The Atse Tewodros Project was created by Gabriella Ghermandi in 2010 in an effort to bring together Italian and Ethiopian musicians as a way of fostering mutual dialogue and artistic creation. The project was founded in Addis Ababa, growing out of the collaboration between Ethiopian composer Aklilu Zewdy and Professor Berhanu Gezaw. The Atse Tewodros Project is named after the Ethiopian Emperor Atse Tewodros II who ruled from 1855 to 1868 and was widely considered the father of modern Ethiopia. He was the first Emperor who gave Ethiopia the chance to modernize while respecting its traditions. In a similar way, the Atse Tewodros Project intends to respect traditional Ethiopian music while opening it up to dialogue and exchange.
The Atse Tewodros Project focus on creating pieces of Ethiopian music with jazz influences, incorporating music from ethnic groups whose music is relatively unknown outside of Ethiopia. The group produces songs in eight different languages, and, in addition to the highland ethnic groups, offers music from Kunama, Gamo, Gofa and others.
Gabriella Ghermandi
Singer, performer, novelist and short-story writer, Gabriella Ghermandi was born in Addis Ababa in 1965 to an Italian father and Ethiopian mother and raised in Ethiopia. In 1979, a year after her father’s death, Ghermandi moved permanently to Italy. Parallel to her work as an author and singer-songwriter, Gabriella Ghermandi has been building a considerable reputation as a performer of narratives adapted from Ethiopia’s oral and musical tradition.
As well as speaking at many conferences and educational institutions, Gabriella has been a keynote speaker at the American Association for Italian Studies.
“There is so much to explore when it comes to Ethiopian music. There are at least eighty different ethnic groups in Ethiopia, each one with different music and rhythms. Some of this music is related to functions of traditional ceremonies that are disappearing, and with them the music that belongs to these ceremonies will also disappear. In my projects, I love to research and bring out the unknown music from many ethnic groups, to share the amazing variety of Ethiopian musical genres and traditions. I work with musicians who perform on traditional Ethiopian instruments, showing Ethiopian musicians themselves how traditional instruments can dialogue with modern instruments and also with various jazz approaches. As the daughter of an Italian worker and an Ethiopian woman, my parents came together as a result of war. I like to create music with a group that brings together artists from two peoples who fought each other is a form of healing, of practicing peace. Above all, I long to bring as much Ethiopian music as possible to the world.”