Notes from Ethiopia: the jazz revival in Addis Ababa

I’m submerged in a heaving, sweaty mass of bodies, all singing, dancing, clapping along to the mesmeric crooning of Alemayehu Eshete – the man known as the Ethiopian Elvis. It’s Saturday night and I’m sharing limited oxygen with Addis Ababa’s great and good at Mama’s Kitchen, a wood-and-glass bar on the fourth floor of an innocuous shopping mall near Bole airport. Eshete, a shining star of the 1960s Ethiopian music scene, conducts the revelry in local Amharic tones as his band deliver a hypnotic mix of funky jazz, rockabilly and the swinging scales of traditional Ethiopian folk. This is Ethio-jazz.

Find the whole story here on the below link
http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2016/apr/01/jazz-revival-addis-ababa-ethiopia-ethio-jazz

Ethiopian Christmas in Lalibela

Ethiopian Christmas in Lalibela, the holiest town in Ethiopia, thousands of People is gathering to attend the festivals. At the eve of Christmas at night pilgrims jammed the church shoulder to shoulder and thronged the surrounding hills. To begin the Mass, priests chanted and rattled sistras, palm-size instruments from Old Testament times, and the celebration continued through the night.

Title: Ethiopian Christmas at Lalibela
Tour Code: WETT - 027
Duration : 7 NIGHTS AND 8 DAYS
Start: January 02
End: January 09

Jan 2.Arrival in Addis Ababa and transfer. Overnight Hotel. Jan 3. Fly to Bahir Dar, get transferred to hotel. After lunch drive 32kms out of Bahir Dar or rough road to Tisisat village to visit the Blue Nile Falls. Overnight hotel.

Jan 4.
Half-day boat trip over Lake Tana to the peninsula of Zeghie to visit Ura Kidane Mehret monastery where you see the religious wall paintings, parchment books, crosses, crowns and robes of different kings and other religious artifacts. In the afternoon visit Bahir Dar market - a bustling market in which cereals, clay made utensils, leather bound baskets, local cotton fabric, fruits and vegetables etc can be seen. In the evening you will go to Bezawit Hill for a view over the Blue Nile River, Bahir Dar town and beautiful sunset. Overnight Hotel.

Jan 5.Fly to Gonder and get transferred to hotel. Then you will visit the Gonder castle compound (World Heritage Site) and the beautiful Debre Birhan Selassie church Overnight Hotel.

Jan 6.Fly to Lalibela and visit the 1st group of King Lalibela's rock hewn churches (12th century). During the night Christmas Eve celebration continues in the churches in the presence of many white-robed worshipers. If you are keen at the expense of your bed time, you may participate in one of the churches' celebration. Overnight Hotel. Jan 7. Today is Ethiopian Christmas. Therefore, you have the chance to attend the colorful celebration, which takes place in and around the compound of Vergin Mary's church. Here, there will be breathtaking chant and dance of a multitude of Lalibela priests. In the afternoon you will visit the second group of King Lalibela's rock hewn churches (World Heritage Site). Overnight Hotel.

Jan 8.Fly to Axum and visit the historical and archaeological sites in Axum. These include the archaeological museum, main stele field, the ruined palace of King Kaleb and King Geber Meskel, stone inscriptions, subterranean tombs, the ruined palace of the Queen of Sheba. Overnight Hotel.

Jan 9.
Visit the remaining sites in Axum like Axum Tsion church where the original holy Ark of the Covenant is believed to be housed. Then fly back to Addis Ababa. Overnight Hotel.