4 Documentary Films on Ethiopian Music and Children September 17, 2007

Charge: 8 dollars

1. Room 11, Ethiopia Hotel
2. Lalibalocc- Living in the Endless Blessing-
3. Kids Got a Song to Sing
4. Dancing Addis Ababa

Room 11, Ethiopia Hotel
23min/ 2006

This film aims to capture a sense of the life of
children living on the street in Gondar by
witnessing the interaction between two children and the
film-maker. Although it is about the children`s
life on the streets, the entire film was shot in
the film-maker`s room in the Ethiopia Hotel. This
limited space allows the film to focus on
communication between subjects and film-maker and to
reveal some of the ideas that enable them to endure
and survive on the streets. This film is more a
sensitive testimony th
an a scientific documentary. Through its hybrid
approach, the film-maker aims to explore new
trends in visual anthropology touching upon intimacy
and subjectivity.

Lalibalocc - Living in the Endless Blessing-
25min/2005

Lalibalocc are the group of wandering singers in
Ethiopia who are believed to share the oral
tradition, which condemns them and their descendants
to leprosy unless they sing, beg and bless for
alms in the morning.
The film focuses on the singers(I¡¦(Bcreativity,
by specifically centering on the use of
rhetorical expressions in interactions with the audience.
The film presents the daily activities of an
elder Lalibalocc couple who come annually to Gondar,
the ancient capital of Ethiopia.
Before Lalibalocc start singing, they ask
neighbors the name, religion and occupation of the owner
of the house. Thus, the song lyrics are
contrived in a flexible way to uplift the feeling of the
listeners according to the personal information
they obtain from this sort of research Once
Lalibalocc receive alms in the form of money, clothes
and food, they sing particular forms of blessing
verse-wishing prosperity to the listener before
moving to the next residence.
People in Gondar have variable reaction to
Lalibalocc: some welcome them sincerely while others
refuse them with deep-seated antipathy. Thus, the
interaction between audience and Lalibalocc
mirrors the mixed emotions of people towards them.

Kids Got a Song to Sing
37min/2005

Azmari is a group of hereditary musical
performers in Ethiopia who play one stringed fiddle in the
various rituals and entertainment occasions for
the people in northern highland. The film
recounts the story of two Azmari kids who are in the
territorial dispute with adult musicians. The film
is a part of the project of recording the
life-courses of Azmari particularly focusing on a couple
of children based on the constant filming year by
year since 2001.

Dancing Addis Ababa
-Introduction to Ethnic Dance Performance Scene
in Urban Ethiopia-
39min. 2007

The film explores the recent evolution of the
ethnic dance performance scene in Addis Ababa as a
part of the inventorying intangible cultural
heritage program of UNESCO Addis Ababa.
After the end of the curfew that accompanied the
fall of DERG Socialist Regime back in 1991,
Bahirmishet- nightclubs with singers and dancers -
became widespread in Addis Ababa. Every night in
Bahirmishet, dance performers called Towzawaji
entertain the audience with various dances of ethnic
groups in Ethiopia. Choreographies, outfits and
props seen in each dance performance represent
images of ethnic groups elaborately. This particular
performance scene in Addis Ababa came under the
spot light known as the
representative of Ethiopian traditional dance
inside of the country and elsewhere. The film
demonstrates characteristics and diversity of the
dance performance based on the feedback analysis and
collaborative filmmaking method with dance
performers. It also explores how ethnic images
represented through the bodily expression of dance
performers can be created, intermingled and then
presented as an Ethiopian Traditional Dance based on
the interaction between performers and various
demands of those who consu
me it.

*Itsushi Kawase, the research fellow of Japan
Society for the Promotion of Science, has been
working on the anthropological research and filmmaking
particularly on the music in northern Ethiopia
since 2001. He is currently undertaking the film
project for the inventory-making of intangible
cultural heritage in Ethiopia under UESCO Addis
Ababa.