Press
Remarks by US Ambassador to Ethiopia Michael Raynor at Girma Yifrashe’s “Bridging Cultures Concert,” Addis Abba
January 30, 2020
…What makes Girma such a compelling artist is not only that he’s a virtuoso pianist, but that he puts his virtuosity to the service of blending classical and Ethiopian music, and to building bridges between people through shared and transcendent musical experiences. Girma has performed and promoted Ethiopian and classical music, including his own compositions, throughout the African continent and worldwide, with recent tours to Egypt, Mozambique, South Africa, Italy, Germany, and the United States.
Tonight we’re thrilled that he’s here with all of us, in our shared home of Addis Ababa, to perform a program called “Bridging Cultures.” Girma will not only feature his own compositions this evening, but will generously share the spotlight with an important but somewhat forgotten American composer, whose work is undergoing a bit of a rediscovery thanks, in large part, to Girma…
EthioFidel.com
“An Interview with Girma Yifrashewa”
July 31, 2017
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. Girma was born and raised in Addis Ababa. He started music by playing the one string Ethiopian music instrument, Kirar until he shifted to piano which he mastered at later age. He received masters degree in piano in Italy and thought Piano at Yared Music University in Addis Ababa. Yifrashewa is a well respected name in the classic music industry and has been invited to tour in several countries promoting Ethiopian classic music. His recent tour brought him to Canada. I interviewed Girma for my column, “Five Questions with Johnny.”
Addis Standard
“A Classical Pianist Giant Meets His Match”
November 23, 2016
….On his night at the Sheraton Girma honored Sergeant Shewandagne by inviting him to his concert and introducing him to the audience. Girma also donated a classical music score of “To the Master” to Yared School of Music of the Addis Abeba University. He also delivered three more scores, which were dedicated to renowned Ethiopian musicians and poets, to the music school. “This is a big triumph for me,” Girma shared his feelings with Addis Standard.
Girma’s donation to Yared School of Music was personal. It was where he was first introduced to the piano at the age 16. The school‘s contribution to the Ethiopian music industry continued until today (it brought up another internationally acclaimed pianist, Samuel Yirga, for example). But Girma’s donation of a classical music score to the School is rare, making it only next to the late Professor Ashenafi Kebede, who is known for his classic “The Shepherd with the Flute”, a piece beautifully re-played by Girma and is included in his new album.
“For non-musicians or people who do not go through this tradition, this may not be easily understood but it is like someone who has written a book, published it and at the end gives it to the public,” musician Yonas Gorfe said explaining the significance of handing over music scores.
The existence of such scores will pave the way for Yonas and Berhanu Degafe’s wish to come true: they want to see Girma performing with a symphony orchestra that comprises as many as a hundred or more musicians.
The Irish Times
“An International African success story made possible by The Christian Brothers
June 20, 2015
This is the story of an internationally acclaimed classical pianist from Africa whose career was made possible by the timely intervention of the Irish Christian Brothers in Rome. It is such stuff as films are made of…
Chicago Reader
“Pianist Girma Yifrashewa brings a touch of European classical music to Ethiopian traditions”
December 15,2014
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. All of their work employs a pinched pentatonic scale, giving the music its otherworldly quality to western ears. The young pianist Girma Yifrashewa is on to something totally different, following the path laid out by the Ethiopian nun and fellow pianist Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Gebrou, who developed a distinctive sound and repertoire that borrowed its touch from European classical music and its rolling energy from the blues while retaining a distinctly native melodic feel. Yifrashewa's repertoire includes works by Chopin, Schumann, Debussy, and Mozart, but it's his own compositions that are truly riveting…
Textura
Love & Peace Review
July 2014
A thoroughly engaging set of five solo piano settings the Ethiopian composer recorded on June 9, 2013 in Brooklyn, NY, the forty-one-minute recording opens with the aforementioned “The Shepherd With the Flute.” Alternating between atmospheric introspection and stately extravagance, the lilting piece finds the composer expertly adjusting the tempo to fit the mood, his runs executed elegantly and often trilling in bird song-like manner. The Impressionist dimension in his music moves to the fore during the particularly dream-like passages within “Elilta,” its title a reference to a vocal custom by which Ethiopians express deep joy during celebratory occasions. Blues and jazz are also clearly part of the rich well from which Yifrashewa drinks, as “Chewata” memorably reveals. At disc's end, Yifrashewa performs “Ambassel,” named after a mountain in the northern part of Ethiopia plus the name for one of the four Ethiopian music scales, in a way that suggests an humble appreciation and admiration for the majesty of nature.
The New York Times
"From Chopin to Ethiopia, and Partway Back Again”
June 9, 2013
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).
When Mr. Yifrashewa played his own works during the second half, you heard echoes of what had come before. Debussy (and Ravel) resounded in “The Shepherd With the Flute,” a white-keys reverie based on a popular folk song. Chopin’s monotone patter and filigree detailing recurred in “Ambassel,” inspired by an Ethiopian mountain.
“Chewata,” meant to evoke an Ethiopian custom of making merry even at times of sadness, had the spirited roll of gospel music. That sensation became even more emphatic in “Sememen,” a rumbling, surging work employing a traditional mode associated with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Mr. Yifrashewa ended his program with “Elilta,” named for the cheery ululation with which Ethiopians greet joyful occasions and filled with tingling trills that imitated that sound.