The lively center of the contemporary Ethiopian
performance poetry scene can be found in the capital, Addis Ababa.
Scores of young and old poets have approached the writers presented in
this issue (Abebaw Melaku, Misrak Terefe, and Mihret Kebede) in the past
two years, asking and auditioning to perform with them. According to
Eric Ellingsen, whose essay “In the Listenings: The Gold Waxes” appears
in the print edition, “Poetry is really considered a force shaping Addis
Ababa today, and this group is a bit of a movement. There is nothing
else like it.”
As an online bonus, we present video clips from the Tobiya Poetic Jazz Group’s DVD, which was filmed at the Ras Hotel in Addis Ababa. Misrak Terefe’s long poem is also presented here as a web exclusive.
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