of East Africa. More importantly, the results of this seasons excavation, survey and laboratory analyses are very important in preparing an alternative history of Eritrea and  also in out-dating the biased history of  the country published during the colonial times.

The ancient port city of Adulis along the coastal fringes of the Red Sea is the site of global importance and holds a phenomenal amount of information about the trade systems (with the Romans, Arabs, Persians, Indians and Chinese) of this part of the ancient world between 500 B.C. and 700 A.D. It has also an important insight into the economy of the littoral and highlands of Eritrea.  Modern Adulis appears at first glance to be little more than a series of mounds, with hardly a stone standing. It must have been deliberately destroyed, never to rise again. Perhaps this happened in the well documented Arab raids of AD 640.

Issayas: Today's Adulis is 7 km. inland than the Adulis mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea (a 1st century AD. sailors/trader manual) which was 3 km. inland. What happened? Even with the 3 km. mentioned in the above mentioned book, how was Adulis considered a maritime power when it was located inland?

Tsegai: The ancient port city of Adulis is located at the Red Sea coast alongside the western shoreline of the Gulf of Zula. It is situated on an area of coastal low-lying land that has been drained by major rivers. According to the mid 1st Century AD writing of Periplus of Erythreaean Sea, Adulis was a port city situated at 3.3km from the sea. It declined at the mid 7th Century (Peacock, et al., 2007). Since its fall, enormous environmental change took place at the site and nearby coastal area. At present, the distance to the sea has been widened to about 7km and a significant amount of alluvial sediments has been deposited at the site, which resulted to the retreat of the sea backwards. Geologically, the ruins and all adjacent coastal area are covered by substantial fluvial derived alluvium overburden. It comprises un-consolidated alluvial sediments transported from the central highland hills and Mount Ghedem.

Issayas: Are there any other places where there are major archeological findings in Eritrea beside the eastern side?

Tsegai:  Yes, there are many. The National Museum of Eritrea has an extensive plan to conduct a national inventory (to make a survey and ethnographic inquiry in order to understand the distribution of the archaeological sites within the country. However, throughout the country you find traces of archaeological site. 

Issayas:  Tsegai, thank you for taking out time from your busy schedule to talk to me. Good luck with your studies.

Tsegai:  You’re welcome.

A conversation with Robel Afeworki

Part Two

Robel Afeworki (left) and Simret Haile (Bucchi)

Issayas: Why did you want to combine "geez music" and "trance music"?

Robel: If the ground failed to move for you, it may not be your fault. Music is evolving in new dimension with remarkable dynamics and pace of novelty. If it weren’t for entertainment, the global music industry would collapse, cultural literature would vanish and no-one would reap its social benefits. For as long as Homo Sapiens have trod the earth, the power of emotion has made human brain to experience excitement and relaxation in comparably more than the mundane survival habits of other primates. Nature selected us to experience the gratitude of music where pleasure incentives are entangled through evolutionary pavements of change, but, the question is that do we really want to be part of the change? Does it matter to follow the path of musical rhythm? Are they over- rated all too brief flashes of fabulous moments or do they signify an elevated level of cultural messages conveyed through out the course? It is true in practice the journey is more important than the destination. As Confucius once said “Study the past, if you would divine the future.” The fundamental conception of Eritronic is arisen from key theoretical framework which embraces the culture and originality of Eritrean context. We need change and variety in Eritrean music. Although, the cultural “Guya-la” is our cultural heritage, undeniable fact, still we are missing the flavor of creativity and similar pattern of musical styles have been evident in contemporary Eritrean music; repetition of alike beats confined with only musical instruments like saxophone, drum machine and “ Deg -dime” kibro beats everywhere. These are my personal empirical observations through out my experience which I have decided to experiment new stuff. Remember, I am not degrading the Eritrean contemporary artistic works but we need to catch the spirit of change for the betterment of our culture and society.

In music, you are either in or you are out. If you are in, you need an ear for every beat, rhythm and tunes through out the globe to create the wholesome panoramic musical concept of understanding. The pragmatic idea of combining "geez music" and "trance music" came to me on one Friday night when I was chilling with friend , Simret Haile (Bucchi), in a relaxed mood in a pub. There was a boring local song and, suddenly, David Guetta’s “sexy chick” was hitting the surround stereo. We shared the musical experience of progressive, trance music, and its global domination. After, Simret persuaded me that we needed to revolutionize Eritrean music. I started with trance beats and he followed with it with geez ziema. The next morning it took us away from energetic excitement of listening and ended up in professional music studio.We galvanized the whole team in Gerry studio and embarked with Eritronic project. The rest, as they say,  is history! It was meant to happen. I had my heart set on a career in radio host from an early age though I have never imagined it would include music producing in a real studio. These past years have metamorphosed from wild child ambitions to sophisticated leading person who is making great strides with my radio career, music and confidence. The experience I have acquired in this project is awesome. Eritronic is zero (non) profit, non-commercial product dedicated for young Eritrean people to serve as a slingshot for change and platform of improvements. It is a peanut advancement made in music industry just like an iceberg; where you have seen only 1/ 5 of our achievements. I promise you  lots are coming in subsequent years from our team and expect more from every Eritrean interested in music and culture.

Issayas:  Are there similar traditional music in Eritrea that resemble trance or geez music?

Robel: I think trance music is the first experience in Eritrea, we are far away from progressive music. Well , almost all Tigrigna songs of Eritrean music build on the bases of geez ziema excluding some  ethinic Eritrean cultural music which has their own traces of geneaology of music to classical Zema.The most important thing should be reminded here is geez ziema yet haven’t be expressed with notes, scales and chords of musical sciences.

To check for a sampler of Eritonic music:

https://www.opendrive.com/files/Ml8xNTY1NTA3XzFhZHRj/Eritronic%20Sampler%202011.mp3

Issayas: Robel, thank you for your time and insight.

Robel: Thank you.

A Conversation with Robel Afeworki

Part One

Robel Afeworki                                    
                                           
Issayas: Briefly, tell us about yourself.

Robel: My name is Robel Afeworki. I was born in Asmara on November 17, 1982. Later, moved on to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia after a couple of months. My early childhood musical inclination was boosted from massive hits made in mid 80’s from influential artists like Michael Jackson and ABBA. The first person who got me inspired in radio show was the great Larry London, VOA radio host, Since then I started following his footsteps on his phenomenal radio shows; Border crossing and VOA music mix on the early of 90’s.  I learned from the best in him and developed quickly the essence of radio show in 1995 by listening VOA, BBC (Top of the Pops) and making tapes for friends. However, I was interested in communicating with the masses and I love music. Between that and spending most of my money on collection of records, the transition was tremendous because I knew that I needed it to promote my career to a more civilized daytime show.

I have a regular show on Radio Zara (since 2005). I invented the show “Zara Music Mix” English entertainment program on FM radio station. Radio is my first love and I am honored to head such an influential, informational and entertaining Eritrean brand. But it’s not easy, with close 3.5 million listeners nationwide, maintaining the high standards of broadcasting services in the national radio station.

My radio show always runs every Wednesday from 9:00- 2:00 GMT. The motto behind my show “State of Music” is the reflection of multitude various styles of music spectrum (country, rock, trance, techno, hip-hop…) from 50’s all the way to the latest hits in 2012. Well, I consider the “State of Music” a little bit like my backyard. A lot of people don’t know that I don’t get professional payments for the show besides motivational incentives and it takes a lot of time to produce the show. I don’t have a producer or an engineer that helps me with selecting the show. I basically go to Zara FM studio. I sit down with my latest records; the show exists of the latest tracks in my case and the music database I have created in the system. There are no secrets about my show. It’s a cross section of records that are out of the music industry. I really enjoyed listening to a lot of radio shows when I was younger; even now I am fond of it, and I really want to give something back to the younger audience who don’t have enough money to buy CD’S but want to be updated on what’s good and what’s not. It is not usually the content, the talents, the contests or music that makes best show in the station. It’s the organic and strategic compilation that creates a memorable product in radio. I bake my bread with very careful mix of ingredients so it’s just right, and we package it very appropriately for the Eritrean audience.

In the studio of Radio Zara  Asmara, Eritrea

I always strive to understand the radio business and evolution of music better before any changes are made so that our working strategies aren’t bulldozed. In the entertainment industry one has to constantly reinvent oneself and reposition the station’s vision and mission to keep abreast of international renowned radio stations. I love the broadcasting environment, I fell in love with radio and music as a child. Today I am running a show in the country’s biggest FM station. I can say that I am living my dream. Furthermore, I am not only a radio DJ; after completing high school in 1999, I went on to study Biology and received my degree in 2004. Right now, however, I am teaching biomedical academic courses as a regular job; Medical Informatics, Biostatistics and Epidemiology in Orotta School’s of Medicine and Dental Medicine.

Issayas: You are working on Eritronic music. What is Eritronic music?

Robel: Eritronic is an enthusiastically adopted concept, a sonic version of new genre created from collision of Geez and  trance culture. It is more contemporary and is one of the projects I have completed under the auspices of committed artists, our team that seeks to unearth young talent with new dimension of music. It is only one facet of my many pronged career.The team mainly comprise of six people; I , Robel, made the  trance beats and mixing(DJ), Simret Haile (Bucchi); made ziema, melody and beats, Samuel Ghebradonai; made the lyrics, Alazar Misghina (Gerry);owner of Gerry studio who produced and made the entire mixing with whole studio crew, Henok Teklay (Nago) main vocal  and Abeba Aradom with inspirational hook vocal. Creativity and team work is the underlying motto of our project. As a team we all channel our energies into our project. The commitment of vocal artists, Nago and Abeba, was extremely outstanding, even personally persuaded them to accept the new role, since they have never done experimental work before. It is a new medium for the young artists; I wanted them to try something different because the recording would be a wonderful opportunity to revolutionize their understanding to evolving musical dimensions.

Eritronic Anthem 2012: "The new evolution of Eritrean music/ Ge'ez + trance"

The new single “Debabina” is mainly traditional embedded strong Eritrean element embellished with culturally tied lyrics. Moreover, it is vividly painted with trance beats where the inspiration comes from talented worldwide DJ’S Armin Van Buuren and David Guetta. “ Debabina” (Eritronic Music = Geez + Trance) has hypnotic groove, with dance floor anthem, taking on a journey of geez melody with new dimension of Eritrean music which have been beautifully decorated with a traditional Tigrigna lyrics capturing the essence of young, unbridled love.You can hear the growth from where they came from to where they are today. Eritronic has an authentic Eritrean stamp to it and can be proudly shown off to the rest of the world.

Issayas:  What is zeima and its significance?

Robel: Ziema is like a hidden weapon of civilization. I just feel like a light passes through prism and reflects with spectrum various colored light. The message is diversified and always alive in our innerness but the degree differs upon the strength and dynamics of the individual masterpiece. Ziema, mezmur and geez are interconnected concepts of music in Eritrean context. I will try to discuss briefly their distinctive features, origin and pivotal roles in Habesha culture in the following paragraphs. Geez is a term basically originated from the word “gea’ze” which literally means that migrating from one place to another, attributed to the word freedom. Geez is symbolized with migrating to freedom and when it comes to ziema it represents the first sound of voice. It is mainly local ziema reserved only for God and church services. Geez in comparison with western music can be explained as 1st tera mezmur (fundamental), 1st type of ziema (1st scale = meselal) which has (grave sound= zemta, zemamie) accustomed to church for liturgical services; equivalent to the Gregorian mezmur of western music.

On the other hand mezmur is an art of expressing your inner feelings with a vocal sound. It is an instrument which coordinates sound into moments of happiness as well as to melancholic feelings. In general, mezmur is a term that marks the seven fundamental roots of sounds. Mez – mur is originated from geez alphabetical sequences that works on seven pattern of subsequent orders.

“ Me, Mu, Mi, Ma, Mie, Me’, Mo”
   መ     ሙ    ሚ   ማ    ሜ     ም    ሞ
 Similarly, we use “Do, Rae, Mi, Fa, So, La, Si” and “ C D E F G A B”  in Latin and English respectively.

Ge'ez culture: the origin of our culture and identity"






Music orchestrates mezmur with tunes (ziema) that gives amazing feelings, create feelings of belongings and happiness, interaction of dream and reality, feels the mind with contemplation and relaxed mood. Geez ziema is one of the oldest existing state of art with undiscovered mysteries of musical sciences, peculiarly explained with wisely quotes of our Eritrean ancestors from ancient and existing monasteries: “The essence of its flavor seduces the heart and quenches the thirst deep down to your bones.” Geez ziema is a representation of three figure explanation of trinity categorized into Geez, Azel and Araray. It is similar to the concept of scale which isn’t approved with modern music standard approaches; where Geez denotes 1st scale (grave sound), Azel to a 2nd scale (Intercession), and Araray to the 3rd scale (Inspirational). The significance of ziema in society is mainly associated with usage of geez ziema (Liturgical song) which is a type of mezmur (Sound) developed in our country based on geez language; encompasses mainly Tigrigna, Tigre and Amharic languages. It flourished with geez speaking people through centuries as part of geez culture; to date back its history, it was first,  Saint Yared (ቅዱስ ያሬድ) (April 25, 505 – May 20, 571) was a semi-legendary musician credited with inventing the sacred music tradition of the Orthodox Church and Geez system of musical notation, who lived in Aksum almost 1500 years ago. He is responsible for creating the Zema or the chant tradition of Eritrea, particularly the chants of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, which are still performed today. He is regarded as a saint of the Orthodox Church with a feast day of 11 Genbot (May 19). Yared gaining musical insight and talent through interaction with three birds, which inspired him to link the spiritual with the musical through the blending of musical terms which he defined as Ge’ez, Izil, and Ararary. Yared arranged and composed hymns connected to religious celebrations and holidays, introducing the concept of sacred music to the Orthodox services. Geez music reflects the ziema part or what we call in the western world melody of the song. Eritronic music is simply the reflection of music, ziema, culture in reference of time. In a world of countless little choices sometimes “more” is more hassle. Making music shouldn’t be like pondering paint swatches. It should be simply one, two, and three………. As an alternative evolution of music, we attempted to fuse trance with geez music which gave more melodic nature with more bouncy techno like sound. I called it Eritronic; peculiar brand trademark of Eritrean style. However, looking back provides not only an intense nostalgia but also a clear picture of how far we have come as society flourishing geez culture. The role of experimentation in this metamorphosis has its own story to tell about Eritronic. Eritronic is breathtaking phenomena where you can experience its exhilarating legacy. But, still, value judgments and preference are subjective and should be left on the eye of the beholder.


Next: part two of the conversation

A conversation with Abba Berhanemeskel Matewos

Part Two

Issayas: You mentioned, "there is a lack to indicate a single note in Ge’ez milikit and lack of musical instrument to replay the ziema and some of consequences that requires to set a system". You also mentioned that you wished that this is a favored time to restore our ziema-geez treasure of art and to preserve the ziema-chant through a viable ziema notation system. Is there a difference between ziema ge’ez , Ge’ez milikit and ziema-chant?


Abba Berhanemeskel: The word Ziema and Ziema-ge’ez, and Ziema-chant are all the same word for song, carol. Therefore, the word Ge’ez has quite large meaning: it defines a people, it is a language, a chant, an alphabet, a form of song dedicated to the God Father. However, the word Ge’ez Milikit is a name of “music note”, the symbol of sound that belongs to the Geez chant or Geez people.

Issayas: Even though Ziema has been in existence for a long time, are you saying that there has never been an instrument that was created to play ziema ge’ez.

Abba Berhanemeskel: From what we know, there was no time the Ziema was purposely played with an instrument. Strictly speaking ziema is sang in the Church, there is no history of having tried to play it with musical instruments. It doesn’t mean it was not played, but it was not a formal way of performing in the ziema custom of our ancestors.

Issayas: Did you find in your research any indication why it was not possible?

Abba Berhanemeskel: There are rationales on this matter. Geez people believe that God, who gave to a person a beautiful voice, is to be praised or should be praised with the great gift of the person’s voice. You got the gift of voice, then you should praise him yourself and you should not make the instrument pray or praise God on behalf of you. There was this tradition and may be this is one of the reasons of such belief. In other words, our ancestors intended to praise God personally and with their own skill of voice art. May be it is on this line of thought that ostracized the art of “wata” which is considered a secular instrument and an unworthy music instrument to play in the Church. From this reaction, maybe all other instruments had be taken as an unusual or unfit instruments to interact with God. Such rationales and considerations are also explored in the book “ምልክትን መምርሕን ጽዋ-ቃና (ሙዚቃ)” “Milikitin Memrehen Ziwa-Qana (musiqa)” under the heading of “ሕጊ ሙዚቃ ምስ ዜማ-ግዕዝ ዘሎ ፍልልይ” on chapter 26.

Issayas: If we were ever to create this instrument, who should build it? A musician? An entrepreneur etc.?

Abba Berhanemeskel: The Europeans did some good work for their people in the music arts. The musicians heard the style of people’s melody, they analyzed the structure, and lastly they set rules that represents or duplicates the melody with an instrument. There have been also some alterations to the accidentals frequency size to synchronize the standard type of music. I don’t want to discuss on this matter for it needs peculiar attentions of music arts’ history. It is important information for us to do our home work in music field, as the Europeans did in order to achieve a best result with the synchronization system that, at that time, the musicians opted to act in order to derive the actual standard 7-note. Likewise for the Ziema-Geez, there should be musicians who will decipher or interpret the correct base sound. The technical part which
means to implement what the musicians founded will be the task for them. Therefore, the musicians prepare the collections of notes and their hertz values with appropriate rules, and engineers will build the instrument. They will be 2 two different actions, defining the theorem, and there after implementing them.

Issayas: In reading your book, I understand that timing is one of the many differences that exist between western music and Eritrean ziema. Does "timing" need mathematical solution?

Abba Berhanemeskel: The timing I mentioned on this topic does not need mathematical experts. In music language timing is called the “measure”. Defining this measure doesn’t need who are afraid of making errors. It is one of the structures that musicians will assign smoothly. Therefore, the answer seems very easy. It will depend on the musicians move whether to create a new script or to adapt the European style. A better option could be to adapt the European style, therefore, once the experts of Geez music agree to develop a script, the solution will yield from this motion.

Issayas: Milikit in Tigrigna means sign. Therefore, is Ge’ez milikit ziema’s notation system ? If not, how does one create a viable ziema notation system?

Abba Berhanemeskel: From my experience, the word Milikit does mean sign or symbol. Milikit in Ziema is a sound or most of time it is group of sound that is taking as a standard example from short melody. Therefore in Ziema-geez writing a sound or a melody of sounds is called Milikit. Of course these Milikit are taken from songs. However, when we call Milikit this is one part of a melody, and this portion or short song will be empowered as “one standard melody, a prototype sound/s” and this will be used to guide future or different lyrics/poetry/poems/documents/prayers. The way to find a solution to the Ziema-ge’ez is by applying a notation system that fit the Ziema. The “notation system” I mentioned will be a way to express the sound Geez into a script, whether it is a European style or other preferred style, a style to edit the sound separately. The word viable means a script that will fit to the Ziema sound. Until now is not found, it is the object of my main research.


Issayas: Again, does it need mathematical solution?

Abba Berhanemeskel: It may and it may not require experts in mathematics. I consider it will not be necessary to have the involvement of mathematicians. There is already a European style, the experts of music can decide just to adapt the European one or use a common sample one. From my experience, the Europeans style to denote the so called “measure” is compatible at all levels.

Issayas: What is the need of creating a musical instrument if the belief that "God needs to be praised with your voice..." has not changed?

Abba Berhanemeskel: The needs of a musical instrument are very urgent for a historical and musical culture to the whole world. For example 20 year ago, where ever city or village you go, at least, there were too many priests and deacons who were the vibrant witness of the Ziema-chant. This is a true fact, at least for the population predominantly Orthodox culture. Right now the reality is not the same for many reasons. So the necessity comes for the lack of Ziema literate people. At that time the Geez people were the ones who decided about this. Now the literate people are the ones who seek to provide an exact copy of the Ziema. Therefore, these new people seem to be not less literate in Ziema-geez, but they seek for a further reassurance of correct copy of Ziema-chant. Secondly, from the point of general people, the Ziema literate people are very few. After few years the knowledge of Ziema will be in a worse situation to transfer the music of Ziema. Therefore, the urgency of a well documented material comes as a consequence of the presence of literate people for there is a correct copy of the song, and of the shortage of expert people for there is a need to transfer the art of Ziema for the safety of the Ziema-art and the guaranteed original copy of the Ziema patrimony. Thirdly, the new generation, like those people in diaspora (emigrant) who never had any influence of this Ziema tradition, has a right to know their culture and after knowing it a right to convey the Ziema-geez in according the new way of media. If they ask as part of their legacy, the answer is to prepare the Ziema- chant in a professional of standard musical instrument and/or standard notation. Consequently, the literate in professional music notation of the new generation and of any researcher in the international art of music these category need to feel the Ziema-geez and be well influenced. They need it so they could listen to it and sing it in a creative way like our Debtera (professional singer) in the Ziema-art for this is a new era of African tradition that conveys new style of feeling and expressions of our ancestors. It is the corner stone of African way of expression and it explores deep feeling of human and spiritual art. Therefore, it is a must for Africans to know the art of Ziema, it should be shared with the international music community as we do share theirs. To integrate both culture of music art, there is a need to prepare it in a academic standard fashion. Lastly, people of that era made that statement: “God needs to be praise with the human voice”. This statement will remain true until the new generation sticks with this affirmation. The answer is therefore, in the hand of the public. On the other hand, it is also true that the Ziema tradition should be preserved. Our ancestors believed to restore the Ziema with the appropriate script of “Milikit” (note, neuma), but we now know that the appointed Milikit has lots of problems or gaps or unsteady fluctuation of voice, because it lacks of hard copy (an exclusive way to confront a single milikit) to represent its art with perfect and uniform resolution. The traditional way to convey the Ziema art is open to mistakes or misinterpretation or prolonged expansion of voices in such a way to be easily affected by personal misleading melodies. The resolution doesn’t mean to only reproduce the Ziema by musical instrument, but it is to set functional rules about the music issue. This is done by preparing the basic notes that recreates the sound of Ziema-art, imprints the Ziema-single notes into a musical standard device, and thereafter creates a suitable script that appropriately represents each individual Ziema-note.With such resolution, even the Ziema is not sung in the Church this African heritage will be available to represent the correct sound of Ziema-art and be ready to use in a exact form of its music literature for the future time and at the time they will decide to use musical instruments for their spiritual need. It seems that this need is current to our culture. The Ziema is used by very limited people, the emigrant of this era is asking how to be involved in it, the European seeks to know what are the pillar bases of Ziema, the professional people are, at this time, incapable to express it in a standard fashion, the high value of expressing the human feeling that is inside the Ziema-art is kept in prison for we couldn’t convey it to the European literate culture, these and other needs are some the backgrounds that push the Ziema-literate to prepare a sound or typical representation of our Ziema-geez art toward his people and to international culture.



An advertisement from a flier

Music is an art that expresses the human feelings using a sound. A single sound is called a“note”. In European style the music “note” has special rules and procedures. Does Tigrigna has the same or similar rules in the music field as the European style?


A Note:
• is a single sound
• has chords (selected notes of 3 or 4)
• composes major and minor scale (the 7-note)
• has chromatic scale (group of 7-ordered)
• expresses 3 minor scales: fundamental, harmonic and melodic



Issayas: Abba Berhanemeskel, thank you for your time and thought on this very important subject.

Abba Berhanemeskel: You're welcome.

Next: A conversation with Robel Afeworki on Eritronic (Ge'ez-trance music)

A Conversation with Abba Berhanemeskel Matewos

Abba Berhanemeskel Matewos

Part One:
Issayas: Would you briefly tell us about yourself?
My name is Abba (Father) Berhanemeskel Matiewos, a Capuchin Friar from Asmara, Eritrea. Before getting to the monastery, I lived in Decamhare, Eritrea where I was attracted by the presence of the Capuchin Friary. I had my first education in Decamhare. I finished my middle school studies in Embatkalla and my high school in Mendefera. My journey to music started at a very young age in Embatkalla and Mendefera. Then I studied Philosophy in Decamhare and Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. I returned to Asmara, Eritrea and continued my studies in Theology. I was ordained as a priest in Asmara after I finished my studies.

I had been a teacher in high schools, teaching subjects such as mathematics, computers, languages, music arts and drawings. I had been a director of academic schools and small institutions. I have two BA degrees. One is in Accounting and the second one is in Computer Science from St. John University, Queens’s campus, New York, in 1996, and from Lehman College in the Bronx, NY, in 2001, respectively. In 1999, I also received an MBA degree in MIS from Marywood University, Scranton, Pennsylvania.

At present, I am teaching music to 4th – 6th grade students in Asmara, Eritrea, who would be able to play the piano by reading notes. The program is a continuation of the music choir established in the year 1974. The main aim is to upgrade the quality of church music by graduating piano players who would hopefully in the future be able to interpret Ge’ez songs and introduce Ge’ez songs internationally. Believing that it’s high time to produce quality songs, I wrote four books in Tigrigna (Fidel Dimzi,Nibab Milikitin: both are books to learn and play the piano the hard way, Laza kana – Muzika: about the interpretation of sound or music) to preserve a sound understanding of music, a proper education of piano and flute lessons and other musical instruments. The aim of the books is to build a solid base in music arts' field so that students may be confident with the music as well as with the Ziema literature.

The front cover of one of Abba Berhanemeskel's book

I am very tuned to translate the Ziema-milikit into European notation style. This research is meant to investigate the gap that exists between the two cultures. The update can be a clarification of music note of Ziema and may be enforcement to its music notation system or script (milikit). Of course, the big gap of Geez-note is the missing block of the whole issue of our Ziema-geez. It needs a dedicated and a determined will to fill up such gap. The gaps are: the lack to indicate a single note in Ge’ez milikit, and no system that reply the Ziema-ge’ez, i.e. lack of music instrument to replay the Ziema, and of course some of consequences that requires to set a system. I wish this is a favored time to restore our Ziema-geez treasure of art and to preserve the Ziema-chant through a viable Ziema notation system.

At this time I am interested in writing books of music. I am dedicating an intensive research to find a standard solution of Ziema-ge’ez, namely to collect the data of basic notes and to imprint them in a standard piano. Therefore I am developing part of my time for research in order to preserve the Ziema-ge’ez, so the young generation can use it as part of their culture and develop it as a new development of human skills in the area of world music (it may yield a new scale). Beside pastoral activity I am intending to be involved more on computer issues for example, to understand our identity and to fix few of the double standard of the computer alphabets of Tigrigna, that makes uncomfortable for any “Tigrigna typist”. This problem relates with many important issue, like the Ziema-ge’ez of writing poetry and the annotating of notes’ script.

Issayas: For people who don’t know about Ge’ez and Ziema, would you briefly describe what they are?

Abba Berhanemeskel: The description of Ziema and the style of Geez, I believe it is a question of reading books about it. The word Ge’ez describes the people that live in Eritrea and Ethiopia,
since the languages spoken on these areas depend directly from the formal Geez language. Later the word Ge’ez was added to Ziema (chant), this stands to clarify the special song of these people. At the end, even the people Ge’ez, made their selection to adapt a certain form of song, called Ge’ez, that is attributed as a song to God Father. Therefore, when the two words are tied together, Ziema-Ge’ez, it means the song dedicated to God the Father. The word Ziema is just a translation of song, chant, or form of carol.

Issayas: Even though I don’t agree with it, I’ve heard people argue that Ge’ez is a “dead language”. How do you reply to that kind of argument?

Abba Berhanemeskel: I was discussing some updating issue on the Tigrigna characters to be imprinted in the computer system with professional people of big computer companies; I had a reply that this company would not consider any discussions on such matter. They said they would never be interested on it, because it is a dead language or character. I think it is a problem that arises from a misunderstanding. I am sure, no one can say that Latin is a dead language, for the Roman Catholic Church has been using it for centuries, and many scientific words come directly from it, and it is a building block to the subsidiary romance languages. Among the few of these romance languages some are closer to Latin than the others, but they all are new generation of Latin basis. My reply is that to be interested on these old languages such as Ge’ez is a search of ourselves; i.e. our identities. Therefore, Ge’ez for us is a formal base and a common value of history. How many people and cultures are there with no references of their background in history? I wish that all languages that exist in the world had a source or a mother tongue like we have. I feel it is not only about being proud of, but it is a matter of recognizing the cultural and historical sources of a language. I am proud for Geez people who have their own song, script, tradition, and language. This makes me think that there are sources that no one has a right to do away with it at any level. If we want to recognize the history, this is one, I believe.





Issayas: You mentioned that you like to be involved more on computer issues like understanding our identity to fix few of the double standard of the computer alphabets of Tigrigna, that makes uncomfortable any “Tigrigna typist”. This problem relates with many important issue, like the ziema-ge’ez in writing poetry and the annotating of notes’ script. Would you elaborate?

Abba Berhanemeskel: The alphabet typing of Tigrigna has come up with great resolutions: from Geez gate to Geez TypeNet. The new edition was useful for it cleared some difficult problems
that existed with the previous version. Geez TypeNet also resolved some issue of internet giving free access and support to internet users, reshaped the size of fonts, and smoothed some intricate forms of typing. However the TypeNet couldn’t resolve the whole issue for it was confined in the 255 size of alphabet space. The last version built around 2000: the Geez Mahtem Unicode has a lot of advantage from its predecessors, especially for it gained large size of alphabet space. The wide space of alphabet, beside any preferences of fonts and shape, has more than necessary space to accommodate the Geez alphabet. However, this system appears to have problem of inconsistency with single keys and in other part a kind of double standard issue especially in dealing with the vowels (seeing from the end point of keyboard). I see an inconsistency in these points:

1. All geez alphabets should be considered as consonant for each of them needs to be aggregated to the 7-vowel, except those with 5-vowel. For example: Most of the keyboards are consistent: the “ሰ & ሸ”, “ሀ & ሐ”. However some other letters are scattered: the “ተ & ጠ”, “ቸ & ጨ”.

2. The above position of keyboard doesn’t follow the aggregate alphabet. For example, in the 2nd sample the letter that associates its similar should have been vice versa: the “ተ with ቸ”, “ጠ with ጨ”. Sample of such inconsistency are spread around, and if this criteria was followed I believe the end user would have been helped to associate with the similarity of alphabets.

3. A kind of double standard samples can be mentioned as follows: Some results of vowels seem to have uncoordinated structures: The letter “E = አ” is used with three meaning that makes it not friendly user. For example: the word “ገዚአን” becomes “ገዜን”, the word “ግዝአት” becomes “ግዘት”, and when the single “E = አ” is used alone becomes letter “አ” in 1th order.

4. A single letter “E” functions as a 1st order, changes the previous letter into 1st order, and in the third item switches the previous letter into 5th order. The output of three different results
would be a good solution, but unfortunately such activities, at least from what I tried to understand, become tedious to continue and it frustrates the user with similar unnecessary order of alphabets.

From my part the form of writing should give rise a standard or a consistent form of result. The problem that I pointed out resides in the coordination of keyboard “E” that is used in first case as a consonant (the “አ”), other times as a vowel builder of 1st and 5th (as in “ግዘት” and “ገዜን”) order. My advice is to look at the typing form, the table that the end user uses, and trace a consistent order of alphabets, like for the first proposal I mentioned above.

For the second problem, I would advise to delegate some of the functions of “E”, as in the above case, to other different keys. The issue is to determine the objectives, and for the space of alphabet in the keyboard exists more than we need. I see that the problem can be fixed and smoothed with easy process, from the coordination stand point. I believe that these and others level of keyboard importance is relevant to all of us and it should be implemented to the Geez users best interest. The literate people in this field are in all over the world. It is our right “ሪምና እዩ” to discuss about it and send to the Geez soft system engineers to implement it with sound (workable) steps.

Allow me to add a short proposal:

Other problem of coordinating is that the system GeezWord should have facilitated its use by preparing a software decoder that allows switching one version system to the others (to new comer versions). I believe the translator software is of great help. For example, a person who wrote his paper with GeezNet should be enabled to transfer those data into a new version of GeezWord system. This interpolation of system will empower the author to update data into a new version of Geez-Word system. This translator device will also help to keep documents in one consistent system, instead of having to refer to older version for documents that were written previously. The lack of transferring old versions to new once creates problem of inconsistency to the writers and it confines the author with documents that work with incompatible versions. To settle the inconsistency is quite possible to implement. A solution on this avenue will keep the users stick with the current Geez-system they have, instead of requesting other different avenues to preserve their document.

Next part two

For additional information check:

http://eritrea.usembassy.gov/octclublec.html

Abraham Rezene Habte's Zemen: Contemporary Afro-Fusion Groove

About two months ago, a friend of mine sent me a CD produced by Rezene Habte. The CD is entitled Zemen : Contemporary Afro-Fusion Groove in memory of Eritrean singer Yemane Gebremichael (Baria). It's a great work. Two months on and I'm still listening to it like it is the first time. One could easily understand and appreciate how much love and labor is put into the work. I like all the tracks in the CD, but my favorite one is track #2. Beautiful violin playing by a young Eritrean woman and what sounds similar to Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain is all in this track.

I met Abraham Rezene Habte in Washington D.C. in 2009 when I interviewed him on camera for a documentary that I'm working on that deals with Eritreans contribution to the development of modern Amharic music. As it is well discribed below by Biniam Tekle (I'm re-posting it with his permission), Rezene is one of the best Eritrean guitarists. This particular CD is sold out and currently, Rezene is working on his next CD. So look out for another Afro funk groove from Rezene!

                                                        Front cover of Rezene Habte's CD

Guitarist Abraham Rezene Habte reprises Yemane Baria’s music

By Biniam Tekle

In Eritrean popular music the lead guitar plays a prominent role and amongst the many Eritrean lead guitarists only a few are singled out for their individual signature style. If you are an Eritrean music lover and if you heard a guitar sound that incorporates blues, jazz, classical, metal, slide, and generally a distinctly refined sound, chances are you heard Abraham Rezene Habte, known to friends and family as Rezene.

Abraham Habte was born in Dekemhare, Eritrea (East Africa). Abraham developed an interest in music at an early age and immersed himself into it through his formative years. However, his parents did not approve of his penchant for music and sent him to the port city of Assab in a bid to curtail his interest in music and have him focus on his education. Despite his parents effort Abraham's concentration on music continued to intensify. During his stay in Assab, Abraham made his first guitar from scrap wood and discarded cords effectively setting his life long relationship with the guitar in motion.

Eventually, Abraham returned to Asmara in order to complete his high school education but to the dismay of his parents he continued to pursue music. This was in the1960s and at the time Eritrea's music was undergoing a great renaissance and artists like guitarist/vocalist Tewolde Reda were the main attractions. Abraham was highly influenced by Tewolde Reda, Tekle Adhanom, and Tesfamichael Keleta (Rocket Band) and he continued to hone his guitar playing skills finding inspiration in their work. Abraham's concerned parents, once again, ship away the aspiring guitarist to a faraway place, this time to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This was in an effort to separate him from the environment, in his parents thinking, that had an "adverse" influence on him.

Ironically, moving to Addis Abeba presented the young musician an opportunity where he can put his guitar playing skills to practice. Compared to Asmara, Addis Abeba was a much larger city with a much larger number of night club venues. Abraham landed his first job as a guitar player at Abnet Hotel and later joined the Zula Club and became one of the founders of the Walias Band. Later the Walias Band landed a steady gig at Venus Club where Abraham met the great Eritrean composer, musician, and vocalist Abubaker Ashakih who also happened to own the Venus Club. Abraham continued to excel in his music and made the transformation into a professional musician under the tutelage and guidance of Abubaker Ashakih.

In the early seventies Abraham moved to Frankfurt, Germany but his career as a professional guitarist saw him travel through Yugoslavia, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, and France. While in Paris, for a short period Abraham earned his living as a street musician. He played in one of Paris' main thoroughfares called Boulevard Saint-Michel and inside underground train stations around the city. In 1974 a popular Belgium-based African band by the name of Black Blood came to Paris looking for an additional guitarist. The band was told to look for a certain African guitarist that plays on Boulevard Saint-Michel and soon after Abraham found himself auditioning for the band. Ultimately Abraham was selected out of the many guitarists that auditioned and joined the Black Blood Band and moved to Belgium. The group released their first LP album “Chicano” in 1975 and Abraham was heavily involved in the recording of the album. The album had several tracks and Abraham arranged and wrote the music for the tracksTwalikutemwa and Rastefaria. One of Black Blood’s song, A.I.E (A Muwana) became a worldwide hit and to this day is considered one of the greatest hits of all time. The success of A.I.E made the band highly sought after and for the next two years Abraham toured with the band throughout South France. The band eventually split and in 1985 Abraham moved to the USA.

Residing in Washington DC Abraham continued to play guitar in different venues with different local bands. In the mid 2000s Abraham joined a DC based band named See-I that also had members from the group Thievery Corporation. In one of the groups’recordings Abraham was featured as a guitarist in a song entitled "Gangster" and also in a 2008 released album "Radio Retaliation" he participated as a guitarist in a song entitled "Vampires" featuring Femi Kuti (the son of Fela Kuti).

                                                      The back cover of Rezene Habte's CD

Abraham's greatest joy, however, comes from having had the chance to work and perform with the legendary Eritrean singer songwriter Yemane Ghberemichael, commonly and affectionately known as "Baria". In 1986 Abraham joined hands with Yemane Baria and toured throughout North America performing for Eritrean audiences. Yemane Baria was a giant force that had left an indelible mark in Eritrean Music and the lives of many Eritreans. Yemane Baria was a brilliant composer, arranger, poet, and singer songwriter. His sophisticated and timeless music still resonates with Eritreans and many young musicians are inspired and influenced by his music. Yemane Baria was also a great humanitarian who has been credited with helping many young Eritreans who fled Eritrea to Sudan in the 70s & 80s as a result of war. Yemane was not a wealthy person by any stretch of the imagination but he was a giving person who cared more for others than his own well-being. Yemane was by all measures the most influential Eritrean artist of all time whose artistic contribution to Eritrean struggle for independence was unparalleled. Since Abraham and Yemane Baria's tour collaboration in 1986 both artists became the best of friends and remained very close until Yemane Baria's death in 1997. Abraham dedicates his new album to honor the memories of Yemane Baria and the music celebrates Yemane's work and life.

Sketches of a trip : Eritrea 2011

Final Sketch

In 1993 I attended a book signing ceremony in Asmara. While there were very few young people in attendance, most of the attendees were elders. Observing this, I remember asking a young man about the book signing and he told me that he was “dragged “there by his grandfather and didn’t understand the significance of it. That was then and this is now. Things have changed so much since then that Michael Adonai’s book signing ceremony that I attended in Asmara at Ambasoiera Hotel (which has become the routine venue for book signing) was a standing room only event with all kinds of people: young, old, women and men. The books that the publishers (Hidri) brought to be signed were all sold out. As a matter of fact, the revenue from books sales has risen to the millions per year, which indicates that reading culture has improved dramatically in Eritrea. Michael Adonai is not only a renowned author with books such as Keyah Mesobay, Ferdi Gobo A’rey, Mesakuti Mai Men’e and etc., but is also a brilliant artist whose works have been displayed around the world.

The Master of Ceremonies at Michael Adonai’s book signing was none other than my good friend, Elias Amare. Fortunately, he is visiting the U.S. and I’ve asked him to be a guest writer and to write briefly about the status of Eritrean literature today, the aforementioned and the subsequent event by Mr. Nurredin Farah, the renowned Somali novelist’s visit to Asmara.

First, I would like to give a brief comment about the book signing ceremony which was well attended with people from many walks of life. After a brief introduction Elias invited Atsbehet Yohannes (the actress who plays the grandmother in “Sidra Bet”) to give a comment. She briefly described her experience working with Michael Adonai and Michael Adonai’s modus operandi. After Atsbehet, Wedi Adonai, as he is affectionately called, spoke briefly and thanked people for coming to the ceremony. Elias then introduced Mesghun Zerai (Wedi Feraday) to critique Michael’s book entitled Kab Tshufat Hane’ta: Ekub Tewa’esotat from Hagerawi Bea’lat. From the Writings of Haneta: Compilation of Theatrical performances from the National Holidays. Michael Adonai’s book(two stories from the book) was also critiqued by Tesfalem Gebreselassie (Chare)(1)and Amanuel Berhe in “Haddas Eritrea” (2)Wedi Feraday’s critique was unique and brilliant, indeed. Wedi Feraday used live actors to amplify his critique. He picked two (“Tsehefto Haneta”: “From the Writings of Haneta” and “Ab De’ro” “On the Eve”. The same stories critiqued by the aforementioned journalists from “Haddas Eritrea”) from the eight stories in the book (The book is the first of its kind. It is a compilation of eight theatrical performances). For his critique, Wedi Feraday used “Brechtian device” (Also known as the “distancing effect” or in German, “Verfremdungseffekt”, is a performing arts concept coined by playwright Berthold Brecht* which prevents the audience from losing itself passively and completely in the character created by the actor, and which consequently leads the audience to be a consciously critical observer”.)(3) Throughout the critique, Wedi Ferday guided the audience on and off by letting them in and out of the stories. During his critique, Wedi Feraday was analyzing “Tsehefto Haneta” in terms of triangles and triangular chains, which led me to wonder off to film critique Pauline Kael’s use of “Circles and Squares” to critique Andrew Sarris: the person credited for popularizing “the auteur theory” in the United States (4). Wedi Feraday admired Michael’s use of triangles to create chains of relationship in his stories. To illustrate, Wedi Feraday pointed out that in “Tsehefto Haneta”, the three characters, Haneta, Zewdi and Narge had connections in the story and this triangle created another chain which becomes a triangle itself. In the second triangle the relationship between Haneta , Negasi and Kifle creates a new triangle and thus creating triangular with varied chains of relationships.

Above: A visual representation of Wedi Feraday’s interpretation of “Tsehfeto Haneta’s” triangular chain relationship.

What was interesting was that Wedi Feraday went beyond the above mentioned relationship and used the same triangular relationship to formulate and understand Michael’s work, thinking and the role of actors and actresses in the following:

Tegbar (deeds): Easy to act

Seme'it (Emotions): Difficult to act

Hasabat
(Ideas):difficult to put them together

Pauline Kael’s circles.

The second story that Wedi Feraday picked was entitled “Ab De’ro” “On the Eve”, that is the eve of independence. Wedi Feraday commented that by not giving names to the main characters who had been imprisoned by the Derg (the former Ethiopian Military Junta) for different reasons (mundane reason to the point of being comical and beautifully acted), Michael had brilliantly moved the story fast forward by eliminating the character’s religion and beher (nationality). This point was also raised by journalist Amanuel Berhe in his Haddas Eritrea article. In the story, the two inmates are represented by numbers 54 and 103, respectively.
In the above article, Amanuel mentions that Michael uses brilliant strategy in all his writing style of not identifying the characters so that the audience does not pre-judge them based on their religion and beher, but judge them solely on their deeds.

Cover of Michael Adonai’s book. The art work is also by Michael Adonai.

On the eve of independence # 54 and # 103 had not eaten for a couple of days and as a result had lost weight. The prison guards had left the prison. The inmates were not aware that the Eritrean independence fighters had liberated Eritrea and the Ethiopian rule over Eritrea has come to an end. Once they were discovered, suddenly, they became heroes who had not only “survived the brutal prison system, but also “hunger!” Their survival and “heroism” became talk of the town and the story spirals out of control. The debate between the two inmates gets hilarious. #54 wants to keep the story going and wants to enjoy the new found popularity, while # 103 wants to expose the “truth”. It’s a very brilliant work of twists and turns. This part of the story reminded me of another translated comedy that I saw in Eritrea in 1994 entitled Jeppe Wedi Gobo (Jeppe of the Hills: written by Norwegian writer, Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg in 1722).

Eritrean playwrights have over the years had inspirations from many writers. To mention a few, Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, Henrik Ibsen, Ludvig Holberg, Anton Chekov, Ngugi Wa Thiongo and many others. Except for one or two translations* in Tigrigna, who is missing from the above mentioned writers is Alexander S. Pushkin (the maternal great grandson of General Abraham Petrovich H(G)annibal, the long lost son of Eritrea. I hope Eritrean playwrights translate all of Alexander S. Pushkin’s works and all his works be integrated in the Eritrean school system.

Sources:
1. Tesfalem Gebreselassie (Chare). “Haddas Eritrea” pg. 10. July 2, 2011.
2. Amanuel Berhe.”Haddas Eritrea” pgs. 2 and 4. July 4, 2011.
3. Wikipedia: accessed on February 4, 2012
4. Pauline Kaen. “Film Quarterly”, Vol. 16, No. 3 (spring, 1963) “Circles and Squares”


Notes:
*Berthold Brecht was a German playwright, poet and theatre director.

* Haddas Eritrea is the official newspaper written in Tigrigna. It means “New Eritrea”

* “I Will Marry When I Want” is another Tigrigna translated play that I saw in Asmara in 2000 during the Against All Odds Conference. The play was translated from the work of the renowned Kenyan author, Ngugi Wa Thiang’o. Atsbehet Yohannes played the main female character.

* So far, I’ve found only two Tigrigna translations of Pushkin’s works. The first was translated during the fight for Eritrean independence and republished in 2010 (a collection of 18 short stories from various coutnries) under the title of "Tensa'e" the second one is a translation of “The Tale of Tsar Sultan Belkin" by Ghirmay Gebremeskel in 2009.

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