Matthijs Blonk
In the Ethiopian City of Arba Minch, the capital of the southern province of Gamo-Gofa, a unique music festival is held annually. In the course of three days, the audience can feast their eyes and ears on a wide variety of cultures and styles. Dozens of peoples from the region present their dances and, especially, their music.
The South of Ethiopia is home to many different peoples. Because of the isolated nature of the region, their lifestyle has hardly been influenced by global tendencies. The festival is an excellent opportunity to get acquainted with the wide variety of cultures that still thrive in southern Ethiopia. Even the most weathered traveller would need months to visit all these peoples separately. All the artists hail from tribal groups making their living as subsistence farmers, cattle herders or hunter-gatherers. Most of them are autarkic and depend on nature to survive. They generally adhere to animistic faiths.
“One of the objectives of the festival is bringing together the peoples from the Ethiopian part of the Rift Valley,” says programmer Temesgen H. Gabriel. For several years, he has been part of the festival organization, which houses in a tiny shop in Arba Minch. Whereas the first two editions of the festival were still supported by the British organization Global Music Exchange, the 2007 edition was almost entirely organized by the local Gughe Indigenous Art and Music Association (GIAMA). Gabriel: “It takes eight months to put one festival together. The performers come from distant regions, speak different languages and have diverse cultures. What they have in common is music, a universal language which the audience understands immediately.”
According to festival manager Befetary Asefa Chombea, making people aware of their own culture is another important objective. “Only if people recognize the value of their traditions wil they be proud of their culture. Everyone is unique. Everyone is a star, that is the message we try to put across.” Chombea explains how the festival name ‘1000 Stars’ is a reference to star status in pop music: “Often one person takes all the credit for the music. With us, every artist is equally important.”
That mutual understanding is still lacking in some cases is apparent from the reactions in the streets of Arba Minch. Most inhabitants appreciate the festival and its colourful tribals, but some of them refer scornfully to ‘the invasion from the countryside’, and call the tribals ‘naked savages’.
In the last edition of the festival in december 2007, more than 1000 performers from 55 different peoples participated:
The Alaba, Amaro, Arbore, Ari, Baiso, Bana, Basketo, Birale, Bench, Birale, Burji, Chara, Dasenich, Dawro, Derashe, Dizi, Dorze, Gamo, Ganjule, Gawada, Gedeo, Gedicho, Gofa, Gurage, Guji, Hadiya, Hamar, Kafa, Kambata, Karo, Konso, Konta, Kore, Kwegu, Maji, Male, Me'enite, Melo, Murle, Mursi, Nyangatom, Oyda, Shabo, Shekicho, Sidamo, Silte, Sheko, Suri, Tsamai, Wolaita, Yem, and Zayse.
For video's of the festival see: www.youtube.com/speaking4earth
The website of GIAMA: www.gughe.org
For more video's and photo's of Ethiopia see the website of Matthijs Blonk.
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