If you want to see what pitch dark means, come to Aregash Lodge (Tranquility Lodge) in Yirgalem, Southern Ethiopia, and wake up at four o clock in the morning! This same pitch dark night will also define what a starry night should look like. On the Ethiopian sky, on a clear night, you can almost touch or …even pluck the stars like daffodils!

Well, at least you feel so when you see them winking and flirting with you – and only you! (If you cannot see anyone, then you must be alone, said Schrödinger’s cat with a sarcastic grin, playing with its phantom whiskers!)
This blanket of darkness helps compose a kind of silence, difficult to explain because it is full of sound, both astral/ancient and contemporary/nascent.

The sound of Zegba and Tid trees swaying like graciously chanting Orthodox priests, their thin needle leaves brushing the wind; the sound of birds, small and large, singing turn by turn in divine symphony; the sound of branches breaking in the woods as midaquas scratch their backs on unreliable twigs; the occasional thuds when ripe avocados rain down on the grass when the Gureza apes jump from tree to tree …

The sum of all this, where one sound cancels the other, creates a silence, a harmony, a tranquility that immediately embraces you and makes you inseparable from the sky, the wind, the birds, the midaquas and the trees.

Unfortunately, good things are usually ephemeral and at four o’clock, a cacophonic giggle of a hyena followed by repeated, noisy howls breaks this envelope of silence! (At the risk of being labelled a racist, I say the hyena race and the crocodiles should be ostracized from the animal kingdom.

They have mean faces, well, a croc has no face at all; it is just jaws. Besides their noise, nobody appreciates being eyed by them as a definite supper; since that is the only thing they think about all the time, their raison d’être, these despicable beasts! )

Incidentally, maybe that is the meaning of life, our raison d’être too – that we are eating-machines, hyena style, gluttonous, without ever moving the focus from our belly button!

At least this seems to be the case if you happen to pass by one of the kitfo houses in Addis, with hundreds of consumers under the huge tents. Seen in eagle eye´s view from far above, they sure look like they were at war, meticulously attacking an already dead animal- like hyenas!

(This reminds me of the shameless anecdote from the Korean war- Ethiopian voluntary soldiers eating raw meat, sitting on an enemy soldier they have just killed! Oh God, are we fighting against cannibals? )

Watching the kitfo house clients’ enthusiasm, the frenzied intensity of their activity, one can´t help wonder what it is all about. The art of dexterously slicing raw goat meat into small morsels/cubes, the way they study this cube holding it between two fingers lovingly and playfully, before they dip it into the spicy pepper-butter-tedj mix and then carefully delivering it to the mouth; the way their faces glow as saliva flushes the mouth at the crushing sound of the tender meat cube…the jovial chit-chat mixed with the sound of the razor sharp knives resting on the white ceramic plate before the next slice, the next piquant bite… the watery mouth…

(If you want to experience the original atmosphere, you should read, Parlesak´s detailed narration in his book, Habešská Odyssea, on the grand banquet the king hosts, the Gibir Mablat – with an etymologically connotation of paying back the collected tax/Gibir?)

From outside, this campaign by a battalion of effective carnivorous scavengers makes you wish you were a vegetarian! But if you are inside, trust me, you’ll enjoy every minute of this social feast!

Eskinder Hailu
Turning Your Dream Vacation Into a Reality

Visit Choosing a Tour for a short Video or Brochure
Visit Ethiopia Tour Enquiry for a Customized Tour

Ethiopia is one of Africa’s bird paradise which almost tenth of the world bird species are to be found of these around 23 are endemic to the country. It is almost impossible to travel in Ethiopia without watching birds. Here are just few of them in pictures.

This is just a very glimpse of what you can experience here. You are most welcomed to see as many birds as possible

Eskinder Hailu
Turning Your Dream Vacation Into a Reality

Visit Choosing a Tour for a short Video or Brochure
Visit Ethiopia Tour Enquiry for a Customized Tour

Tomoca Cafe
There can be no better way to get ideas sharpened about a day in the city than at Tomoca the home of modern coffee roasting in Ethiopia. It is the oldest coffee roasting business in Ethiopia opened in 1953.

The company name is an abbreviation of “Torrefazione Modern Café” or the modern coffee roasting café. The coffee is fully Arabica from Harer, Yirgachefe and Sidamo the three top coffee producing regions of Ethiopia. The magic, however, is in the blend, and this is kept a closely guarded secret.

Drinking coffee at Tomoca is an experience that rises high above the branded coffee shops of the west. One may sample traditional espresso macchiato café latte and cappuccino while standing at high tables, soaking up the atmosphere of early morning Addis.

Such is the fame of Tomoca that additional branches are springing up around the city. However, as a start to the day, the experience and ambience of Addis’s original coffee house (whose décor has hardly changed since it opened decades ago) is something of an experience.

Entoto Mountain and Menelik Palace
In the church compound, one will visit the palace, built in traditional style for the emperor and the empress, perching on the hill top, high above the city. Its location provides a good viewing site of the city below.

The palace contains an assembly room, banquet halls, and a reserve room for amenities. Located beside the church and the palace compound is the Menelik museum, rich in imperial artifacts and ecclesiastic items that will give one a real sense of what was an important period of Ethiopia’s history.

National Museum
Meandering through four separate exhibition halls one can view paleontological archeological and historical items as well as ethnographic objects and artifacts,. In the basement, the 3.2million years old Dinkinesh (Lucy) and other fossils as well as stone tools are conserved.

The first floor is devoted to cultural heritage, historical and archeological findings (organized under ancient, medieval, and contemporary) culture of the nation. The second floor houses an ethnography display where various collections of traditional and ceremonial costumes and related attire depict Ethiopia’s cultural mosaic. The third floor houses modern and contemporary art. Amongst the treasures on exhibition are works by Ethiopian meter artist lauret Afework Tekle.

Merkato Market
A place of wondrous diversity and is made up of a myrad of different areas categorized commodities are sold one will find agricultural and manufactured goods sold in spite of fluctuations in temperature scorching sun and freezing cold.

Working side by side with the poor are the wealthy merchants as Merkato is equally the throbbing heart of Ethiopian commerce where wealth is stored in abundance. The social composition of Merkato is striking as it is the meeting place and melting pot of Ethiopian people. Everything and anything can be bought, at any cost. Mercato is for everyone.

Habesha 2000 Cultural Restaurant
There are Ethiopian specialties cooked to perfection served with delicious injera. The menu is varied and offers something for all palates. What an excellent way of experiencing Ethiopia’s rich selection of dishes all at the same place.

Eskinder Hailu
Turning Your Dream Vacation Into a Reality

Visit Choosing a Tour for a short Video or Brochure
Visit Ethiopia Tour Enquiry for a Customized Tour

Body Painting
Among the omo peoples body painting with clay is usually related to rituals and transitional phases. The first menstruation, the birth of the first child, the death of a family member, illness in the family and the killing of an enemy are all events that give rise to the body painting.

As the combination of patterns and colors is specific to the circumstances, body painting sends visual messages so that everyone can see who is in a specific traditional phase and who has participated in which ritual.

Painting the body or Parts of it on purely aesthetic grounds is rare. The kind of Body decoration is usually reserved to the distant cattle camps Where Young men and girls stay for long periods.

The majority of omo peoples associate white with herding cattle, herders cover their body entirely to better see each other from a distance, Body Painting in the cattle camps is also seen as an informal playful event and an expression of freedom.

Unfettered by social control and the rigid communal life, young People in the camps are free to experiment. This seems to be the case especially with the Suri who have traditionally been the people most interested in body painting in the omo valley.

In addition to the playful dimension, there are obviously aesthetic aspects involved the search by the young for renewed results in the application of Combinations of colors and patterns.

Lip and Ear Plates
For the Mursi and Suri, the lip plate is an expression of female social adulthood reproductive potential. Like so many other forms of body ornamentation in world cultures, it is a bridge between the biological and social.

That is why a woman throws her lip plate away when her husband dies and does not wear one anymore. The lip hanging loose then shrinks gradually to a withered thick lip.

For the mursi and suri themselves, the lip plate is a visual expression of what it means to be a woman it turns a girl in to a woman, someone who can bear or has borne children. That is why the lip plate is inserted when the girl reaches puberty and is fifteen or sixteen years old.

At that time her mother or another female relative will make a horizontal incision in her lower lip. The incision is kept open with a wooden plug, which remains there until the wound has healed.

After that, almost every evening a plug of a wider diameter is inserted. This process goes quickly and after a few weeks, the girl can already wear a lip plate.

Eskinder Hailu
Turning Your Dream Vacation Into a Reality

Visit Choosing a Tour for a short Video or Brochure
Visit Ethiopia Tour Enquiry for a Customized Tour

See you at Danakil or you can join one of my trips from October to April.

Eskinder Hailu
Turning Your Dream Vacation Into a Reality

Visit Choosing a Tour for a short Video or Brochure
Visit Ethiopia Tour Enquiry for a Customized Tour

You can ask any taxi driver to take you to Tomoca where the coffee is roasted in front of you and a variety of coffee to choose from for the enlightenment of the day.

Don’t forget the coffee prepared & served in traditional coffee ceremony is an experience not to be missed.

Then comes lunch were again addis is filled with variety of choices when it comes to restaurants from traditional to Italian ,Indian and many dishes to choose from I would recommend traditional Ethiopian food at the first restaurant in the country Itegue Taitu Hotel “Injera” is like a PITA bread almost served with most traditional foods.

After lunch, you will have ample time for some sightseeing of Addis Ababa’s old town Piassa. Following Piassa, you will head to Merkato, the largest open market in Africa where you will experience Ethiopia’s distinct market activity and business dealings

If you have a day in Addis don’t miss some of its spots such as Ethnological Museum : Set within Haile Selassie’s former palace, and surrounded by the beautiful gardens and fountains of the university’s main campus, is the enthralling Ethnological Museum. Even if you’re not a museum fan, this one is worth a bit of your time – it’s easily one of the finest museums in Africa, showing the full sweep of Ethiopia’s cultural and social history across two floors.

Addis’s night life where you can enjoy both the modern night-life with western oriented playlist in clubs with beautiful dance floor space & variety of drinks to choose from

For those seeking to experience the rich culture of Ethiopian heritage firsthand cultural restaurants Like YOD ABYSSINIA, 2000 HABESHA and many more.

As an option to visit the city North to South and East to West you can take the train tour avoiding the rush hours. The electrified light rail transport in Addis Ababa city has two lines with a total length of 34 km.

The east-west line extends 17.35 km, stretching from Ayat Village to Tor Hailoch, and passes through Megenagna, Meskel Square, Stadium, Leghar and Mexico Square; and the north-south corridor is 16.9 km in length, and starting from Kality, it ends at Menelik II Square, passing the stations including, Gotera, Meskel Square, Stadium, Lideta, and Merkato, among others

The East-West Line/the Green and White Train runs from Ayat to Tor Hailoch area.
As visitors ride along this corridor, they pass through streets of CMC, St Michael church, Gurd Shola, Megenaga Square,Haya Hulet, St. Urael Church, St. Stephen Church, Meskel Square, Addis Ababa Stadium, Mexico Square, St. Lideta, till the last station, Tor Hailoch.

While riding on the East-West line passengers can a make transit from the East-West line to South-North route either at Stadium, or Lagehar, or Mexico Square, or Tegbared, or St Lideta.

On the East-West line, visitors can get off the train at St. Stephen church station and visit the grand square in the city, i.e. Meskel Square, and they can also visit the Red Terror Museum, and the Addis Ababa Museum.

After this, visitors can take walk to the next station of the East-West line, at Addis Ababa Stadium to ride to Tor Hailoch. Then you can come back on the same route to get off at one of the transits (St. Lideta, Tegbared, Mexico Square, or Stadium), to be on board of the train on the South-North route; and visitors can take a lunch break at a place on one of the transits as per their preferences or choices.

The Blue and White Train/the South-North line
Along the route that runs from Kality to Menelik II Square (the South-North line), visitors get off the train at Gojam Berenda before reaching the last station of the corridor, which is Menelik II Square.

Upon arrival at Merkato, for which visitors take walk from Gojam Berenda, they will be briefed about the safest and convenient way of visiting the market place and its environs. Then visitors will walk down a bit through the crowded Minalesh Terra Street periphery to the uniquely poised spot where a cluster of spice shops are lined up.

Visitors will begin to glimpse the real experience from here on, where one can see countless spices and seasonings, wholesale and retailing shops lined-up to all sorts of buyers. In this section of the market, the main products shops comprise, Berbere (Ethiopian Paprika), Shiro (powder of chick bean and beans), Mitmita (the hottest version of paprika), kimemakimem(all Ethiopian cuisine spices) including coriander, cumin, cinnamon, twist, thyme, bay leaf, and nutmeg among others.

After visiting and shopping (if you want) in Merkato and having such wonderful the dramatic complexion of the market sections, we get back on board of the train on the same route to get off at Menelik II Square, where visitors can have a look at the statue of Emperor Menelik II at the square and also its environs as well as St. George cathedral and the museum on the premises of the church.

This wraps up the tour and visitors can back to their hotels by public transport or can be picked up by your vehicle.

Eskinder Hailu
Turning Your Dream Vacation Into a Reality

Visit Choosing a Tour for a short Video or Brochure
Visit Ethiopia Tour Enquiry for a Customized Tour

“Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.” said a well-dressed English teacher at freshman once. It was at ” Four kilo university”, in Addis. A naughty student then commented: “That is an indirect way of defining the unpretty” (- and got himself in trouble at midterm!)

Well, is beauty always in the eyes of the beholder?
How about beauty where the beholder is unimportant, insignificant?
Or where words simply cannot suffice and pictures become unrepresentative?
Is there such a thing? Can we experience raw, nascent beauty without any
goggles or telescopes and beyond the scope of language?

The answer is a simple no! Mental pictures live or depicted, are all interpretations. There is no way you can experience perception without your brain medling as an interpreter!

But still, I wonder:
Imagine you are standing in the middle of an immense grassland covered with short tuffts of grey grass, kilometers wide, with patches of bluish white weed leaves between them….you are standing at an altitude of 3,5
kilometers with even a higher peak watching you a few hundred meters to your west. You “wad” through the sea of lush grass, scaring away beautiful small birds.

When you finally stand on the top of the hill, you are met
with the most spectacular scene of an endless chain of small hills below, deep and wide, high and low! They are all covered with thick forests except for patches of small farms with adobes neatly demarcated in the center. Your eyes won’t be able to take in all that is out there – there is
no limit, the horizon is invisibly far, further than the sky.

Is there any way this could be interpreted as other than beautiful, irrespective of the beholder?
We had just returned from a short journey to the breathtaking scenery of the great Smien mountains! We were still shuffling through the thousands of snapshots in our heads when our friend, the insatiable traveller,

Eskinder, owner of Highway Tours, came up with a new suggestion. He wanted us to explore a competitive place, a new beauty spot rivaling Smien! If Eskinder who has traveled extensively depicts the landscape in
superlative terms, there was no way we’d miss the chance.

So we went. The preparation took us only a few hours – grab some food, water, warm clothing, a camera! (We stashed in the pack some qolo, cheese and a bottle of Ethiopian Acacia
red wine- just in case!)

At 6 a.m. the next day, we heard Chuchu’s Toyota at our gate, the motor gently rumbling, faintly audible through the concrete-blasting noise from the megaphones of the church only a few meters outside our
residence! Boy, how eager we were to escape from this electronic cacophony from all angles, emitted by competing religious groups , that wake us up every morning at 5 am!

Guassa got its name from the particular Afro-alpine festuca grass that grows here. At first sight, my immediate association was that it looked exactly like the hair of the endemic Gelada baboons that domicile in this
area, in Menz! The grass is so well protected by the inhabitants; there has always been strict rules governing its care and use for centuries. (The Qero system.) The multipurpose guassa grass is cut periodically as agreed by the village committee.

The Guassa conservation is about 300 km from Addis, via mostly asphalt road. In other words, practically only a couple of hours’ drive away. Butntime, while traveling in Ethiopia, coins its own definition. It is
difficult to measure it by distance or speed. A km could take you half an hour, if geography decides so, and your heart might stop the car altogether when your eyes simply refuse to move away when a captivating scenery exposes itself at the turn of one of the many curves.

Your jaws drop and you find yourself mesmerized, maybe even levitated! (I can tell you, this is a common feeling while traveling in Ethiopia.) You don’t know whether to laugh or weep out of joy! Nature has its ways of affecting its members- sometimes embracing you, and sometimes teaching you a lesson by reminding of how small you are!

Chronological time as such is elastic. Think of sitting and waiting for the next gush of molten stone at Erta Ale ( a place I often dream of) or suddenly finding yourself at the foot of an endless chain of mountains topped with thick forests, their tops covered with fluffy white clouds. ..

The cloud formation between the mountains of Menz was unbelievable! Across the dark green forest line, and between the mountaintops lies a compact, white moat of clouds making an astonishingly straight line, as if someone
drew the line from above! How can clouds form a straight line? And that is not all. This snow-white layer of clouds turns into evenly painted crimson at dawn, without any visible sunset anywhere! It’s like by a magic wand.

When these mystic clouds ultimately give way to darkness, a whole new dark universe opens up! The pure, clear Ethiopian sky of the virgin countryside, undisturbed by city lights and smog exposes zillions of densly populated
twinkling celestial bodies, their presence more pronounced by the total silence of the landscape!

Now, I know I am carried away by all this beauty making you believe I am walking in paradise. Well, I am not, since five minutes of gazing into the heavenly bodies at night turns your feet and fingers into a block of ice! In fact, drops of water were hanging down like stalactites from the
washing basin, in the morning! Yes, Guassa is cold; at times -10°C! The nights are Siberian but of course human adaptability can turn anything into memorable, pleasurable moments!

Pain and comfort are in the eyes of the beholder!

And so, we imaginative humans started a huge campfire. The lodges are built like any ordinary lodge, suitable for the stereotypical equatorial hot weather, without the luxury of air-conditioning, The rooms, except for the two huts, have no toilets, which meant you had to wrap yourself with 4 blankets every time you wanted to take a pee in the common toilet outside!

I know you’re laughing biut this is nothing to laugh about! Besides a possible awkward and unexpected encounter with an Ethiopian wolf in the middle of the night , there’s the annoying inconvenience of fidgeting to
find your thing behind all those blankets!

But you actually forget all this inconvenience sitting around the campfire, eating Ato Laaygefut’s delicious bowl of spaghetti, drinking wine, with cheese to enhancing the taste, cracking jokes. ..listening to the crackling
sound of the furiously burning zigba/ accasia wood….and occasionally looking at the clear, starry sky while running to the toilet!

By the way, Ato Laaygefu, the brilliant and amicable cook, lived in one of the villages down, down there , a small spot in the valley between the mountains in a most bucolic surrounding. I wondered how it felt to live
surrounded only by boundless scenic beauty all around and without the luxury science and technology offers us! I couldn’t survive here due to difficulties of altitude discomfort that steals my breath.

(Some people are simply like that! ) Even Ato Laaygefu himself found it difficult going up from his village to his job at the lodge. But c’est la vie – this is one style of living, no less or no more than any other style, exhibited by the ever-adaptable Human species!

This is definitely a spot for eco-tourism – especially for the young and the curious or for those seeking an ascetic retreat!

But I’m slightly worried how polluted the environment of Guassa will be when spoiled tourists, with the synthetic life style of consume-and-throw find out about this virgin spot on Earth!

At any rate, I shall definitely revisit Guassa!

Eskinder Hailu
Turning Your Dream Vacation Into a Reality

Visit Choosing a Tour for a short Video or Brochure
Visit Ethiopia Tour Enquiry for a Customized Tour

Eskinder Hailu
Turning Your Dream Vacation Into a Reality

Visit Choosing a Tour for a short Video or Brochure
Visit Ethiopia Tour Enquiry for a Customized Tour

It is much more easy to find Ethiopia when you start to search from the bottom than from the top of FIFA World Rankings. In September 2008 Ethiopian national team lost place among 100 best teams in a world and now is occupying faraway 122th position. But it does not mean that black clouds were always above Ethiopian football.

There was a time when The Walya Antelopes (because this is a nickname of national team of Ethiopia) were shining on international football scene. Also input of Ethiopian Football Association in developing sport in Africa shouldn’t be underestimate.

Football has been played on Ethiopian ground probably since 1923. At the beginning foreign communities were playing against each other – the English expatriates teaching at the Teferi Mekonnen and Menelik II Schools introduced the game to the students as extra carriculium activities. The games were being played thereafter between the area schools and the existing clubs mostly composed of foreign nationalities of Armenians, Greeks, Indians and Italians who were playing against themselves. The games were being played thereafter between the area schools and the existing clubs mostly composed of foreign nationalities of Armenians, Greeks, Indians and Italians who were playing against themselves .

Ethiopian natives started to love football not before Italian occupation. At the beginning due to Italian law, which introduce racial and religion segregation. Racist decisions of Italians affected every little thing concerning the life of the city dwellers including where and when the young men could play their football. As a result of this action Ethiopians could only play against each other without mixing them with the foreign nationals. In these times football was dividing instead of connecting people who were living in Ethiopia. Breakthrough was in 1942 with the end of Italian occupation, when Ethiopians instead of taking revenge on defeated Italians, invited them to play football.

Obviously the Italian team procrastinated on making such a decision for two reasons, for fear of any riot that may arise and the unpredictability of playing against a black team.

After two months of putting of intentionally they decided to play against Giorgis on one condition and that was that Ethiopian team must have come wearing only shorts in and around the soccer field

Historical match ended with Ethiopians’ victory. The oldest and most famous Ethiopian club – Saint George won with the Italian team 4 to 1 and opened new chapter of football in the Horn of Africa.

In 1957 Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan and South Africa established African Football Confederation (Confédération Africaine de Football – CAF) and in the same year they organized the First African Cup of Nations competition. In the finals Ethiopian team lost to Egypt 0-4 and won the silver medal. But during this tournament road to the finals was for Ethiopians very short and easy. Due to exclusion of South Africa from this competition and CAF structures (resulting from the fact that they did not accept black and white players in the same team) The Walya Antelopes won semifinal by default and final was the only game that Ethiopians played during African Cup of Nations 1957.

Until today Ethiopia has managed to win African Cup of Nations only once – in 1962 during tournament organized on a home ground. In the finals, after extra time The Walya Antelopes beat Egypt 4-2. One of the supporters celebrating this big success of the Ethiopian nation on national stadium in Addis Abeba was emperor Haille Sellassie himself.
Coach of the team which won African Cup of Nations 1962 was Ydnekachew Tessema. He is said to be “father of Ethiopian football” because all greatest moments of this sport discipline are connected with his name. Ydnekachew Tessema was an initiator of the reconciliation match with Italians, he was also a founder of Ethiopian Football Association. It was also because of his ad amant attitude, the racist authorities of South African Football Association were excluded from the CAF structures.

But he reach greatest success as a coach of national team of Ethiopia. As a great fan of Brazilian football Ydnekachew Tessema introduced very offensive style among Ethiopian players and gave African football new quality. Mainly thanks to him The Walya Antelopes won gold on African Cup of Nations in Ethiopia.

21st of January is a date of a greatest moment in Ethiopian football, but unfortunately it is also beginning of a very long period without any success in football. However, Ethiopian fans should retain hope because hierarchy in a world of international football has been recently very fragile. And it is quite possible that the time of Africa will come soon…

With more than 70 ethnic groups, Ethiopia is a country that holds many   languages, dress codes, eating habits as well as music.

In a land of natural beauties and cultures, religion plays a vital role in the average Ethiopian citizen’s life.

One of the most common religions being that of the Orthodox, it is obvious that Ethiopian music has inherited a great deal of materials as well as singing styles from Churches.

Church officials (Debtera) study very hard learning musical chats for different ceremonies such as Eastern and Christmas or simple Sunday mornings.

Orthodox choirs use drums and handclapping to animate their performances.

Otherwise, it is believed that music knew its birth in Ethiopia when Emperor Haile Sallassie visited Jerusalem where he found a group of talented artists which later became Ethiopia’s is first official orchestra.

Afterwards, using different instruments, Ethiopians began making a variety of melodies along with lyrics expressing different emotions of love, happiness and sadness. The commonly used instruments, also inherited from churches are Masinko (violin), Kerar (lyre), Washint (flute) and Kebero (Drums).

As the history of Ethiopian music grew, famous artist like Telahun Gessesse, also known as the king of Ethiopian music, started appearing, entertaining the public even though religions were against music unless composed for the Lord. Mohamud Ahmed and Neway Debebe are also definite names to be seen in the Ethiopian music history.

Singing and dancing play an important role in the Ethiopian cultural life. For instance, songs our ancestors have passed on are still sung on New Year for example. This song called “abebayehosh” expresses the feelings and routine of young girls during the holiday, the use of drums is common to this celebration.

Also, on ‘Buhe’ (holiday celebrated by the Orthodox prior to new year) young boys in the neighborhoods go around signing while rhyming, wishing the elderly health and wealth. In exchange, the older people give their blessings and small bread called “mulmul’ baked for this special occasion.

Singing also accompanies farmers on duty on the country side. Farmers sing different meaningful songs about their products while planting seeds and harvesting.

Occasions such as the birth of a new child or a wedding are definite subject so the certain of an overhanging melody.

On weddings for instance, singers keep the guests, the bride and the groom and their families entertained while singing about the couple’s meeting, the siblings who will get married in the future and the accomplishments to come of the married couple.

Songs are also composed by family members and specially designated people at the death of an individual. These songs are used to mention to good things the person had done in his/her lifetime and celebrate the individual’s life.

Nowadays, talented artist emerge everyday, especially in cities mainly Addis. Some may come to sing traditional music, with modernized organs and beats. ‘Eskista’ is the most famous Ethiopian dance which is very fun to practice, it is basically the movement of shoulders accordingly with the sounds and beats of the tune.

Others like Tedy Afro have been known to produce amazing pop and slow music and some along with video clips, all in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia.

Reggae singers have also continuously been producing awesome music. The famous Sidney Solomon lead singer along with the Imperial Majestic band, give breath taking performances, especially to reggae lovers.

Ethiopian Jazz musicians have also amazed the public with unbelievable melodies to the ear. So many hidden talents hope to join the greater music industry in the very near future.

Eskinder Hailu
Turning Your Dream Vacation Into a Reality

Visit Choosing a Tour for a short Video or Brochure
Visit Ethiopia Tour Enquiry for a Customized Tour