My page dedicated to Habesha happenings, movers & shakers, artists, creatives….(insert ululation here)! Feel free to get in touch if you’d like to be featured or nominate someone— destamusic@gmail.com *** ‘wot’ is the Amharic word (‘tsebhi’ in Tigrinya) for the yummy traditional dishes that are eaten with injera.
BISRAT NEGASSI
Born in Asmara, this Eritrean fashion designer fled to Sudan as a refugee with her family, eventually moving to Germany (Hannover and later Hamburg) before moving to Italy. She studied architecture at Lübeck University. In Paris, she interned at Xuly Bet. She went back to Hamburg with a fashion design scholarship and later found her way to New York City. Bisrat then moved to Paris and created Negassi in 2004. Her first press show involved top models like Somalian Yasmeen Warsame, Indian Ujjuwala Raut, American Debra Shaw, and Ethiopian Liya Kebede. Celebrity stylist Kithe Brewster styled the show, and the following Negassi shows as well. Singer Ayo performed at the openings.
1) Who are your favourite designers?
For many reasons, I admire and love the work of
Issey Miyake,
Madeleine Vionnet,
Azzedine Alaia AND Y. S. Laurent.
2) What/who inspires you?
My daughter, my nieces, my mother and grandmothers, my family in general, Paris, Berlin, Asmara’s people, the churches, the mosque and the synagogue, movies and books, body and movement itself, Animals, Love Life Light, Music and Poetry!
3) What’s your typical Paris weekend like?
If I can, then I love going to Sacre Coeur very very early in the morning, in summertime before the sunrise and no one is around
(which is very difficult, cause it’s so touristic). And then having that great panorama and seeing the sun waking up, is a heartwarming and beautiful moment. After the sunrise, I go to a café outside the touristic zone and get my morning cafe creme….and the day can start ;)…
4) You styled Ayo for her ‘Down on my Knees’ music video— what was that experience like?
It was fun. It didn’t feel like work, cause the styling started way before the video-shoot. We are friends, we met in Hamburg, and for my first unofficial
fashion shows (2002/ 2003) she came with me to Paris and played for the first time in Paris for the openings of the shows.
Also for my official shows in 2004, she did the catwalk ;)! and till today we work together.
5) What advice would you give to people who are just starting out as designers?
To collect experience, a tight business plan and financial stability.
6) If you weren’t a designer, what would you like to be?
I guess I need that instrument to express myself? In this life I found fashion as my instrument and if I weren’t a designer, what i would like to be
…hmmmm????
Well, I loooove music…, I can’t stay without music!! I would like to sing. But I actually don’t have the voice, so writing and composing would be perfect.
7) When you aren’t creating, what do you enjoy doing? What are your hobbies?
My Daughter and Music, Writing, My Daughter and Music….and if the time allows, to read a good book.
8) What are your favourite magazines?
Actually too many… one is NEW AFRICAN WOMEN….I admire the editor-in-chief Feriel Berrais Guigny….an amazing woman, she started the magazine from scratch!! She is doing a great job!! Plus she also does UNITED FASHION FOR PEACE http://www.unitedfashionforpeace.com/.
9) What is your favourite holiday destination?
All the places i haven’t seen yet as: Cuba for a Cuba Libre , or San Francisco to have a chat with Michael Franti…
and of course ASMARA, to go for a cappuccino at Bar Vittorio, and walking down the streets and enjoying what I see.
10) Do you have any favourite habesha hangouts/restos?
In Paris the one I used to go to closed years ago, and in Hamburg, my second home, there is not even a single habesha restaurant. So no!
Thank you, Bisrat! Looking forward to seeing your next collection!
Check out Negassi Fashion at http://www.negassi.com/.
ARAIA TESFAMARIAM
Eritrean/African-American filmmaker
1) Your film, Big Araia, sounds amazing. It’s going to be an emotional journey for you! How is it going so far, in terms of feedback and support online, the Kickstarter fund, etc?
This project is going well. I have been deciding what crew to hire, and when exactly to travel, as well as what style I want the film to be shot in. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Eritreans from Toronto, L.A., London, Geneva, and even Jeddah, Saudi Arabia have emailed, tweeted, posted on Facebook, and even called me about how they love the story in the promo for the project and want to hear more details. The Kickstarter fund raising campaign just started so it’s a bit early to tell how it’s going, but I feel good about it.
I think people look at the amount I am trying to raise ($50,000) and think they can’t possibly help. But the reality is, if I can find 5,000 people to donate just $10, I reach my goal. It’s a great way to raise money for creative projects because no one takes a big financial risk ( ten bucks is a trip for two to Starbucks), and I get to keep ownership of my work. That is very rare in the world of film making.
2) I don’t speak Tigrinya either, and I know what you mean about the shocked and disappointed reactions! I’ve tried ‘Tigrinya the EZ way’ (it’s a lie, there’s NOTHING easy about Tigrinya!) and studying at home…it’s a really tough language to learn, especially if you don’t have an Eritrean community around you! Have you started learning already? When you’re in Asmara do you plan to take lessons or get a private tutor…?
I am trying to learn the language now. I have a great teacher, but I think I am a poor student. To be honest, this film is about me rediscovering my roots, so not speaking Tigrinya is representative of my own life experience. When I get to Asmara, I will have a translator. But I plan to immerse myself in the culture as much as possible to see how much of the language I can pick up while I am there.
Most of my life was spent outside of the Habesha cultural arena. For all intents an purposes I am an African-American, because that is how I was raised. Over the last ten years or so, I have had to learn about the culture on my own. What little I know I learned from meeting Eritreans and Ethiopians in the United States. However, I did manage to teach myself how to make Tsebhie, Homlee, and Alecha.
3) What are your favorite films?
Shoot The Piano Player, A Hard Days Night, The Godfather, Layer Cake, Love Jones, and North by NorthWest.
4) Who are your favorite directors?
François Truffaut, Stanley Kubrick, Spike Lee, Matthew Vaughn, Alfred Hitchcock.
5) What is your favorite Eritrean food?
OK, I have to admit, I love Kitfo, I know it’s more of a Ethiopian dish, but I love it. I love Kecha Fit-Fit too. I hate Dulot, it smells like Chitterlings, and I never liked that either.
6) What do you think will be your biggest challenge while making this film? Any foreseeable obstacles, difficulties?
I hope that I am able to solve all the logistical issues like; travel permits within Eritrea, securing good transportation for getting around the Adi, making sure I have a good translator since no one on my crew speaks Tigrinya, and capturing the right moments on film – that can be very challenging for a documentary, especially one filmed in a foreign country.
7) Have you been to Eritrea before? How long do you plan to film there?
No, this is my first trip. That is why it is such a big deal! I am meeting relatives that have waited 34 years to see me. These are people I didn’t even know existed until 3 years ago. I plan to film for 2 weeks, but I will stay in the country for up to 2 months.
8) Where are your favorite travel destinations and why?
I have been to Zambia, Kenya, Botswana, and I have lived in Zimbabwe. I loved being in Zambia on Safari, it was amazing. But I haven’t been enough places yet to have a favorite.
9) I love how so many Habesha families can trace their ancestors back for generations— you can go 28 generations, that’s incredible! Where in Eritrea is your dad’s family from?
My father was born in Akoru, near Segeneti.
10) The meanings of Eritrean names are really important….to the point that they can cause serious ruckus in a family if someone names their son a more ‘important’ name than someone else’s son! Do you have any favourite Eritrean names? What does yours mean?
I love all the names. But Fnan, Genet, Wintana, Desta, Shemeynesh, Sumerawit, and Fairuz are nice. The closest translation in English I can find for Araia is “Role Model”, Tesfamariam means “Mary’s Hope”.
Thank you, Araia & good luck with the film!
Check out the Kickstarter & Facebook page for Big Araia:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bigaraia/big-araia
https://www.facebook.com/BigAraiaFilm
Thank you! “The Lentil Soup EP” was a collaboration with my good friend DJ Ian Head who lives in Brooklyn. When Khingz (of Abyssinian Creole) and myself first started collaborating with Ian (back in ‘02/’03?) he hipped us to a spot by his place called Black Iris, which has an amazing lentil soup (as shown on the EP cover) and since our very first recording session, lentil soup, storytelling, record digging and a lot of laughter have all been a part of the tradition! I also believe lentil soup is medicine for the soul… as is good music and friends. :)
I find Air 2 a Bird, an album that you made over the space of a few days, is super creative. What album/EP of yours are you happiest with?
Thank you again! Air 2 A Bird is a really special project to me, big ups to Amos Miller! It’s hard to say what album or EP I’m happiest with, because they all are so different and just represent different time periods in life. In no particular order… “Lovework”, “Colored People’s Time Machine” and CopperWire’s “Earthbound” (a group project with Meklit Hadero and Burntface, to be released on Porto Franco Records in a few short months) are the best sounding projects for sure… followed by Air 2 A Bird’s “Crow Hill”. I’m happiest with the writing on one of the upcoming projects though, which is already recorded but still in the rough mix stage… (I don’t want to put the name of it out until there’s a release date to go with it!)
You seem to travel a lot, with gigs on both coasts. How do you divide your time? Do you have a favourite city?
The last few years I feel like I’ve got several homes for sure… and in 2011 especially, I spent the whole year going wherever the music would take me. Lots of shows on both coasts and a tour in Ethiopia, as well as recording projects in Washington, DC and The Bay Area. I can’t say that I have a favorite city (mostly because I don’t want to cause any fights!) but I can say I’ve been (and can still see myself) spending a lot of time between Seattle, Brooklyn / NYC, Toronto, The Bay Area, Addis Ababa and Washington, DC.
What with frequently creating new material, booking gigs and all your different musical projects you must be really organized! What is your advice to independent musicians, in terms of managing time and being productive?
It’s still a struggle! I could definitely use more people on the team who specialize in different areas (especially a booking agent!) The best advice I can give about time-management and productivity is as simple as this: if you can do it now, then do it now. Don’t wait until tomorrow. I also have to keep a calendar on me at all times for scheduling. At home I often make vision boards, lists of my biggest goals and then think, “what am I doing today to reach that?” And if it’s really your priority, then really make your art a priority, take the time for it, make space for it, and I mean a physical space if you can. A lot of people I know wait until they have “free time” to do their art and that “free time” never comes.
If you could go anywhere you haven’t been yet, where would you go?
Most places in Africa. I’ve only been to Ethiopia so far. And because of the neighborhood where I grew up… it’s literally the most ethnically diverse zip code in the United States… I’ve always been interested in seeing the homelands of all my homies. Which may cover the entire planet!
Which are your favourite habesha restaurants?
Hmmmm. Hard question! Hidmo on 20th & Jackson (Seattle, WA) was the most life-changing. Cafe Selam in Seattle has the best ful I’ve had outside of Harar. In Seattle I also frequent Saba, Mesob and East African Imports. In DC we seem to always end up at Habesha Market… I love that place too. In Addis this place called Yeshi Bunna was good. That breakfast in Harar was one of the best I’ve had in my life though. Sometimes I wish I had a teleporter just to go out and eat!
Which artists are you listening to a lot these days?
Khingz, Janelle Monae, Choklate, The Narcicyst, Shabazz Palaces, Jean Grae, Bilal, Nneka, The Roots, Brother Ali, Curtis Mayfield, Erykah Badu… these were all the artists on the last mixtape I made for my mom and cousin :)
Who would you most like to collaborate with, if you could work with any artist in the world?
Hmmm… I would have to say ALL those artists I just mentioned listening to! And the people I already work with are pretty fantabulous themselves…
I understand that you read a lot! I downloaded the Nnedi Okorafor book you recommended on www.gabrielteodros.com onto my Kindle & I’m enjoying it so far! Who are some of your favourite authors? What are your favourite books?
I’m so glad your reading “Who Fears Death”! Nnedi is one of my favorite authors and that’s one of my favorite books. This last year I’ve also been reading A LOT of Octavia Butler, “Parable Of The Sower” is my favorite by her. Some of my all-time favorite books are Assata Shakur’s Autobiography, Alice Walker’s “Temple Of My Familiar”, Ayi Kwei Armah’s “The Healers”, the poetry of Suheir Hammad, the chorepoems of Ntozake Shange, there have been times when the works of Mumia Abu-Jamal kept me alive, there have been other times when the works of bell hooks kept me alive (especially “Communion”). Jeff Chang’s “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop” is the best book on Hip Hop that I’ve read, I’ve been getting into more James Baldwin recently, and I also highly recommend Maaza Mengiste’s “Beneath The Lion’s Gaze” :) Thank you for asking this question! I love kicking it in bookstores too. Shoutouts to Walidah Imarisha for being one of my favorite writers AND putting me on to a lot of these books I’m mentioning. Look for her books in the future!
My very first musical memories, when I was 4 or 5, revolve around the music videos for Was Not Was ‘Walk the Dinosaur’ and Whitney Houston’s ‘Dance with Somebody’ What are your earliest musical memories?
It’s kind of a blur… my earliest musical memories are a mix of Ethiopian music at my mom’s church, Hip Hop being played from a boom box somebody was pushing in a shopping cart through our neighborhood, Michael Jackson, and Aretha Franklin. I don’t remember what I was exposed to first, or how old I was, but we were living in a Seattle neighborhood called Columbia City… I must not have been 5 years old yet. (That was a great question too! I don’t think anyone’s ever asked me that, like not even in conversation.)
SABA TEWELDE
I was born in Eritrea in a place called Dekemhare not too far from the capital city Asmara, but I grew up in Germany. Like many Eritrean families during the struggle we too left to escape the war. Thats where my love for music and all art forms started to develop and grow into a need, a way of expression. I have been living in London now for the past few years.
You have a beautiful voice. Do you have any rituals, exercises, etc you follow to keep it like that?
Thank you, I actually don’t have anything special I follow. I try to warm up my voice at least before rehearsals and gigs, I should do exercises more regularly but I tend to conveniently forget that important but sometimes boring part. Otherwise I be humming and making up songs randomly through out the day and try to generally have a healthy lifestyle.
What inspires you to compose? When are you most creative?
Usually Im most inspired when something happened that really touched me or a thought that springs to mind and
wont let me go. My creativity flows mostly when Im in an deep emotional state and when I can be in touch with those emotions.
What is your favourite habesha food?
I love bamia and spinach well spiced.
What do like most about living in London?
I like the fact that there are so many people from all corners of the world, which made it easy for me to feel at home. The result is a vibrant cultural and art scene which I really love. London is very alive and intense, you can almost feel a pulse I find and that pulse sometimes screams high blood pressure, in other words the city can be crazy and consume you. But then an amazing evening with lovely friends and great music and I fall in love with the city all over again.
What gigs/recordings are you most proud of?
I had a gig in Brooklyn New York some years back, with my Tigrinya based music which I call InjeraSoul. The organisers over there arranged amazing local musicians to play with me. So there I was with a five piece band and we had a one day proper rehearsal and these guys learned my hour long set, all songs in Tigrinya, in no time. The gig was packed and there was hardly anyone who understood Tigrinya in the audience but they felt and enjoyed the concert and that made it a success to me. I always loved NY so yes that was a proud one.
Recording wise, I have a song on an international children songs album that was released in Germany in 2008, which was also given to all the new borns in Frankfurt. I contributed an Eritrean song called “Timhirty” with an Eritrean children’s choir singing with me in the chorus. My niece who was born in that year can sing it by heart by now. I’m happy that there are kids out there now who can learn and have fun with at least one Eritrean song.
What are your hobbies?
Music takes most of my time already, but I like to go to exhibitions and plays and love travelling whenever I can.
Who are your favourite singers?
Too many to mention but here are some:
Tsehaytu Beraki
Billy Holiday
Lauren Hill
Erykah Badu
Buika Concha
Kahsay Berhe
Wedi Tikabo
D’Angelo
Maxwell
If you were offered a ticket to anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Right now sitting in a cold Germany I would go for a sunny and relaxed place like Barbados
What was the last concert you went to? …and your favourite one of the year?
Last concert was Nneka with her full band, it was a great concert and my favourite.
Do you have any 2012 new year resolutions?
Focus
Thank you, Saba!
