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ATSE TEWODROS PROJECT
Gabriella Ghermandi, an Italian-Ethiopian writer, storyteller and singer, created the Atse
Tewodros Project in an effort to bring together Italian and Ethiopian musicians to foster
mutual dialogue and artistic creation. The project was started in 2010 in Addis Ababa, as a result
of the collaboration between the Ethiopian composer Aklilu Zewdy and Professor Berhanu
Gezaw. It immediately caught the interest of Michele Giuliani, a pianist and composer from Bari,
Italy who is the leader of the Reunion Platz Jazz Trio. In 2012, after more than a year of work,
the fundraising effort was started. Gabriella Ghermandi and Michele Giuliani decided to take a
chance and began fundraising through the crowdfunding platform Produzioni dal basso. Over
130 donations, from individuals and associations, contributed sufficient monies to allow the two
artists to bring the Reunion Platz Trio to Addis Ababa. There they met traditional Ethiopian
musicians, completed the musical arrangements together, recorded them - always from in live
sessions - and gave their first major concert in the Ethiopian capital at the Italian Cultural
Institute (February 2013).
The project is named for one of the most beloved emperors in Ethiopian history: Atse Tewodros.
He was the first emperor who was not of Ethiopian royal descent. He rose to power because of
his perseverance and charisma, qualities that charmed the Ethiopian people to the point that they
broke with centuries-old tradition and supported his accession to the throne. Atse Tewodros was
the emperor who modernized Ethiopia while respecting traditions. He was also the emperor who
fought against Queen Victoria’s army and defended Ethiopian independence in the century of
African colonization.
In December 2013, the Atse Tewodros Project produced their first CD. It includes nine songs by
Gabriella Ghermandi, Aklilu Zewdie, Inish Hailu, and Berhanu Gizaw. They are nine musical
pieces in which the modes and pentatonic scales of traditional Ethiopian music are combined
with European instruments played in a jazz style.
The Atse Tewodros Project also includes songs from the Ethiopian Resistance that fought
against the Italian Fascist Regime. By doing so, it reclaims the past, both for the general public
and for the individual, it creates a way to describe the course of human and migrant lives and to
talk about plural identities.
Gabriella Ghermandi says of herself
"I grew up in a world filled with different sounds: Ethiopian, Italian, Congolese, Indian. My
mother managed a clothing store in Addis Ababa, in the main street of the Piassa neighborhood.
Next to her store was another one run by a Greek woman: Maria Teresa Kiskas. It was a music
store, she sold instruments, record players, 33 and 45 rpm records. In her store I listened to the
Beatles, Zorba and Rebetika Greek music. On my way home I would listen to a different kind of
music, that of our singers, the Azmari. When I finally reached home the radio was always on
when my father, who could not stand Ethiopian music, was not there. He used to describe it as a
continuous lament. But we loved it, and along with my neighborhood girlfriends I danced to it. I
also listened to Italian singers: Domenico Modugno whom my father loved and then more
modern bands like the Banco del Mutuo Soccorso and the Premiata Forneria Marconi or singers
like Lucio Battisti. This was the music my Italian classmates loved. And in addition I listened to
our friend Geraldine's favorite Congolese music and the Indian music of my Kashmiri neighbors.
Finally there were the war songs. I did not like them in those days. I used to go with my cousins
to see the parades celebrating the anniversary of our victory at Adwa and the liberation from the
Fascist occupation, just to laugh at the gestures of the warriors singing those war songs. When
they opened their eyes wide, brandishing their swords and shields, they shouted threats to their
enemies. I used to find them ridiculous. In those days I would have considered anyone crazy who
told me that one day I would recall them by imitating their gestures on the stages of theaters in
Italy and around the world.