things to do:
submit my taxes online (I've already done the numbers, just need to submit them)
order some things
other stuff on my to-do list maybe
catch up on TV recordings
not going to do, even though I could spend my whole life at it and never finish:
work in the yard again
what I've done:
online reading, all starting with a Nextdoor.com post.
"ball caps" - is another term for baseball caps which I've never heard before, but dates back at least to the
1940s.
honeydew - is not just a melon. It's sweet liquid in leaves, and also the excretions of insects who feed on the leaves.
Kubla Khan -
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!Habesha peoples - the video on this Wikipedia page of
traditional Habesha dance and music is from 1987* and over an hour long, and I wish I could find a better quality version of it. The dance is wonderful and not quite like anything I've seen before... From what I found, it is called
Eskista, characterized by rapid shoulder movements. I've found videos with other examples of it on YouTube, but none that I enjoy as much (or as impressive!) as the one on the Wikipedia page. The outfits of the women dancers look similar to me as some Native American outfits, which confused me at first.
*That Wikipedia file says 1965 but must be wrong. The TV logo shown,
ETV, may be for the
Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation, which didn't start broadcasting in color until at least
1979.
I found this copy of the same performance on YouTube, in poorer quality but with the name of the performance:
People to People Tour part 1 of 9; it also says "1987/1988. National Theater Troupe of Ethiopia." The title is "ህዝበ ለህዝበ" (Hizb le hizb) in Amharic, so searching on that gives more results.
This page has more info:
1987 Hizb le HizbAnd this
Facebook page says even more:
Hizb le Hizb (People to People) – a 54-person collaboration of Ethiopian musicians and performers. The cultural exhibition kicked off in March of 1987 on a whirlwind tour of 60 cities around the world in 118 days. The purpose behind the creation of a ensemble to basically give a tour de force of Ethiopian music and culture throughout the world and a way to thank nations for the assistance they had provided to Ethiopia during the ‘Great’ Famine only a couple of years earlier.
Tilahun Gessese. Mahamoud Ahmoud. Bizunesh Bekele. Neway Debebe. Tsehaye Yohannes, Mulatu Astatkie. Iniye Takele. Asnaketch Worku and Maritu Legesse are among the list of topflight entertainers that the show laid claim to be the very eminence of star power on the Ethiopian music scene at the time. Never before or since has such a collection of talent been melded together to deliver what would be historical performances under the guide of Mulatu Astatke’s composition and Tadese Worku’s choreography. The ensemble itself was referred to as the Adey Abeba Traditional Music Group. From Kibur Zebegna to Police and any orchestra that could claim the best talent in the country were called up to fill its ranks.
The storyline of the exhibition is the journey of a young girl traveling through the country and being introduced to the different peoples and their culture. There is an older woman accompanying her (who may symbolize Ethiopia). The vocal delivery of the songs by this extraordinary group of musicians was simply part of the story. The standout dance and theatrical performances that accompanied them were a similarly impressive feat for the breadth and depth of cultural spread they provided. Who could forget the baby faced Iniye Takele who would – it seemed like – pretty much begin talking to herself when she really went into an iskista groove and Kuribachew Woldemariam whose transcendent beauty seemed only to shine brighter at the height of her performances.
[I have this urge now to find every online thing that mentions this concert tour from 1987/1988, like it's a scavenger hunt to see how much info I can dig up.]
Concert poster of the tour from Berlin, East GermanyTHE SHIFTING STATUS OF THE GONDAR AZMARI IN REVOLUTIONARY ETHIOPIA:FROM OUTCASTS TO POPULAR STARS (PDF)
Several of the members of Fasiledes kinet actively participated in the Hizib lehizib (‘people to people’) campaign, a programme that brought together the people, cultures and traditions of Ethiopia. Thus, from May 15 to 28, 1987 the Fasiledes performed in Debre Markos, Gojjam.
... The campaign also included an international tour across fifty-two countries that spanned for four months. The tour made the artists of Fasiledes kinet known to the Ethiopian diaspora public. Some of the key performers during this tour were Eneye Takele, Abebe Belew, Yirga Dubale, Tamagn Beyene, Wasie Kassa, Abdela Hussien, and Kenubish Abebe.
Ethiopian Dance Troupe Fails to Appear (LA Times article, 1987/05/17)
A comment on
this page by "Adamu LA" indicates that the HIZB LE HIZB group did not visit the U.S.A because of
"ideological difference between eastern and western block". That makes me wonder if that is why the troupe did not show up in L.A. as mentioned by the above article. But the below article said that they performed in Washington DC, so I'm not sure Adamu's comment here is correct.
Ethiopian Dancers To Perform (PDF) - 1987/03/30 - Article from The Clark College (Atlanta) Panther. Has a lot of details. Mentions
"They have already performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C."..
I don't know much about Ethiopia, other than famine, wars, and food. There is much history that I know very little of. I didn't even know that most of the country is
mountainous and based on the photos looks gorgeous.
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