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The Universal Peace of Food: Conversations with Marcus Samuelsson

Published by tseday August 22nd, 2007 in Featured and Profiles. 10 Comments

Above: Marcus Samuelsson at his home in Harem, New York.
(Photo Credit: Tesfaye Tessema for Tadias Magazine).

Tadias Magazine
By Tseday Alehegn

New York (Tadias) – It’s a slightly drizzly evening in Manhattan and I’m walking with a loping gait to Aquavit restaurant, anxious that I am tardy, simultaneously juggling my umbrella, checking whether I brought my voice recorder, notes, interview questions and pen. My hurried steps are sharply interrupted by the calm and warm colored entrance of Marcus Samuelsson’s Scandinavian restaurant. As I wait by the door, slow down my pace, and go through the questions in my mind, I see his familiar figure, the midnight blue of the Aquavit uniform, a blackberry in hand and a welcoming smile. “Let me show you on a quick tour,” he says after we greet, knowing that it’s my first time here. “First – the kitchen.”

The spacious kitchen is divided by two main isles behind each of which stand a row of chefs, working like clockwork. Each plate out in front stands ready to be modeled as the most soigné art that food could be transformed into. We make an exit towards the café and settle down to talk about his most recent project – an adventure-filled trip throughout the African continent and the journey that led to his new book: The Soul of a New Cuisine. As I pull out my notepad and prepare my notes, Marcus steals a few moments to scroll through the emails on his blackberry. In just a few hours, after we wrap up our interview, he will be packing for another trip back to Ethiopia to see his birth father and his eight half-brothers and sisters, with whom he was first reunited in April of 2005. “I have to leave on a personal trip to Ethiopia, but I wanted to have this conversation now rather than later,” he says, then he turns off his phone, restores it in his pocket and lets me know that he is ready for our duologue.

Africa on My Mind

The first time that Tadias Magazine had interviewed Marcus was in March 2003. Marcus had mentioned back then that he intended to work on an African cookbook. He had concluded the interview by saying that he wanted to write not just about Swedish or American food, but also about African cuisine. “People lump all of Africa, as if it’s one homogenous country,” I recalled him saying, and I remember the eagerness and determination in his voice to make this project a reality. Fast forward three years later and Marcus has traveled extensively with his photographer and friend, Gideon Kifle. Together they go from South Africa to Morocco; from the famous spice island of Zanzibar to the fish markets of Senegal.

“I have gone several times, but I began my travels to Africa in ’99.” Marcus says. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve had Africa on my mind,” he writes in the introduction of his new book, and he pieces together culinary treasures with his intimate, personal journey to the village where he was born as Kassahun Tsegie. His journey to reconstruct his family heritage is as much a journey of peace as is his quest for peace embodied in the sharing of food across cultural terrains. “My favorite term is ubuntu,” he says – a popular South African concept which translates as “I am what I am because of who we all are.” Being a chef is about remembering and practicing ubuntu. It is about food for the body and soul that peacefully unites us as beings, allowing for conversations and the sharing of happiness, knowledge, soul and love.

“I’m a Swede, I’m also an Ethiopian, and a New Yorker,” he says.

ABOVE: Marcus Samuelsson and
Liben Eabisa walking in Harlem,
New York.

He can’t help but embrace and reify diversity in his identity and in his work. Marcus’ personal story of his adoption by Swedish parents, his passion for cooking and his eventual move to New York as one of the top chefs in the world is as colorful as his fusion of recipes renowned for their flavor, originality, and multicultural emphasis. Weaving together the diverse fabrics that constitute his life’s journey, Marcus reflects on his youth growing up in Sweden. “The difference between an immigrant and an adopted kid, is that when you are an immigrant you are more clear on your identity; you are Ethiopian. When you are adopted you are stripped a little bit of one identity, and when you grow up you sort of go back to that identity.” “And again, I can only speak for me, I can’t speak for someone else,” he adds.

“For me coming to America, and New York in particular, and being around Ethiopians, going to all the concerts – to weddings, to restaurants, I found a whole lot of community.” He compares his upper middle class Swedish upbringing with that of his childhood friend Mesfin’s, who lived in close proximity to Stockholm’s ‘Little Ethiopia’ neighborhood. “What my friend Mesfin had was a community that I wasn’t familiar with. He was exposed to Ethiopian music, language, identity and customs,” Marcus recounts. “Once I was in New York however, by going to Meskerem and Sheba [restaurants] and making friends like Yeworkwoha [owner of Ghenet Restaurant] who introduced me to work behind Ethiopian food, I got immersed in Ethiopian culture.”

My Medium is Food

His eyes light up and he lifts his head and chest higher as he admits that his exposure to a broader Ethiopian and African community as well as the overall spirit of internationalism in New York got him ruminating over how to tie it all together. “And it was only then that I started thinking, What can I do? What’s my medium? Well… my medium is food. So I went back there [Ethiopia] and gave a couple classes at the Sheraton for Ethiopian kids. For me it’s not a one-off , I want to be in the country with Ethiopian children, and show young people, show young men how to cook.”

From there Marcus vowed to see as much of Africa as he could, and to capture the myriad of dishes and ways of sharing and eating food that he discovered in his travels. While Marcus worked with Gideon on article assignments about Ethiopia for American news outlets, he also started thinking of other ways of giving Ethiopians tools to be proud of.

“There are so many stories coming out of Sweden in comparison to my Ethiopian side,” Marcus points out. “Cars, IKEA, there are so many brands coming out of that little country, and in the case of Ethiopia although there are many rich stories, the music, the art, the food..you don’t get as much exposure to it. So I wanted to do a project that viewed Africa and its cultures,” he concludes. “You know a lot of people think of Africa as war, famine, all this stuff , and for me..it’s like..every part of the world has that.”

Marcus has other reasons for wanting to write about the cuisine of the African continent and its diaspora. “Africa also has a huge deposit of oral history. A mother tells her daughter about music and food and so on. And this tradition of oral history is important, but the written history is also important,” Marcus asserts. “You know just going to Barnes and Noble you can find 500 books on Tuscany, a tiny region, and for a huge region like Africa you have three books.” Marcus is determined to show where the influences in Africa came from and where African influence spread to. “So in East Africa and Ethiopia, for example, you can see the Indian influences in their food, and when you go down to southern Africa you recognize Indonesian and Malay food. No part of the globe is untouched by Africa and vice versa.

Soul of a New Cuisine

Motivated to show and encourage African-to-African connections, Marcus reflects on opportunities to learn from each other. “In general, South Africans don’t go up to Morocco and you don’t see Ethiopians going down to Angola. But it’s important to develop these connections, and it’s easy to do so through food. If I’m an Ethiopian family, let’s do a Senegalese dish tomorrow. Or if I’m Senegalese let me make a Malay dish tomorrow. Pan-European and Pan-Asian cuisine is a common occurrence now. You know if I am a Swedish family, Monday I have Italian, on Tuesday I’ll really like this French recipe and then on Wednesday I cook Swedish again. Well Ethiopians… we cook our food. And that’s great and it’s very nice,” he says. “But what if we just try a different path?”

“The food itself, the recipes may be ancient,” Marcus says of African cooking, “but I want this book to be a fusion of African cultures and food…sort of looking into the window of other countries within Africa. And ‘Africa’ doesn’t mean you have to live in Africa to experience it. It’s more about revealing this diversity, the richness, and being open-minded.” The combinations are endless and the experiences will be new, hence the title, The Soul of a New Cuisine. Along with the recipes Marcus has prepared a music album entitled Afrikaya, a compilation which features world music diva Gigi, and the new Ethiopian hip-hop fusion Bole to Harlem. “So it’s food, music, and people. I want something that other Africans will be proud of. The ‘new cuisine’ is that I make all these recipes palatable for Americans and the Western world.” Pan-African fusion is something you can’t find here on a regular basis.

“For example, I take an Ethiopian Shiro and I pair it with a fish dish from Morocco while borrowing cooking techniques from South Africa. So there is a fusion within the continent. And that’s what the ‘new’ is about.” As another example, Marcus suggests the term ‘Pan-Asian.’ “When I use this term with you, ‘Pan-Asian,’ you understand what that is. You can envision the fusion involved, which today is also considered fine dining.” “Fine dining,” Marcus reminds me, “came from a very elitist society.” It conjures up the image of French restaurants, a certain culture only for the upper class. “Today the fl avor of the food is considered fine dining. Now you go to Paris or London and they are catching on to fusion. So in the same way, you understand the term Pan-African as it relates to music, but how about Pan-African food?” Marcus gets us thinking about Pan-African ways of making and eating food.

The communal aspect of African cooking and ways of eating are very much a central core in Marcus’ writings. “In Senegal I stayed with my dishwasher’s family,” he shares. “They had grandmothers and other family members all living together. That was a way for me to get close.” It may have been more comfortable to travel throughout Senegal as a tourist, staying in hotel rooms and visiting local eateries, but Marcus knew from the start he would miss the fervor of communal cooking if he chose such a path. “You know I can’t wing it. I can’t do it from hotels either. I wanted to be there form the start, when they made breakfast and when they made lunch..to see the cooking together. I have to see it to really know it.” He took this attitude with him wherever he traveled to, and he noticed that although the recipes may be starkly different, the eating patterns throughout Africa had one thing in common – they were very communal. “Kids are welcome and grandparents are welcome in the preparation of food,” he notes. “In Africa, how we start a meal and how we feed each other…it’s very communal and it brings extended families together.”

From farming, to harvesting, to cooking, and to selling food in the marketplace, food transactions are a communal business. “I’ll tell you about the fish market in Senegal, which has such a beautiful, organic way of working,” Marcus enthuses. “The men go out to fish, drop off their catch to the women who run the fish market.” He describes in colorful detail the women selling fish. “They have several skirts on..and they lift up one skirt and they have Euros, and then Dollars, CFA Franc [Senegalese money]..and it’s like NASDAQ.” He makes the whirring sound of money being counted and continues, “And the kids help package the fish while the people come to buy it, and there is a certain rhythm to it. That to me is colorful and loud.” And it’s the larger experience of food and food making that you don’t see when you purchase packaged meals at a supermarket.

Every Place is Great for Me

Between the moments of discovering new foods, tastes, and cooking techniques Marcus perambulates around the open markets. He mentions Marakesh and Merkato, the latter, considered one of Africa’s largest open-air markets, being his favorite. “I enjoy places like Merkato. Wherever people see danger, I enjoy it. I travel deeper and deeper and see the mix of Jewish, Muslim, and Orthodox traditions. I just love it,” Marcus says. “What makes travel interesting is the people, their history, where they came from and where they are going to.” He points out that food, like any other aspect of culture, has its own history, and learning about food without the history wouldn’t make for a full experience. “Because of their history of trading with Arabians and Indians, the food of the people of Zanzibar is so flavorful,” he says. And he implants pieces of history among his recipes so that it becomes an exploration of a continent’s way of food and not just the raw ingredients. “I want to bring you onto that journey. And I have to do it thoroughly,” he says. “I have been privileged to go and be in South Africa, Sweden, New York, to Ethiopia. Most people haven’t had that opportunity.”

I ask him which place he enjoyed the most, but Marcus is quick to answer “Every place is great for me.” “In order to do this [work] you have to be really curious,” he adds. “And there are stories everywhere..people are eager to tell you.” Marcus enjoys traveling. “Bahia is different from the rest of Brasil, and Addis Ababa has a different story than Soweto. You know when I’m in Ethiopia. It’s great. I feel at home. But when I go to a new place like Soweto, a place I’ve never been, and then Desmond Tutu writes the forward to my book, it takes on a whole other meaning for me. So I enjoy all of it…the entire experience.”

The Universal Peace of Food

The end result is a new cookbook, lots of travel stories, adventures, and something for UNICEF’s programs for children around the world. Marcus is donating part of the proceeds of The Soul of the New Cuisine to UNICEF programs. “There are so many great organizations in the world, but I picked two to work with: UNICEF and CCAP – one works with children internationally and the other works with public high school students.” As a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, Marcus had to come up with a program and he chose this cookbook as one of them. “I have been down to Ethiopia and seen the NGOs working. I don’t want to micromanage the process, but if I believe in your work then I’ll let you do your work the way you believe is best.” It’s all part of the process of using food as a medium of peace.

When you think of the first presence of food in your life, it’s easy to picture the image of a mother giving life-sustaining milk to her newborn child. One of the first acts of bonding and love is expressed through food. Mozart once said, “Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.” This is apparent in Marcus’ work.

“One thing that’s really cool about food is that everyone thinks their recipe is the best. But it’s great that they don’t fight about it. It’s not like money, and it’s not religion where someone is trying to convert you. Do you know what I mean? It’s peace,” Marcus asseverates with a smile and an earnest look in his eyes. As beings we are on a universal search for comfort and peace and Marcus shares how food is fundamental in that quest. “It’s a very peaceful way of taking pride in something. With food, people take a tremendous amount of dignity and say “I want to show you what I can do” without fighting,” he says “And I love that.”

The Soul of a New Cuisine is the new food, the new fine dining, and food itself is the universal peace.

Above: Black Cook Wanted, painting by Samuelsson
Photos by Tesfaye Tessema for Tadias Magazine.
—-

About the Author:

Tseday Alehegn is the Editor-in-Chief of Tadias Magazine. Tseday is a graduate of Stanford University (both B.A. & M.A.). In addition to her responsibilities at Tadias, she is also a Doctoral student at Columbia University.

Queens, Spies, and Servants: A History of Ethiopian Women in Military Affairs

Published by tseday July 23rd, 2007 in History. 14 Comments

Above: These female war veterans are pictured in Addis
Ababa’s Menelik Square in 1973 at a ceremony to commemorate
an early victory against the Italians. Photo by Shemelis Desta (BBC)

By Tseday Alehegn

Chronicles of war and military prowess are plentiful in Ethiopia’s historical literature. Growing up we are effortlessly taught the virtues of honor and duty, which have bestowed sovereignty to generation after generation of Ethiopians. Countless retelling of tales depicting the early and decisive victory at the battle of Adwa remain ever fresh in our proud minds and hearts; the feeling only to be outdone by the resoluteness of heroes who ended the Italian occupation of Ethiopia during the Second World War. Indeed, it is as the 17th century writer Almeida wrote of us: “In war they are reared as children, in war they grow old, or the life of all who are not farmers is war.”

The emphasis on military virtues becomes more palpable when we recognize the unique manner in which Ethiopians chose to fight off their external enemies. From earliest times, both women and men were encouraged to participate in mobilization and preparation efforts. Depicting the atmosphere during the battle of Adwa in 1896, historian G.F. Berkeley observes how the Ethiopian army was not merely organized as a segment of the population, but rather as an entire collective that had integrated the occurrence of war into its normal day-to-day activities. He points out, “It’s not an army [it is] an invasion, the transplanting of the whole people.” No one was left behind. While men served as soldiers they brought along with them their wives who in turn became involved either as civilian participants or as military combatants. What rights, titles, honors men claimed for their valor women were able to do the same.

Females were traditionally not allowed to inherit land unless the father died before the daughter married or there were no sons in the family. However, women would be able to claim property after serving in military mobilization efforts. In an uncommon way, the ability of women to participate on the warfront initiated change to their otherwise lower societal status. Not all participation in war, however, was voluntary as is clearly depicted in the following 19th century edict by the leader Ras Gugsa: “One who does not join the army of Gugsa, man and woman, will lose his genital and her breast respectively.”

Historians have estimated that an average of 20,000 to 30,000 women have participated in the campaign of Adwa alone. While the majority served in non-violent chores such as food preparation and nursing of the wounded, a significant portion served as soldiers, strategists, advisors, translators, and intelligence officers. Women from the aristocracy worked alongside maids and servants thereby breaking norms in class separation.

Female Military Strategists & Combatants:

At a time when women in most parts of the world were relegated to household chores, the number of Ethiopian women in the late 17th century participating in war expeditions against foreign aggressors was on the rise. Whereas most war decrees at this time encouraged all Ethiopians to fight occupation attempts, in 1691 Emperor Iyasu issued one of the first proclamations to curtail the rapid growth of women soldiers. The chronicles report:

“The king had the herald proclaim that the girls of the country must not ride
astride mules, because at this time these girls had adopted the practice of doing
so, tightening the belts of their shirts, covering their heads with their shammas and holding a long spear in their hand..marching in expeditions like men.”

Queen Yodit is one of the earliest-mentioned Ethiopian female leaders who fought spiritedly in battles. She successfully overthrew the powerful Aksumite kingdom, but because many churches and historically important sites were destroyed in the process her reign is infamously described as the dark era. Between 1464 and 1468, under the leadership of King Zere Yaqob, women’s expansion into political positions became more evident. Historian Richard Pankhurst notes how Zere Yaqob “established a women’s administration by appointing his daughters and relatives to key provinces.”

King Zere Yaqob’s wife, Queen Eleni, was an equally formidable and astute military strategist, and was largely responsible for the arrival in 1520 of the Portuguese as one of the first diplomatic missions. Predicting the appetite of Turks in invading Ethiopia’s coastline she proposed a joint attack strategy to the Portuguese leadership against the Egyptians and the Ottoman Turks. Sylvia Pankhurst records her letter to the Portuguese summoning a coalition. Queen Eleni is to have written:

“We have heard that the Sultan of Cairo assembles a great army to attack
your forces…against the assault of such enemies we are prepared to send
a good number of men-at-arms who will give assistance in the sea bound
areas…If you wish to arm a thousand warship we will provide the necessary
food and furnish you with everything for such a force in very great abundance.”

The Turks were soundly defeated. Years later Queen Seble Wongel was able to draw on the help of the Portuguese in defeating Ahmed Gragn’s muslim expansion into Ethiopia. In February 1543 her army fought at the battle of Woina Dega where Gragn succumbed to his death.

Harold Marcus documents Queen Worqitu’s history as the warrior queen who helped Menelik gain his crown. In 1865 Queen Worqitu of Wollo granted Menelik a safe route through her territory as the future monarch successfully escaped from King Tewodros’ prison.

The effect of her support in aiding Menelik to power is recorded in Ethiopia’s ensuing transformation from a ‘land of kings’ to a nation ruled by a ‘king of kings.’

Perhaps the most famous queen involved in military affairs is Empress Taitu, wife of Emperor Menelik II. In the battle of Adwa Empress Taitu is said to have commanded an infantry of no less than 5,000 along with 600 cavalry men and accompanied by thousands of Ethiopian women. Her strategy to cut off the invading Italian army’s water supply led to the weakening of the enemies warfront.

Following her example, Itege Menen avidly participated in battles taking places during the ‘Era of the Princes.’ Fighting against the incursion of the Egyptians, she is said to have had 20,000 soldiers under her command. Likewise, during the Italo-Ethiopian occupation, Princess Romanworq Haile Selassie upheld the tradition of women going to the battlefront and she fought alongside her husband.

Intelligence Officers, Advisors, and Translators:

Intelligence work was key in Ethiopia’s gaining the upper hand against fascist Italy and here too women played a significant role in information gathering. Through the establishment of the Central Committee of ‘Wust Arbegnoch’ (Inner Patriots) women members helped provide soldiers with intelligence information as well as arms, ammunition, food, clothing, and medicine. Sylvia Pankhurst also records how the female patriot Shewa Regged had organized an elite Ethiopian intelligence service to gather more arms while leading the Ethiopian guerilla fighters to the locale of Addis Alem to defeat an Italian fortification. Pankhurst recounts Shewa Regged’s resilience in her biography as follows:

“She was captured by the Italians and tortured by them with electricity to compel her to disclose her accomplices; despite all their cruelties, she preserved silence.”

Queen Taitu’s role as advisor is also well known. In depicting the wariness and foresight of Queen Taitu, historian R. Greenfield records her advise to Emperor Menelik and his cabinet regarding the Italian encroachment. She warns:

“Yield nothing. What you give away today will be a future ladder against your
fortress and tomorrow the Italians will come up it into your domains. If you
must lose lands lose them at least with your strong right arms.”

Her dedication and subsequent victory in preserving Ethiopia’s sovereignty won her the title “Berhane ZeEthiopia” (Light of Ethiopia). Her official seal bore this distinguished title.

In the role of translator, Princess Tsehay Haile Selassie served her country by accompanying the Emperor to the League of Nations and aiding in Ethiopia’s call for support from the International Community. The Plea falling on deaf ears the League soon dissolved as the Italians persisted on invading the last free African stronghold. Plunged into war, Empress Menen is to have asserted “Women of the world unite. Demand with one voice that we may be spared the honor of this useless bloodshed!”

Non-Combatant Efforts:

The role of women in Ethiopian military history will remain largely untold if their work as non-combatants is not recalled. It is in this position that the majority of women of the lower class contributed in strengthening Ethiopia’s defense. While some uplifted the morale of the fighting contingent through popular battle songs and poetry, others labored for the daily nourishment and overall well-being of the soldiers. The record of Ethiopia’s long-standing independence will be incomplete without the recognition of thousands of women servants who accompanied women and menfolk of the aristocracy in battle after battle. Maids and servants were responsible for the gathering and preparation of food and other administrative roles. The traveler and writer James Bruce stresses the diligence of these women during war expeditions. He writes in earnest:

“I know of no country where the female works so hard… seldom resting
till late at night, even at midnight grinding, and frequently up before
cockcrow. Tired from the march, no matter how late, water must be brought,
fuel collected, supper prepared by the soldiers’ wife…and before daylight, with
a huge load, she must march again.”

When not involved in presiding over day-to-day affairs women helped out in the clearing of roads, digging of trenches, and nursing of the wounded. In the same spirit, during the Italo-Ethiopian war, Princess Tsehay Haile Selassie helped mobilize women of all classes in efforts to provide gas masks, clothes, rations and bandages to the civilian population to protect against frequent Italian air raids and mustard gas attacks.

In commemoration of the anniversary of the Battle of Adwa, it is appropriate to recognize the achievements of Ethiopia’s women who helped in the creation of a one-of-a-kind defense system, which has successfully deterred foreign aggression not for a few years, but for thousands.
—

For original referenced-version of this article please click here

Maitre Afewerk Tekle’s Odyssey

Published by tseday June 19th, 2007 in Art and Profiles. 8 Comments

Above: Maitre Afewerk Tekle speaking at Stanford University’s
annual Pioneers Forum organized by the Stanford Ethiopian
Student Union on March 7, 2004. (Photo: Tadias Archive)

Publisher’s Note: It was the first time since the mid-1960’s that Maitre Afewerk Tekle had traveled to the United States to talk about his award-winning artwork. As the featured speaker for the annual Pioneers Forum organized by the Stanford Ethiopian Student Union, Maitre Afewerk shared his personal journey with diverse audience from Stanford and the larger Bay Area Ethiopian-American community on March 7, 2004. Here is our story from Tadias archive.

Cover: June-July 2004

By Tseday Alehegn

Speaking about his life-long dedication to the fine arts, Maitre Afewerk Tekle instills in his audience the importance of using art to inspire people, to uplift nations and to create an optimistic view of life.

“What we do today must reflect today’s life for tomorrow’s generation and pave the way for the future generation,” he asserts with passion and reflection. He teaches us that “art is in every fabric of life.”

Few moments are as electric as when the Most Honorable Maitre Artist World Laureate Afewerk Tekle walks through a crowded auditorium at Stanford University to give an insider’s view of his accomplishments and life adventures. Elegantly clad in the sheer white of the Ethiopian national costume, Maitre Afewerk lets his artistic mind captivate the audience as he takes his red-bordered netela to demonstrate the various ways one can wear it for different public venues, including as a graduation gown. He receives an enthusiastic thunder of applause as he concludes his brief introduction.

Afewerk Tekle at Stanford University on March 7,
2004. (Photo: Tadias Archive)

Afewerk Tekle was born in the town of Ankober in Ethiopia on October 22, 1932. Having grown up in an Ethiopia battling fascist Italian forces, Afewerk was acutely aware of the destruction of war and the need to rebuild his native home. Intent on acquiring skills that would allow him to contribute to Ethiopia’s restoration, the young Afewerk settled on pursuing his studies in mining engineering.

His family and friends, however, had already recognized his inner talent in the arts. Around town he was know for his drawings on walls using stones, and for possessing a curious and ever reflective mind. Despite his natural gravitation to the art world, at the age of 15 Afewerk was chosen to be sent abroad to England to commence his engineering studies.

Maitre Afewerk recalls being summoned by Emperor Haile Selassie to receive last-minute advice prior to his departure.

“To this day I cannot forget his words,” the Maitre says pensively. “The Emperor began by counseling us to study, study, and study.” he told the audience.

“He told us: you must work hard, and when you come back do not tell us what tall buildings you saw in Europe, or what wide streets they have, but make sure you return equipped with the skills and the mindset to rebuild Ethiopia.”

Maitre Afewerk later confides that this sermon rang in his head each time he was tempted to seek the easy life, free from the responsibility of rebuilding his nation and uplifting his people.

As one of the earliest batch of African students admitted to exclusive boarding schools in England, Afewerk faced culture shock and the occasional strife caused by English bullies. Yet he remained steadfast in pursuing his studies. He especially excelled in courses such as mathematics, chemistry and history, but it was not long before his teachers discovered his inner talent for the arts.

With the encouragement of his mentor and his teachers, Afewerk decided to focus on refining his gift and enrolled at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. Upon completion of his studies he was accepted as the first African student at the prestigious Faculty of Fine Arts at Slade (University of London). At Slade, Afewerk focused on painting, sculpture and architecture.

Upon returning to Ethiopia, Maitre Afewerk traveled to every province, staying at each location for a period of up to three months, immersing himself in the study of his surroundings and absorbing Ethiopia’s historical and cultural diversity. He reflected on and pushed himself to become an Ethiopian artist with world recognition.

“I had to study Ethiopian culture,” the Maitre states, “because an important ingredient of a world artist is to have in your artwork the flavor of where you were born.”

He passionately adds, “My art will belong to the world but with African flavor.”

Above all, Maitre Afewerk worked diligently in the hopes of using his artwork as a social medium with which to highlight the history, struggles and beauty of his native home. Although he was educated abroad, he fought against what he called “the futile imitation of other artists’ works, Western or otherwise.’’

With the message of rebuilding Ethiopia still ringing in his ears, Maitre Afewerk quickly decided to relinquish the ministerial post assigned to him upon completion of his university studies, and opted instead to devote his full attention to painting and exhibiting his artwork both at home and abroad.

At age 22, Afewerk Tekle held his first significant one-man exhibition at the Municipality Hall in Addis Ababa in 1954. He followed up his success by conducting an extensive study tour of art in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and Greece, paying particular attention to collections of Ethiopian illustrated manuscripts as well as acquiring skills in stained-glass artwork.

Returning home he was commissioned to create religious art for St. George’s Cathedral. He also worked on some of the first sculptures depicting Ethiopian national heroes. His designs and inspirations were soon printed on stamps and national costumes. Most notably, he conceptualized and designed the elaborate stainedglass window artwork in Africa Hall at the headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

With the income and savings he acquired by selling his artwork Afewerk designed his own 22-room house, studio and gallery, which he nicknamed ‘Villa Alpha’.

By 1964 Maitre Afewerk had held his second successful exhibition, thereafter followed by his first exhibition abroad in Russia, the U.S.A. and Senegal. Touring African nations at a time when Africa was under the yoke of colonialism, Afewerk Tekle used his paintbrush to fight for the dignity and honor of African people.

Focusing on the struggles ensnaring black people, he shared his quest for liberation and equality, naming his artwork with titles such as Backbones of the African Continent, Africa’s Heritage, and African Unity.

“Your brush can be quite stronger than the machine gun,” he says facing his audience. “I wanted to show how you can write Africa through your artwork, what it means to have liberty, to have your fellow humans completely equal.”

The theme of African independence and the interrelationship of African cultures are indelibly etched in Maitre Afewerk’s paintings.

Afewerk Tekle at Stanford University on March 7,
2004. (Photo: Tadias Archive)

Many art critics have tried, time and time again, to label and categorize his work as having either European or African influence, and sometimes even both. However, he tells us that “you should be free and liberated in your thoughts and style. Your art should speak to you in your hidden language.”

Maitre Afewerk notes that 10% of his work is considered religious art while at least 50% echoes Ethiopian influence. But there is room for him to explore and develop his own style that speaks to his inner muse.

Today, Maitre Afewerk’s art is known and celebrated throughout the world, and indeed he has achieved his dream of becoming an Ethiopian artist with world recognition. He has uplifted Ethiopia, and at the same time his art has been infused into the daily life of his community and fellow citizens.

Walking or driving around Addis, it is difficult to miss his current art projects depicting today’s heroes such as world champion runner Haile Gebresellasie. At the bottom corner of the painting there is an Amharic phrase that says it all: Yitchalal! (It’s Possible!).

At the end of his presentation Maitre Afewerk opens a window into his private world as he shares the fact that he always spends time in the private chapel in his home prior to commencing work on a piece of art, and again after it has been completed. To him it is a place of inspiration.

“At the end of the day, my message is quite simple,” he says. “I am not a pessimist, I want people to look at my art and find hope. I want people to feel good about Ethiopia, about Africa, to feel the delicate rays of the sun. And most of all, I want them to think: Yitchalal!

—
Learn more about Afewerk Tekle at maitreafewerktekle.com

Report From the Sheba Film Festival

Published by tseday June 13th, 2007 in Featured. 7 Comments

Above: Historian William Scott (left) & Beejhy Barhany (right),
director of the Beta Israel of North America Cultural Foundation.

By JODY BENJAMIN
Photos by Jeffrey Phipps & Meron Dagnew

NEW YORK – A revealing look at the multi-billion dollar coffee business and the compelling story of how Ethiopia, led by Emperor Menelik II, defeated invading Italians bent on colonization were the main features of the 4th Annual Sheba Film Festival that took place June 9 and 10 in Harlem, New York City.

The festival, which seeks to promote greater awareness of the Beta Israel, or Ethiopian Jews, as well as the history and culture of Ethiopia in general, has been drawing larger audiences each year, said its founder and director Beejhy Barhany.

“We are trying to show more aspects of Ethiopian culture and history,” said Barhany, director of the Beta Israel of North America Cultural Foundation, Inc. which sponsors the festival.

Above: Historian William Scott (left), Beejhy Barhany, director of the Beta
Israel of North America Cultural Foundation, Inc. (middle), Liben Eabisa,
Founder & Publisher of Tadias Magazine (right).

Over the years, Barhany has screened film and videos by and about the Beta Israel community in Israel, Ethiopia, and other places worldwide.

On Saturday night, festival goers saw a preview of a new work in progress by film-maker Avishai Mekonnen, who left Ethiopia for Israel as a child during Operation Moses in 1984.

Mekonnen’s documentary, tentatively titled Judaism and Race, chronicles his journey from Africa to Israel, and finally to the U.S. Along the way, he begins to learn the intimate and inspiring stories of other African, African American, Asian and Latino Jews struggling against invisibility.

“This is so great,’’ said Mekonnen, 33, in speaking about the Sheba festival.

“This festival shows how diverse Africa is. My experience in the US is that most people here don’t understand that. They only know the negative things about Africa — that they are poor, they need money and stuff like that — but nothing about the culture or the positive things.”

On opening night, Barhany served coffee spiced with cinnamon and cloves to movie goers arriving for the screening of Black Gold: Wake Up and Smell the Coffee outside the Faison Firehouse Theater. The documentary follows the manager of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative, Tadesse Meskela, in his efforts to improve living conditions for 74,000 Ethiopian farmers. The worldwide coffee industry, worth $80 billion, according to the filmmakers, is dominated by multinational corporations while farmers and growers in many countries around the world face near starvation. Nowhere is this more true than in Ethiopia, where coffee first originated in the Kaffa region, according to the film-makers.

On Sunday, the festival continued with a re-screening of Adwa by the independent director Haile Gerima, first released in 1999. A diverse audience of about two hundred people attended the free screening in the Langston Hughes Auditorium of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Gerima narrates the film in Amharic with English subtitles. It opens with a dramatic shot of the jagged mountain range that in 1896 was the site of a climactic battle between Emperor Menelik II and Italian forces, with Gerima explaining that he learned the story of Adwa “while sitting at the knee of my father.” It continues by elaborating the story of a conflict that started with a treaty that the Italians tried to make with Menelik that the Emperor rejected because he felt it impinged on Ethiopian sovereignty.

Adwa also portrays the impact the battle had outside Ethiopia, noting its influence on the nascent Pan African movement across the African Diaspora. Gerima flashes photos of the first Pan African Congress and some of the major figures later associated with that movement such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, Kwame Nkrumah and Marcus Garvey.

During a brief panel discussion after the screening, Howard Dodson, director of the Center for Research in Black Culture, said the battle was “one of two critical moments that transformed the consciousness of the African world.” The other was World War I, he said, which sparked the movement of black folks toward decolonization. “No battle had the impact that Adwa had,’’ said Dodson.

Historian William Scott, who has written extensively about the Italo-Ethiopian conflict of the 1930s, pointed out that the earlier battle of Adwa is less known today. At the time, however, its significance was not lost on many African Americans. According to Scott, the battle was mentioned in a popular 1906 play titled ‘Abyssinia’ that starred the legendary vaudeville performer Bert Williams. The scholar W.E.B. DuBois also incorporated elements of the Adwa story into pageants he organized to educate people about the battle against colonialism in Africa, he said.

When Italy invaded the country a second time in 1936, there were large rallies, marches and efforts to raise funds in support of Ethiopia – mostly in black communities across the United States.

“These pivotal points in our history have tended to be forgotten,” said Scott. “But the entire African world raised up in support for the Ethiopian cause. The epicenter of this rising up was right here in Harlem.”

Scott noted that African American awareness of Ethiopia was not new: it stretched back to at least the 18th century and the association enslaved Africans made with the biblical Psalm that “Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hand unto God.”

Picking up on that theme, the third panelist, rabbi Hailu Paris, noted that Ethiopia had long been an important symbol for African American Hebrews. Paris was born in Addis Ababa and adopted by African Americans that had emigrated to Ethiopia but who were forced to flee because of the second Italian attack when he was just a baby. For that reason, he was raised in New York City where he has since become a leading figure among black Hebrews.

He spoke of two early leaders among the Hebrews: rabbis Arnold Ford and Wentworth A. Matthew.

“Because of Marcus Garvey’s predictions and prophecies, Ford and Matthew saw fit to join his movement,’’ said Paris. “Matthew had a church that turned into a synagogue and the beginning of a connection between African Americans and Ethiopians, at least within a religious context, began with these two men.’’

Above: Rabbi Hailu Paris (left), Howard Dodson, director of the Schomburg
Center for Research in Black Culture (middle), Historian William Scott (right).

After the panel discussion, folks lined up in the Schomburg lobby for an Ethiopian snack of injera bread with lentils and a cup of Tej honey wine. Drummers played in the background while people mingled. There was a palpable excitement in the room.

Above: Monica Wiggan (left) & Liben Eabisa (right)

Above: Benniam (NYC), Meron Dagnew, and Mesfin Addi

“I was very, very moved,’’ said Nemo Semret, as he lined up for food. “I really liked the chanting of the warriors and the singing afterwards, which is like a recounting. Just to hear the names of the heroes and what they did and the language with which they were described was inspiring. That is what it is supposed to do, no?”

Other viewers described similar reactions.

“I enjoyed the film immensely for the historical content that was given,’’ said Bakbakkar Yehudah, of Newark. “I wasn’t familiar with this story, so I am pleased to know this history.”

One of the many smiling faces in the crowd belonged to 26 year old Ayda Girma, a graphic designer who volunteered for the festival and who was dressed in traditional Ethiopian clothing.

“I’m not Jewish. I’m not religious in that way,” said Girma, of Brooklyn. “But it is important to encourage and support events like this for Ethiopians and non-Ethiopians that are curious,” she said.

“It was very important to show this film,’’ said Dr. Faye Bennett Moore, of Harlem. “Very few young people have read or envisioned any of this information about Adwa.”

Near the drummers sat two well-known and respected elders of the Harlem community: the Ethiopian-born historian, Yosef ben Jochannan and Mother Kefa Nepthys.

Above: The Ethiopian-born historian Yosef ben Jochannan (left), Jeffrey Phipps
- (middle) and Mother Kefa Nepthys (right).

Asked for a comment on the day’s activities, ben Jochannan said: “It is important that Africans recognize themselves and learn from each other first.”

Mother Kefa said she was particularly pleased with the panel discussion.

“This is a beginning and I hope it will continue and that we’ll get more people to come and view these films and to hear the lectures, which are excellent.”

Sheba Tej: America’s Favorite Ethiopian Honey Wine

Published by tseday May 6th, 2007 in Featured and Profiles. 20 Comments

Above: Sheba Tej Tasting Session at Tsiona Gallery in Harlem, New York

By Tseday Alehegn

In the hamlet of Washingtonville, New York, lies the scenic campus
of Brotherhood Winery, a national historic landmark and America’s oldest
winery, established in 1837. According to the Washingtonville Village
Historian, Edward J. McLaughlin III, the original owner John Jacques “had
planted a vineyard in the rear yard of his lumber business store, shipping
the harvest of grapes to the Isles of Manhattan for 15 cents a pound.”
When the price of grapes fell, Jacques experimented with pressing the fruit
into juice and started producing wine. Subsisting on the sale of sacramental
wine during the prohibition years, Brotherhood Winery continued its
winemaking legacy.

Today Brotherhood Winery is a popular site for tourists, producing a wide assortment of award-wining wines, including Chardonnay, Johannisberg Riesling, Seyval Blanc, Chelois, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir. Under the supervision of Cesar Baeza, an internationally-renowned Chilean winemaster and new owner of Brotherhood Winery, a new dessert wine called Sheba Tej made from pure organic honey is now part of the premium wine list. Although the honey wine may be newly introduced to the Hudson Valley, Ethiopians have known it for centuries as “Tej”.

Brotherhood Winery, a national historic landmark and America’s oldest winery, established in 1837

Tej, or honey wine, is one of the world’s earliest fermented drinks, mentioned in ancient texts and scriptures, and consumed before the time of Christ. Traditionally, in Ethiopia, Tej was prepared primarily by women. In his book A Social History of Ethiopia, Historian Richard Pankhurst writes, “None except nobility and the highest chiefs and warriors were privileged to drink Tej.”

The honey wine’s popularity, all the same, surpassed the environs of the royal courts to be enjoyed by all sectors of ancient and modern Ethiopian society. Tej became a favorite during feasts and celebrations, notably weddings. The unique wine recipe contains no sulfites nor grapes, just pure honey. Legend even has it that Tej was one of the many gifts carried by Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, to Jerusalem’s King Solomon.

Honey wine was also known as mead and enjoyed in other parts of the ancient world. According to S. W. Andrews’ accounts of mead and meadmaking, in classical Greek mythology, the ‘Nectar of the Gods’ was a honey concoction known as Melitites; and the term “honeymoon” refers to the old tradition of newly weds drinking wine and feasting on honey cakes for one lunar month after their marriage, in the hopes that their actions would make their union more fertile.

America’s oldest winery began producing one of the world’s oldest wines after an African American entrepreneur, Ernest McCaleb, met and initiated a joint collaboration with Brotherhood Winery. McCaleb is founder and CEO of Sheba, Inc., a company focusing on the production and distribution of organic Ethiopian honey wine. Prior to founding Sheba, Inc., McCaleb had spent significant time conducting and financing highly successful import/export businesses in Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Cameroon, Gabon and Sierra Leone. His corporate offices were located on Wall Street in New York City and Western Avenue in Lagos, Nigeria, and his import/export financing company generated over $250 million in sales of cement, rice, sugar,and other commodities to governments and major businesses in West Africa.

A chance meeting with an Ethiopian in Paris gave rise to his eventual introduction to Ethiopian honey wine. Having a great passion for Africa, its diversity, traditions, and history, McCaleb continued on his entrepreneurial quest and established Sheba in 2003 with the sole purpose of producing authentic honey wine according to ancient Ethiopian traditions. To that end, he arranged for three generations of Ethiopian women — a mother, her daughter and granddaughter — to travel from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to New York’s Brotherhood Winery to demonstrate how Tej is prepared. Winemaster Baeza studied how this first batch of Sheba Tej was made. The careful end product was a naturally fermented, organic drink with a pleasing golden yellow hue — an ancient, spicy, semi-dry, full-bodied wine. The aroma of honey and wild flower permeated the air, and the Tej was joyously tasted by Baeza and the employees of Brotherhood Winery in conjunction with a hearty meal of Injera and Wot prepared by the three Ethiopian women.

Since then, Sheba Tej, produced at Brotherhood Winery has won awards at international honey wine festivals, and is distributed in many stores across the U.S. and the Caribbean. “Since I’ve begun doing this,” McCaleb says, “I’ve learned more about this rich history, and as I give tasting sessions I have become even more inspired. This is beyond the commercial success. It’s about pride and heritage, which those women taught us when they came to Brotherhood Winery.”

Above: Ernest McCaleb, Founder & CEO of Sheba, Inc.

The nutritional benefits and health promoting agents in honey itself are to be marveled. Honey, when stored properly, can remain edible for centuries, having almost no expiration date. According to a recent study conducted by Gross Market Research for the National Honey Board, four out of five households in America use honey in various capacities — as a sweetener, source of carbohydrate, anti-oxidant, skin cleanser, and even as an antiseptic to heal burns and wounds. Pure honey contains several important vitamins, including Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Folate, Vitamin B-6, and Vitamin C. Numerous essential minerals, such as Calcium, Iron, Zinc, Potassium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Selenium, Copper, and Manganese, are also contained in honey. Honey continues to be used to alleviate symptoms of allergies, anemia and several chronic diseases, including asthma and high blood pressure.

Sheba Tej — prepared from pure, organic honey and preserved without the use of sulfites — retains the nutritional qualities of honey while at the same time making for an excellent wine with meals, or alone as an aperitif.

By producing and introducing Sheba Tej to the world, McCaleb and Brotherhood Winery are not only sharing in Ethiopia’s rich heritage but also fusing together the oldest tradition of winemaking in America with the ancient culture of preparing honey wine in Ethiopia. Their efforts have strengthened American and Ethiopian ties and, in the process, brought the famous ‘Nectar of the Gods’ to your dining table.

So uncork a bottle of Sheba Tej, pour generously into your cups, raise them, and proclaim the traditional Ethiopian toast, “Le tenachin!” To our health!

——————
About the Author:

Tseday Alehegn is the Editor-in-Chief of Tadias Magazine. Tseday is a graduate of Stanford University (both B.A. & M.A.). In addition to her responsibilities at Tadias, she is also a Doctoral student at Columbia University.
——
If you would like to be considered as a potential distributor of Sheba Tej in your state, or would like to carry Sheba Tej in your restaurant, call 646.920.3211.

Art Exhibitions to Commemorate the Ethiopian Millennium, Harlem

Published by tseday April 23rd, 2007 in Featured and News. 5 Comments

The inaugural show for Addis Heights millennium arts exhibition series featured 23-year-old Helina Metaferia, a U.S.-born Ethiopian-American artist from Washington, D.C.

Here are images from the opening hosted by Addis Heights Lidjoch Org. The project is sponsored by Tadias Magazine and Africalling.com.

Photos by Gideon Belete
City: Harlem, New York
Event Name: Opening of Addis Heights Millennium Art Exhibition Series
Featured Artist: Helina Metaferia
Show Title: Finding Womban – An Exploration of femininity through painting.
Host: Addis Heights Lidjoch Org.
Venue: OC West
Address: 11 Edward M. Morgan Place (157 & Broadway)
Date: Saturday, April 21, 2007

Send your hot shots to hotshots@tadias.com

Above: Featured Artist Helina Metaferia (left) and writer Andrea Bostan. Photo by Angelica.

Above: Featured Artist Helina Metaferia (left) and Leah Abraha (right).

Above: Leah Abraha

Above: Enjoying spring weather outside OC West

Above: Helina Metaferia and friend

Above: Hilawe Girma

Above: Adebola Osakwe, owner of OC.

Above: Helina’s parents

Above: Tizita Fekredengel

Above: Helina’s parents

Above: From left – Actor Freedome Bradley, Africalling’s Gideon Belete, and John

Above: From left – Tizita , Liben Eabisa, and Eleni.

Above: Joelle Dussek (Production & Events Consultant), on the back ground – Kidane Mariam (Ethio-Cuban Cinematographer)

Above: Ayele

Above: Esabel

Above: Liben Eabisa and Helina Metaferia

Above: From left – Freedome Bradley, Nemo Semret and Liben Eabisa

Above: Helina Metaferia (left) and Leah Abraha

Above: From left – Freedom Bradley, Gideon Belete, John and Nemo Semret

Above: Part of the proceeds from the sale of the book Abyssinia of Today (Robert P. Skinner’s memoir, a narrative of the first American diplomatic mission to black Africa), helps to pay part of the production cost for the Millennium Art Exhibition Series.

Above: Gideon Belete.

Above: Kidane Mariam (Ethio-Cuban Cinematographer)

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Bridging Cultures Through Art: A Harlem Moment with Tesfaye Tessema
Published by tseday April 18th, 2007 in Art. 6 Comments

Above: Tseday Alehegn during her walks through Harlem with Tesfaye Tessema

By Tseday Alehegn

Before arriving at Artist Tesfaye’s studio in Harlem, his home of twenty years, we took a tour of historic areas where Ethiopian and African-American ties runs deep and undisturbed. We traversed slowly and observantly across Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard, named after the fiery pastor of Harlem’s legendary Abyssinian Baptist Church, and walked through African Square, lined with colorful West African vendors and stores. Continuing our promenade towards Lenox Avenue, we spotted an Ethiopian-owned cafe called Settepani, a popular hangout for Harlem’s young elite. As we strolled by Jackie Robinson’s Park, a young African American man, recognizing our Ethiopian ancestry, smiled and greeted us with a hearty Tenayistelegn!

Above: Top left, Jackie Robinson’s Park; Middle Right, Harlem’s legendary Abyssinian Baptist Church. Photos by Tseday Alehegn

Walking through Harlem with Tess (as he is known in Harlem), two things become quickly evident: The first being that this neighborhood has, as the artist tells us, “a feeling of home.” And the latter, that his love for this community fuels his art.

Above: Tesfaye Tessema in Brooklyn, New York. Photo by Liben Eabisa

One of his recent exhibitions at Skoto Gallery in New York (one of the first galleries to specialize in contemporary African Art in the United States), was entitled Addis Improvisations: Art from Harlem. This series is an afrocentric, jazzy-expression of joint heritage.

Above: Left, Addis Improvisation III, 2004, acrylic on canvas, 72×54 inches. Right, Addis Improvisation I, 2004, acrylic on canvas, 72″x39″. Photos courtesy of Skoto Gallery.

Tesfaye’s journey to Harlem can be traced back to his early high school days, when he was a student at Menelik High School in Addis Ababa. On one particular day, his class was excused and students were asked to attend a special gathering at the National Theatre. “We were told that an important person from Harlem had arrived, and we saw several men dressed in fancy suits setting up their musical instruments on stage. Their leader was called Duke Ellington,” he recalls. The young Tesfaye was mesmerized as the concert began with Ellington’s famous “A-Train” composition. This extraordinary opportunity to listen to Ellington play jazz remained etched in Tesfaye’s mind, his first introduction to jazz and to Harlem.

Many years later, after arriving in Washington, D.C. to pursue a Masters of Fine Arts at
Howard University, he developed lasting friendships within the African-American community, and rekindled his passion for Harlem. After completing his art studies, Tesfaye moved to Harlem. He now lives in the same building where Duke Ellington once resided. “I feel at home here,” he says. “I tell my African-American friends that, just as they look for their roots, I search for my branches. Together we form a tree.”

Harlem, and jazz in particular, have profoundly impacted Tesfaye’s art. Speaking about his career as an artist, he says, “My art lately is an improvisation. I consider myself a jazz painter. I play jazz with my brush.”

Above: Left, 155th/Amsterdam Avenue II, 2003, acrylic on canvas, 24″x16″. Right, Addis Improvisation V, 2004, acrylic on canvas, 72″x54″. Photos courtesy of Skoto Gallery.

Art itself had also been an integral part of Tesfaye’s childhood experience. “I’ve known art since I knew myself,” he says. “While other children played together, I grew up in a household with no other children, so art became my game. I played art. I drew on walls with charcoal, and I looked around for natural objects to create color – green from leaves and yellow from mustard,” he shares. “Whenever I accompanied my mother to church, I used to stare at the paintings on the walls during prayers. To me, this art was able to express spiritual concepts that are not as easily expressed through words.” After attending Menelik school, Tesfaye longed to enter the National Fine Arts School — conveniently located right next door. He was accepted and commenced formal studies in art there before going on to pursue graduate studies at Howard.

Tesfaye Tessema is not only a master painter but also a master print maker and a muralist. He also uses etching, lithography, and mixed media. His art has been collected by prestigious institutions, such as the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the United Nations in New York City. Alongside the works of famous African-American artists such as Romare Bearden, Tesfaye Tessema’s paintings are prominently featured in the Schomburg Center’s publication Black New York Artists of the 20th Century. The United Nations transformed one of his paintings into a stamp that raised over $300,000 for famine relief in Ethiopia. He was also commissioned to paint a mural by the Museum of African Arts (the Smithsonian) on Capitol Hill. Tesfaye stands as one of the only contemporary Ethiopian artists to display his artwork at established institutions like the Guggenheim Museum in New York. His art has been exhibited at various universities throughout the U.S. as well as internationally in France,Germany, England, Japan, and many other countries.

Above: Addis Improvisation IV, 2004, acrylic on canvas, 56″x54″. Photo courtesy of Skoto Gallery.

Throughout his career, Tesfaye has emphasized his appreciation for public art. “I think people have the right to claim my art,” he says, seeing art as his service to individuals and contribution to the public in general. He uses the sights and sounds of his two communities, Ethiopian and African-American, to make art that positively reinforces their harmony.

“I would really like the world to know that all of us are artists,” he says. “There are no special people made to be artists. What comes out on the canvas is what we’ve all taken in from our environment, expressed through our own personal interpretation.”

A Harlem moment with Tesfaye teaches us to appreciate not only the art but also the artist.

———————–
About the Author:

Tseday Alehegn is the Editor-in-Chief of Tadias Magazine. Tseday is a graduate of Stanford University (both B.A. & M.A.). In addition to her responsibilities at Tadias, she is also a Doctoral student at Columbia University.

Hot Shots from Tadias Magazine 12th Issue Release Party @ Tsinoa Gallery in Harlem, New York
Published by tseday April 2nd, 2007 in News. 0 Comments

Above – Left: Sirak Sabahat (Ethiopian-Israeli Actor), Middle: Liben Eabisa (Founder & Publisher of Tadias), Right: Mesfin Addi (Founder of Akukulu Academy)

Photos by Teseday Alehegn
Event Name: Tadias Magazine 12th Issue Release Party
City: Harlem, New York
Venue: Tsiona Gallery
Hosts: Linda & Yohannes with Tadias Magazine

Email your hot shots to hotshots@tadias.com

Above – Left: Meron Tesfa Michael & friend, Tony Kassa, Henock Temesgen, Right: Mesfin Addi and friends

Above – Left: Mesfin Addi & Ernest McCaleb, Right: Fekade Mengistu & Henock Temesgen

Above – Left: Adam Saunders & Lydia Gobena, Middle: Italian Photographer Paulo Toby & friend, Right: Ethiopian-Israeli Actor Sirak Sabahat

Above – Left: Peggy Williams & Ernest McCaleb (Founder & CEO of Sheba Tej), Right: Nathan, Aster Yilma and Linda (Tsiona Gallery)

View more hot shots here.

Click here for events near your city or visit Liben’s Events List at www.libenslist.com

African American & Ethiopian Relations
Published by tseday April 20th, 2006 in History. 17 Comments

Above: Commandment Keepers Synagogue in Harlem, NYC.
Photography by Chester Higgins. ©chesterhiggins.com

By Tseday Alehegn

Ethiopia, also called Yaltopya, Cush, and Abyssinia, stands as the oldest, continuous, black civilization on earth, and the second oldest civilization in history after China. This home of mine has been immortalized in fables, legends, and epics. Homer’s Illiad, Aristotle’s A Treatise on Government, Miguel Cervante’s Don Quixote, the Bible, the Koran, and the Torah are but a few potent examples of Ethiopia’s popularity in literature. But it is in studying the historical relations between African Americans and Ethiopians that I came to understand ‘ Ethiopia’ as a ray of light. Like the sun, Ethiopia has spread its beams on black nations across the globe. Her history is carefully preserved in dust-ridden books, in library corners and research centers. Her beauty is caught by a photographer’s discerning eye, her spirituality revived by priests and preachers. Ultimately, however, it is the oral journals of our elders that helped me capture glitters of wisdom that would palliate my thirst for a panoptic and definitive knowledge.

The term ‘Ethiopian’ has been used in a myriad of ways; it is attributed to the indigenous inhabitants of the land located in the Eastern Horn of Africa, as well as more generally denotive of individuals of African descent. Indeed, at one time, the body of water now known as the Atlantic Ocean was known as the Ethiopian Ocean. And it was across this very ocean that the ancestors of African Americans were brought to America and the ‘ New World.’

Early African American Writers

Although physically separated from their ancestral homeland and amidst the opprobrious shackles of slavery, African American poets, writers, abolitionists, and politicians persisted in forging a collective identity, seeking to link themselves figuratively if not literally to the African continent. One of the first published African American writers, Phillis Wheatly, sought refuge in referring to herself as an “Ethiop”. Wheatley, an outspoken poet, was also one of the earliest voices of the anti-slavery movement, and often wrote to newspapers of her passion for freedom. She eloquently asserted, “In every human breast God has implanted a principle, it is impatient of oppression.” In 1834 another anti-slavery poet, William Stanley Roscoe, published his poem “The Ethiop” recounting the tale of an African fighter ending the reign of slavery in the Caribbean. Paul Dunbar’s notable “Ode to Ethiopia,” published in 1896, was eventually put to music by William Grant Still and performed in 1930 by the Afro-American Symphony. In his fiery anti-slavery speech entitled “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” prominent black leader Frederick Douglas blazed at his opponents, “Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand unto God.”

First Ethiopians Travel to America

As African Americans fixed their gaze on Ethiopia, Ethiopians also traveled to the ‘New World’ and learned of the African presence in the Americas. In 1808 merchants from Ethiopia arrived at New York’s famous Wall Street. While attempting to attend church services at the First Baptist Church of New York, the Ethiopian merchants, along with their African American colleagues, experienced the ongoing routine of racial discrimination. As an act of defiance against segregation in a house of worship, African Americans and Ethiopians organized their own church on Worth Street in Lower Manhattan and named it Abyssinia Baptist Church. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. served as the first preacher, and new building was later purchased on Waverly Place in the West Village before the church was moved to its current location in Harlem. Scholar Fikru Negash Gebrekidan likewise notes that, along with such literal acts of rebellion, anti slavery leaders Robert Alexander Young and David Walker published pamphlets entitled Ethiopian Manifesto and Appeal in 1829 in an effort to galvanize blacks to rise against their slave masters.

Above: Reverend Calvin Butts.
©chesterhiggins.com

Adwa Victory &‘Back to Africa’ Movement

When Italian colonialists encroached on Ethiopian territory and were soundly defeated in the Battle of Adwa on March 1, 1896, it became the first African victory over a European colonial power, and the victory resounded loud and clear among compatriots of the black diaspora. “For the oppressed masses Adwa…would become a cause célèbre,” writes Gebrekidan, “a metaphor for racial pride and anti-colonial defiance, living proof that skin color or hair texture bore no significance on intellect and character.” Soon, African Americans and blacks from the Caribbean Islands began to make their way to Abyssinia. In 1903, accompanied by Haitian poet and traveler Benito Sylvain, an affluent African American business magnate by the name of William Henry Ellis arrived in Ethiopia to greet and make acquaintances with Emperor Menelik. A prominent physician from the West Indies, Dr. Joseph Vitalien, also journeyed to Ethiopia and eventually became the Emperor’ trusted personal physician.

For black America, the early 1900s was a time consumed with the notion of “returning to Africa,” to the source. With physical proof of the beginnings of colonial demise, a charismatic and savvy Jamaican immigrant and businessman named Marcus Garvey established his grassroots organization in 1917 under the title United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) with branches in various states. Using the success of Ethiopia’s independence as a beacon of freedom for blacks residing in the Americas, Garvey envisioned a shipping business that would raise enough money and register members to volunteer to be repatriated to Africa. In a few years time, Garvey’s UNIA raised approximately ten million dollars and boasted an impressive membership of half a million individuals.

Notable civil rights leader Malcolm X began his autobiography by mentioning his father, Reverend Earl Little, as a staunch supporter of the UNIA. “It was only me that he sometimes took with him to the Garvey U.N.I.A. meetings which he held quietly in different people’s homes,” says Malcolm. “I can remember hearing of ‘ Africa for the Africans,’ ‘Ethiopians, Awake!’” Malcolm’s early association with Garvey’s pan-African message resonated with him as he schooled himself in reading, writing, and history. “I can remember accurately the very first set of books that really impressed me,” Malcolm professes, “J.A. Rogers’ three volumes told about Aesop being a black man who told fables; about the great Coptic Christian Empires; about Ethiopia, the earth’s oldest continuous black civilization.”

By the time the Ethiopian government had decided to send its first official diplomatic mission to the United States, Marcus Garvey had already emblazoned an image of Ethiopia into the minds and hearts of his African American supporters. “I see a great ray of light and the bursting of a mighty political cloud which will bring you complete freedom,” he promised them, and they in turn eagerly propagated his message.

The Harlem Renaissance & Emigrating to Ethiopia

In 1919 an official Ethiopian goodwill mission was sent to the United States, the first African delegation of diplomats, in hopes of creating amicable ties with the American people and government. The four-person delegation included Dadjazmatch Nadou, Ato Belanghetta Herouy Wolde Selassie, Kantiba Gabrou, and Ato Sinkas. Having been acquainted with African Americans such as businessman William Ellis, Kantiba Gabrou, the mayor of Gondar, made a formal appeal during his trip for African Americans to emigrate to Ethiopia. Arnold Josiah Ford, a Harlem resident from Barbados, had an opportunity to meet the 1919 Ethiopian delegation. Having already heard of the existence of black Jews in Ethiopia, Ford established his own synagogue for the black community soon after meeting the Ethiopian delegation. Along with a Nigerian-born bishop named Arthur Wentworth Matthews, Ford created the Commandment Keepers Church on 123rd Street in Harlem and taught the congregation about the existence of black Jews in Ethiopia. Meanwhile, in the international spotlight, 1919 was the year the League of Nations was created, of which Ethiopia became the first member from the African continent.The mid 1900s gave birth to the Harlem Renaissance. With many African Americans migrating to the north in search of a segregation-free life, and a large contention of black writers, actors, artists and singers gathering in places like Harlem, a new culture of black artistic expression thrived. Even so, the Harlem Renaissance was more than just a time of literary discussions and hot jazz; it represented a confluence of creativity summoning forth the humanity and pride of blacks in America – a counterculture subverting the grain of thought ‘separate and unequal.’

Above: Commandment Keepers Synagogue. ©chesterhiggins.com

As in earlier times, the terms ‘Ethiopian’ and ‘Ethiop’ continued to be utilized by Harlem writers and poets to instill black pride. In other U.S. cities like Chicago, actors calling themselves the ‘National Ethiopian Art Players’ performed The Chip Woman’s Fortune by Willis Richardson, the first serious play by a black writer to hit Broadway.

In 1927, Ethiopia’s Ambassador to London, Azaj Workneh Martin, arrived in New York and appealed once again for African American professionals to emigrate and work in Ethiopia. In return they were promised free land and high wages. In 1931 the Emperor granted eight hundred acres for settlement by African Americans, and Arnold Josiah Ford, bishop of the Commandment Keepers Church, became one of the first to accept the invitation. Along with sixty-six other individuals, Ford emigrated and started life anew in Ethiopia.

Ethiopian Students in America: Mobilizing Support

In November 1930, Taffari Makonnen was coronated as Emperor of Ethiopia. The event blared on radios, and Harlemites heard and marveled at the ceremonies of a black king. The emperor’s face glossed the cover of Time Magazine, which remarked on “negro newsorgans” in America hailing the king “as their own.” African American pilot Hubert Julian, dubbed “The Black Eagle of Harlem,” had visited Ethiopia and attended the coronation. Describing the momentous occasion to Time Magazine, Hubert rhapsodized:

“When I arrived in Ethiopia the King was glad to see me… I took off with a French pilot… We climbed to 5,000 ft. as 50,000 people cheered, and then I jumped out and tugged open my parachute… I floated down to within 40 ft. of the King, who incidentally is the greatest of all modern rulers… He rushed up and pinned the highest medal given in that country on my breast, made me a colonel and the leader of his air force — and here I am!”

Joel Augustus Rogers, famed author and correspondent for New York’s black newspaper Amsterdam News, also covered the Coronation of Haile Selassie and was likewise presented with a coronation medal.

After his official coronation, Emperor Haile Selassie sent forth the first wave of Ethiopian students to continue their education abroad. Melaku Beyan was a member of the primary batch of students sent to America in the 1930s. He attended Ohio State University and later received his medical degree at Howard Medical School in Washington, D.C. During his schooling years at Howard, he forged lasting friendships with members of the black community and, at Emperor Haile Selassie’s request, he endeavored to enlist African American professionals to work in Ethiopia. Beyan was successful in recruiting several individuals, including teachers Joseph Hall and William Jackson, as well as physicians Dr. John West and Dr. Reuben S. Young, the latter of whom began a private practice in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, prior to his official assignment as a municipal health officer in Dire Dawa, Harar.

Italo-Ethiopian War 1935-1941

By the mid 1930s the Emperor had sent a second diplomatic mission to the U.S. Vexed at Italy’s consistently aggressive behavior towards his nation, Haile Selassie attempted to forge stronger ties with America. Despite being a member of the League of Nations, Italy disregarded international law and invaded Ethiopia in 1935. The Ethiopian government appealed for support at the League of Nations and elsewhere, through representatives such as the young, charismatic speaker Melaku Beyan in the United States. Beyan had married an African American activist, Dorothy Hadley, and together they created a newspaper called Voice of Ethiopia to simultaneously denounce Jim Crow in America and fascist invasion in Ethiopia. Joel Rogers, the correspondent who had previously attended the Emperor’s coronation, returned to Ethiopia as a war correspondent for The Pittsburgh Courier, then America’s most widely-circulated black newspaper. Upon returning to the United States a year later, he published a pamphlet entitled The Real Facts About Ethiopia, a scathing and uncompromising report on the destruction caused by Italian troops in Ethiopia. Melaku Beyan used the pamphlet in his speaking tours, while his wife Dorothy designed and passed out pins that read “Save Ethiopia.”

In Harlem, Chicago, and various other cities African American churches urged their members to speak out against the invasion. Beyan established at least 28 branches of the newly-formed Ethiopian World Federation, an organ of resistance calling on Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia throughout the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean. News of Ethiopia’s plight fueled indignation and furious debates among African Americans. Touched by the Emperor’s speech at the League of Nations, Roger’s accounts, and Melaku’s impassioned message, blacks vowed to support Ethiopia. Still others wrote letters to Haile Selassie, some giving advice, others support and commentary. “I pray that you will deliver yourself from crucifixion,” wrote one black woman from Los Angeles, “and show the whites that they are not as civilized as they loudly assert themselves to be.”

Although the United States was not officially in support of Ethiopia, scores of African Americans attempted to enlist to fight in Ethiopia. Unable to legally succeed on this front, several individuals traveled to Ethiopia on ‘humanitarian’ grounds. Author Gail Lumet Buckley cites two African American pilots, John Robinson and the ‘Black Eagle of Harlem’ Hubert Julian, who joined the Ethiopian Air Corps, then made up of only three non-combat planes. John Robinson, a member of the first group of black students that entered Curtis Wright Flight School, flew his plane delivering medical supplies to different towns across the country. Blacks in America continued to stand behind the Emperor and organized medical supply drives from New York’s Harlem Hospital. Melaku Beyan and his African American counterparts remained undeterred for the remainder of Ethiopia’s struggle against colonization. In 1940, a year before Ethiopia’s victory against Italy, Melaku Beyan succumbed to pneumonia, which he had caught while walking door-to-door in the peak of winter, speaking boldly about the war for freedom in Ethiopia.

Lasting Legacies: Ties That Bind

Traveling through Harlem in my mind’s eye, I see the mighty organs of resistance that played such a pivotal role in “keeping aloft” the banner of Ethiopia and fostering deep friendships among blacks in Africa and America. I envision the doors Melaku Beyan knocked on as he passed out pamphlets; the pulpits on street corners where Malcolm X stood preaching about the strength and beauty of black people, fired up by the history he read. The Abyssinia Baptist Church stands today bigger and bolder, and inside you find the most exquisite Ethiopian cross, a gift from the late Emperor to the people of Harlem and a symbol of love and gratitude for their support and friendship.

Above: Emperor Haile Selassie,
Reverened Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.,
on May 27, 1954.

Several Coptic churches line the streets of Harlem, and the ancient synagogue of the Commandment Keepers established by Arnold Ford continues to have Sabbath services. The offices of the Amsterdam News are still as busy as ever, recording and recounting the past and present state of black struggles. Over the years, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture has carefully preserved the photographic proofs of the ties that bind African Americans and Ethiopians, just in case the stories told are too magical to grasp.The name ‘Ethiopia’ conjures a kaleidoscope of images and verbs. In researching the historical relations between African Americans and Ethiopians, I learned that Ethiopia is synonymous with ‘freedom,’ ‘black dignity’ and ‘self-worth.’ In the process, I looked to my elders and heeded the wisdom they have to share. In his message to the grassroots of Detroit, Michigan, Malcolm X once asserted, “Of all our studies, history is best qualified to reward our research.” It is this kernel of truth that propelled me to share this rich history in celebration of Black History Month and the victory of Adwa.

In attempting to understand what Ethiopia really means, I turn to Ethiopia’s Poet Laureate Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin. “The Ethiopia of rich history is the heart of Africa’s civilization,” he said. “She is the greatest example of Africa’s pride. Ethiopia means peace. The word ‘ Ethiopia’ emanates from a connection of three old black Egyptian words, Et, Op and Bia, meaning truth and peace, up and upper, country and land. Et-Op-Bia is land of upper truth or land of higher peace.”

This is my all-time, favorite definition of Ethiopia, because it brings us back to our indigenous African roots: The same roots that African Americans and black people in the diaspora have searched for; the same roots from which we have sprung and grown into individuals rich in confidence. Welcome to blackness. Welcome to Ethiopia!

About the Author:

Tseday Alehegn is the Editor-in-Chief of Tadias Magazine. Tseday is a graduate of Stanford University (both B.A. & M.A.). In addition to her responsibilities at Tadias, she is also a Doctoral student at Columbia University.

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