Musical journey: lessons begin after piano finally arrives in Ethiopia
Girma Yifrashewa will never forget the exhilaration of receiving his own piano. It was a surprise gift – and a mammoth task to have it shipped to..
US Ambassador’s Remarks at “Bridging Cultures Concert”
It’s a great pleasure to join you for a wonderful night of music. Let me start by saying how pleased and grateful the United States Embassy is to be side-by-side with three wonderful co-sponsors in hosting tonight’s event. Ethiopian Airlines, the Skylight Hotel, and ArtsTV have all been fantastic partners, and this evening wouldn’t have been possible without their support.
An Interview with Girma Yifrashewa
Sitting on a comfy couch at the classy Blue Nile Ethiopian Restaurant in Toronto, Pianist Girma Yifrashewa greets fans . While flickering his eyes to the side some times to watch the projected video of his own music, Girma attentively listens to every one at the table. That was a small farewell gathering for the Ethiopian classic music genius Girma Yifrashewa in Toronto . As he was flanked by his fellow music legends Martha Ashagari and Fantahun Shewankochew, Girma displayed a persona that resonates his type of music, classic .
A Classical Pianist Giant Meets His Match
The organizers of the event, Lime Events and Designs, had no illusion that this would be the case. “We knew that regular music goers will not attend a piano concert,” Lina Kelifa, Managing Director at Lime Events and Designs, told Addis Standard. “Our targeted audiences were the admirers of Girma’s works and the diplomatic community.”
An African Success Story by The Christian Brothers
‘I’ve become someone, from nowhere, through people with big hearts’
Girma: Bridging European Classical and Ethiopian Traditions
When most folks think of Ethiopian music they hear the slithering soul-funk sounds created by artists like Mahmoud Ahmed or Tilahun Gessesse—killer singers who delivered Amharic-language jams with raspy finesse and earthy grunts—and the so-called Ethio-jazz of the keyboardist and vibist Mulatu Astatke.
Love & Peace Review
The release preceding Love and Peace on Unseen Worlds was Lubomyr Melnyk's 2013 set Three Solo Pieces, but Girma Yifrashewa and Melnyk share little aside from being solo piano players. More precisely, Yifrashewa's melodic and folk-influenced approach feels worlds removed from the dazzling blizzard that is Melnyk's Continuous Music, something Love and Peace, the first release of Yifrashewa's music to appear outside of Africa, makes clear.
From Chopin to Ethiopia, and Partway Back Again
Opening a group of Chopin works, Mr. Yifrashewa was airy and unfussy in the Waltz in C-sharp minor (Op. 64, No. 2). He balanced sweetness and obsessive tension in the “Raindrop” Prelude (Op. 28, No. 15) and closed with a sensibly paced, handsomely characterized Fantaisie Impromptu (Op. 66).