This is a new one I really loved. But I do remember the one below from the 90′s. Although there are a lot of African Mother songs. Most of them terrible.

This one is a very powerful and significant song. Disney knows how to make music powerful. If you have seen Endurance, then you know what they did with Ethiopian Music.

As winter was fast approaching, I made it a point I needed to travel somewhere warm this year. I was not going to get stuck in another “snowmaggedon”. You’d figure that after all of these years living abroad, I’d get used to the cold or learn to appreciate it. So i decide to make my way back home, Ethiopia. When travelling, I make a very short and concise list of things to do. Everything that happens in between is sheer luck or happenstance.

I was on a mission to meet this guy known as DJ Mitmitta. It was on my to-do list. I was trying to make use of every minute, second of my days that I missed out on asking about this man. One chilly night, I decide to go a jazz bar with a friend. In between sets I hear this great mix of ethio jazz and I ask my friend who the DJ is, low and behold : DJ Mitmitta. DJ Mitmitta, also known as Kidus, owns a music shop in aware called Mitmitta Musika. Did I forget to mention that this man is norwegian and speaks amharic that will make you question yours? Yes. So now, I’m confused that I am communicating with this norwegian guy in amharic and his knowledge about ethiopian music is rather impressive, for someone who’s only lived in Ethiopia 3-4 years. I digress.

I stumbled up on Dj Mitmittas’  tumblr blog, thanks to a friend, and ever since then I made it a point to find this man. After playing phone tag and missed appointments (addis style), I finally made it to his music shop. As soon as I walk in, I see famed masinko player Idriss Hassan playing a tune and few members from the band Le Tigre Des Platanes walking out from the back room.

I look around his music shop; he sells mostly old cassettes tapes and CD’s from ethiopian musicians living abroad, such as Debo Band. However, much to my dismay, I did not see any vinyl. Apparently, no one really sells vinyl “in public”. People sell some of their collections via middle men or you know someone who owns a collection. I ended up purchasing 5-6 cassettes tapes which he then turned into mp3′s on a CD for a small fee. Some of the artists I had never heard of like : Kedir Said, Ali Muhammad Birra, Abetew Kebede… I am not a connoisseur of traditional Ethiopian Music so if these artists are common to some of you, please cut me some slack.

Besides owning a store in aware, Dj Mitimitta has a weekly gig at Guramayle Jazz Club in Bole with the in-house band called the Jazzmaris. He also has aspirations in the music scene which are exciting and can’t truly reveal. If you ever make it to Ethiopia in the near future, I urge to visit his shop, support good music and get a taste of the local Ethio Jazz nightlife which is thriving!

Although slowly, we here at bernos have been made some progress over the summer. We have been sending our products to retailers in various parts of the world.

I remember when we first sent some bernos™ tees to a store in US Virgin Islands about 18 months ago.

One of these stores is Agnes & Lola anAfrican Boutique based in London; which launched this past summer.  It was nice to see Lola Remi and Agnes & Lola featured on CNN this past weekend.

Please read the article and share it via your social networks; because like Lola said:

It’s not just about building ourselves but about promoting Africa in a positive way.”
—Lola Remi, founder of Agnes & Lola

We are extending the Free Shipping week from Last week through Thanksgiving.

We forget how big it is because of the lack of socio-political influence on western culture, I think.

Africa is bigger than North America, China and India combined. Yet, in the news I hear more about China or India everyday. Africa is out of mind and out of sight for the westerners. 

Here is an Original Image where you can check out the True Size of Africa.

Yes we know its been a while but we are still here!

Summer of 2010 is almost over but it was very good. We went to San Jose for ESFNA in July. It was exciting to meet some of our west coast bernos™ fans. While in San Jose, we introduced our new bernos™ shirts.

If you were there, then consider yourself lucky since you received a preview of what was to come. It seems as though we’ve been quiet and maybe not doing too much. Au contraire, Nolawi has been putting man hours in revamping the site and making it more easy for you to shop and navigate. Many new features, including but not limited to moving our site from bernos.org to bernos.com although both urls will direct you to the main site.

bernos™ kids tee

Our customers have been bombarding us with request for a kids version of the bernos™ tees. We’re happy to announce our new bernos™ kids tees; we are starting with two concepts — ET alien & Baby Afro.

bernos™ kids ET Alien is available now in 3 different sizes on Orange American Apparel tee.

Baby Afro

The Afro — is the natural hairstyle for people of African descent, although there is variation of the Afro Hairstyle each represent genuine beauty of African people.

The Baby Afro concept came about our appreciation of African beauty and aesthetics, as embodied by the Black is beautiful movement; from a 2 year old child to your 90 year old grandma. The bernos™ Baby Afro tee for kids is available now in 3 different sizes on baby blue American Apparel tee.

Everyday people

Introducing new bernos™ tee called Everyday people, inspired by the 1968 single by Sly & the Family Stone The concept with varieties Djembe drums not only represents a traditional African musical utensil but also the wide variation of cultures and history within the continent that have coexisted throughout history.

The Djembe in Africa represents the gathering of people and listening to music. DJe means Gather and be means everyone in bambara language.

bernos.com

We are currently in the testing phase the next couple of weeks so if you encounter issue please email us at info@bernos.com; and let us know.

If you order more than 2 tshirts at this time, you get free shipping.

Yes, we are developing our new site and I have been working on it on and off for about 3 months. It’s one of those things I have started working on a few times but somehow things fall apart as with any large web development project with a very small budget and time (mostly the bernos team’s). The new bernos™ site  is near a real e-commerce application on par with the large retailers and not just an open source content management system that is hastily installed.

Yesterday, as I was working on the product page and with all the things that we are going to leverage with the launch of the new site, including new bernos™ tees, bernos™ kids and as well as the many features of our application, I was thinking we should definitely educate people on the quality of the American Apparel tees.  I was thinking maybe some kind of logo badge….proudly printed on American Apparel t-shirts.

Everything about American Apparel has inspired me in many ways. The way they market their products unapologetically or their political stances on immigration like in the Legalize LA campaign (wiki), as well as their socially conscious position on manufacturing. They have the highest earning workers in the apparel industry, all the while the competition way is paying 50 cents an hour they were paying 24 times that at 12$ an hour.

All these and by the time bernos™ launched in 2006 they were the largest clothing manufacturer in the United States; and one of the only companies that exported a Made in USA apparel. As well as the largest wholesale for graphic tee designers large and small even though the wholesale cost of the t-shirt almost 4 times more than the average price of their competitors.

We get emails from customers that don’t know about American Apparel, asking as why we don’t use certain brands of tees or why we don’t do production in Ethiopia or somewhere in Africa. I casually shrug them off because I didn’t want to explain all the things I’ve mentioned above.

But yesterday, the company I invested in, yes I have some stock (not much) but nonetheless the shares fell and fell hard.   AA recently changed accounting firm and they got a federal subpoena, some kind of accounting scandal may or not may come and AA, like a lot of clothing manufacturing companies, is not turning profit these days.

AA owes a lot of money; they might also be delisted from the NYSE Amex stock exchange for not filing quarterly reports on time. But not to worry, they will survive because their market share in the industry is huge and everyone needs to get paid, even if they might end up in Bankruptcy protection. And bernos™ will continue to serve on the American Apparel brand.

Location: In front of 4 kilo AAU, café X, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Time: 9:30 PM

It was a random Thursday night. Gorgeous Addis Ababa evening weather. I can still feel the fresh breath of air on my face, my arms. I was a freshman at the University and I could not get enough of the newly acquired freedom. And I abused it profusely. I do not know how I made it through the first semester. I went out in that semester more than I can ever account for in the coming 10 years of my life.

This particular evening, my friends were supposed to pick me up at 9: 30, we were going out to one of the clubs, after having some macchiato at one of the café on bole road. We were supposed to go to 6 kilo campus to spend the night afterwards as the security was more lenient and we could use one of the windows to get into the dorm. We have done it plenty of times.

But this time around, my friends were late….I looked at my watch impatiently, and I said to Girma, “Beka ayemetum malete newe” (I guess they are not coming). Even though the club scene was not new to me I was disappointed. Girma is one of the guys that I have known since day one of my campus life. He hangs out at the café in front of 4 kilo every single evening.

He tells us he has a store in merkato. He lives in the apartment complex right by campus. I have been to his place on a couple of occasions’, following his gentle invitation to have tea. Needless to say one or two of my friends has always been there with me. He has become one of our ‘friends.’

Time is approaching dangerously 10 PM, time when the ladies dormitory will be locked. This is a time where cell phones were gadgets we only knew in the movies. I reluctantly picked my self up to start my walk towards my room. Girma stops me and tells me, u know u can always spend the night at my place if she does not show up, why don’t u wait for her a little more, I will sleep on the couch and u can have the bed.

I remember finding the idea to be very brilliant, but I insisted I could sleep on the couch. My friends were still MIA at 10:30. The café was long closed. Girma and I started our walk to his place. We took the elevator all the way to his floor and we walked into his apartment. The second we walked into his apartment, he locked the door behind us, turned around and grabbed me by my hands and started kissing me. It was as if he just could not wait for us to cross the door, and when it happened he really could not believe it. My entire being froze. I started fighting vigorously, but the fight was over even before it started. I was a scrawny teenager, just out of high school, and he was a robust man in his mid 20ies.

I fought with all the strength I had, I screamed at the top of my lungs. My fight was to no avail, my voice to no use. I felt a cold furor possessing my entire being in front of my weakness, my physical inability to protect my body. I hated being a woman for the first time of my life. I was a spectator to my own demise, loss of innocence as I could not save me from the animalistic, raw, bestial desire of a man. It is a scene engraved on my brain, man in his pure primitive state, greedy, selfish….at the mercy of his desire….no superego in action…no self control at all….

I was laid on the floor, for I do not know how long. I got up slowly, but I was not able to move far as his hands were quick to imprison me again. This time around he encountered no battle. I did not have it in me to even feign a slight resistance. I witnessed the same thing happening to me again and again. It was almost like my eyes were seeing, but my mind not registering…. my body and my brain belonging to two different entities at that particular moment. I assume now it was my minds way of coping with what was happening to me.

He was finally asleep as I snuck out of his apartment. I do not know what time it was, I realize I had lost my watch, as I reach the ground floor. I started walking and the fresh air on my face brought me up to reality. I realized I had no destination in my head, but I was walking. I saw a couple of taxis waiting for customers. I got into one and gave him my address. I paid the dues and knocked on my door.

The shock on the Zebegna’s face clearly tells me I should have been looking like a mess. “Menew Dehna ayedeleshem ende, mene honeshe”…I just had enough time to comb my hair with my fingers, when my mum’s voice came from the main door….Mane newe bezih seate bere yemiyankuwakuwaw…..I realized then, I was really not supposed to be coming home at the woo hours of the night, but I really did not care…..

Ten years later, another continent, another country, another city…..

Denver , Coloroado…

(To be continued….)

Browsing through Ethiopian pictures on Flickr, I came across the one above. I glanced at the comments section and there was a guy complaining that the ad was senseless, among other things. So I took a second look  and it really was terrible, terrible sentence.

For starters, why is the word tigist in quotes? Do they mean patience or not? If the quotes have to be on anything at all, it should be on “second” … since technically that’s not an Amharic word. But what else should they use if they mean 1/60th of a minute? LOL. Well, I believe the Amharic word for second is sEkond. Ok, ok … maybe i’m nitpicking here!

The worst offender is really the last word : ‘lemetadeg‘. Correct me if I’m wrong but for one thing, it’s not a word. At least not in Amharic. If they’re trying to say ‘to prevent the loss of life and property…’, the word they’re looking for is a variation of maged. For this case, they should say lemaged.

“ye ‘second’ tgist hiywotna nibreting ketrafic adega lemaged”

Many people mess up ‘maged‘ and say, ‘metaged‘, which is really nonsense. But the ad didn’t even use lemetaged. They flipped some consonants (or entire feedeloch in Amharic) and ended up with lemetadeg. At best, the made up word at the end of the ad is a screwed up version of lemadeg.

In other words, with faulty grammar, the ad kinda says,

‘A second’s patience, to grow the loss of life and property …’

No f*%king kidding, Shell! A bit Hama Tuma-esque.

This is from 2006. In 2010, it would of course be more appropriate for BP to sponsor this ad instead.

“ye ‘second’ tgist hiywotna nibretin ke ma’idin mawCHa adega lemetadeg”

I also just realized that I really don’t know how to say ‘mining’or ‘drilling’ in Amharic. Mts.

Report shows that Africa has 12% of the new cell phone subscribers in the world, tallying 20 million more cell phone users in first Quarter of 2010.

What’s actually more fascinating to me is that they’re saying that the continent now has close to 50% penetration; meaning that there’s a lot of growth left to be had as equates to the rest of the planet.

I don’t know much about the internet phone usage but I did hear that South Africa has a service similar to 3G of AT&T.

Also smart phones are cheaper in Africa! Or so I’ve heard!

I am always confused when someone say mobile instead of cell phone. Read this interesting article about how phones end up in Africa.

... In any cluster of mobile phone shops you find someone who offers repair services. … People then come asking if other things can be fixed, and over time there’s an increased awareness of how to fix different models.”

We are here at work (dotmike from BlenCorp) but we are not working. One of my African buddies has created an a little gadget antenna that lets him watch the game on a small laptop hidden away in the corner of the cubical.

We have also been arguing who will make it and out of the first round and who won’t. Technically, after 2 games everyone in every round still has a chance to make it to the second round.

Although the calculation becomes a little complicated after the second game especially if there are a lot of ties and the goal differentials change in the last game. Thus, we created a web application that will calculate the odds of passing the first round. We started as 4 and by 6 we are done and it’s live here.

Qlick Qlick Qlick & Qalculate!

I haven’t been able to concentrate enough to think straight the last week let alone work. I have been watching the first world cup in Africa. Tshabalala & Drogba are my two favorite players this cup.

I have never been able to understand true fans of soccer that root for teams other than their own. For me since my country is not in I have since 1986 my first cup to watch had continental pride.

I have been lucky enough to attend eight ESFNA Tournaments here in North America and every year I am excited about the games, the gathering, the soccer games and most of all the parties.

This year is especially exciting for me because bernos™ has become a veteran at ESFNA with a booth; looking forward to seeing familiar faces as well as new ones.

Things are always hectic though and we have officially entered the post millennia world much like the world cup with an app to make things simpler.

I found ArifQuas, an iPhone application for ESFNA and the events surrounding it. I found it on Facebook and I contacted the developers to see how we can make use of it. I had been reading the reviews of the new iPhone two weeks ago as the new 4g is coming in the month. And I read that 51million iPhone have been sold and it’s not slowing; its growing and its time for us, African to enter the world of reaching our niche market through an app.

With that bernos™ has sponsored this ArifQuas application not only because we believe this is going to help our presence at soccer tourney but also because niche technology targeting previously not represented people must be supported.

We were decades behind the rest of the world for years with no real standard Unicode for Amharic. The smart developers and font designers were all independently working and the industry didn’t mature till the last couple of years.

It’s time we the people steer development of things we need by supporting or discouraging actions that help or hurt our society. Business in not everything, sometimes quality beats quantity and ArifQuas by ArifSoft a fantastic application.

Don’t take my word for it, download it on your iPhones app store and then find bernos™.

I will be 29 on June 19th. Officially a geezer. Older than dirt? Not yet.

I am not much of birthday-celebrating-type guy, but this year, I would like my birthday mean something different. I’m donating my birthday to charity:water— an organization dedicated to giving people access to clean water. They have had a tremendous success over the last three years and have drilled 1017 water wells in Ethiopia alone giving 455,711 people access to clean water.

But, instead of citing more statistics or show you charts about how dire the situation is, I thought I’d tell you a little bit about my dad and his water well drilling rig.

Here is the setup: rewind 14 years. We were in Ethiopia and I was only 15.

One evening, my dad came home rushing to sit on the family dinner table. Much to my mom’s chagrin, this was a normal occurrence in our household. It usually meant, he has something in his mind and he wants to sketch out while it’s still fresh in his mind. Drafts man by training, he tends to explain things in straight lines and circles than words.

But that night, it was one of those ‘aha‘ moments. After bowing his head over things he was sketching on pieces of paper for hours, he rose and resolutely said I will build a water well drilling rig. Driving to another meeting earlier that day, he has seen a water well drilling machine somewhere on the road for the first time and the sight had inspired his wonder.

As he did many times before, when there was a shortage of soap or food in Ethiopia, he saw himself as the guy who would build machines to solve these problems. He was the first person to build a dough mixer, soap machine, satellite dish, etc.. in Ethiopia. 

You see, for his technical mind, building a water well drilling rig was the next logical step. He said to himself, Ethiopia needs clean water. He was the guy who will build the machine in Ethiopia that can bring clean water from beneath the ground by communities for whom water or the scarcity of water meant life or death.

He had to see the rig in reality, tonight. As many in his generation, he is an impatient and relentless man earning his nick name from his friends “endeT ad’ro” loosely translated as “I want it yesterday”.

So, off he went. Over the next four years, he sketched, built, cut, demolished, consulted, went abroad, erected, tore it back, got pissed, got happy, grew older, depleted his resources, almost gave up, went abroad again and again and again…

…and then, on a faithful afternoon in 1999, his rig successfully drilled 40 meters and the clean water came gushing out of the earth into in the air. I have never seen my dad that happy!

He finally figured an elegant solution. His proved himself yet again that his dream of giving access to clean water to those in need was technically solvable.

Now, as my dad tried to do then, charity:water is tackling the same problem at a larger scale.

So, my friends, as I turn another year in my life and grow some more grey hair, I ask you one thing: Would you to be kind enough to join me in reliving this memory by donating $29 to my campaign at charity:water?

It will mean clean water to those families who are in desperate need.

And, it will mean the world to me.

Because, water is life!

?

I read top ten lists all the time mostly about technology; or sometime designs or photography. I have read many random facts of African countries although it seems like most of the ones white people write are generic.

Like (in my California blond voice) ‘Africa has 54 countries. I thought it was a country in itself. ‘ Yes and Africans are 1/6 of the world population and we have over two thousand languages and dialects which comprise 25% of the world languages.

So yes, this list I compiled over 3 ½ weeks. My list is the most interesting and most unknown. Some wow factors, I will now stop tooting my horn and let you be the judge in no particular order:

1. Arabic in different dialect is the most spoken language in African with over 175 million speakers (estimated). Not only is it the most used language but it influenced many other language in Africa.
2. Sudan has twice as many Pyramids than Egypt. source
3. There are more physical variations than on any other continent among the native populations of Africa. source
4. At one time, prior to colonization (scramble of Africa) Africa had more than 10,000 different states. There are only 54 countries now. source
5. 93 % of Equatorial Guinea’s labor force is comprised of Men. I could not find the average proportion of male to female work force in Africa but the number is estimated to be around 75%.
6. Shells were once used as currency in Africa as recently as in the 19th Century. source
7. Cricket is the second most popular sport in Africa. The west influenced Africa too.
8. Africa is the only continent to have a large percentage of its population transported for slave labor. Estimate that approximately 8–12 million slaves were transferred from between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. The number might seem minute but Africa population before the 19th century was never over 120 million. 8% to 10% of African was slaves at one time. source
9. The Nile is the longest river in the world. Most people thing it’s the Amazon.
10. The largest Desert in the world, the Sahara is growing by about ½ a mile a month. Looking for confirmation for this one.

Can’t imagine being  estranged from their own parents for 27 years, but Sandra Laing, a “black” South African woman experienced that during the apartheid era. Born to White parents, she was born with “African features” which caused much controversy & eventually forced her to claim the race that the South African government classified her as – Colored.

A while back someone wrote about the  effects of skin color on bernos, and I wrote about beauty. When I think about skin colors, I think of house Negros from the field Negros. House Negros intermingled with the white bosses and even had children with them and through generations they became lighter than their brothers and sisters in the field.

Regardless though, the blood of a black person automatically classifies one as black. Refer to Obama for this one. He is Black; no one even talks about him being half white, not predominately anyways.

This is one of those stories, a true one at that, we can learn from and understand why, even as Africans, it’s engrained within us to view lighter skinned people as superior that those of that are darker.

Nolawi wrote a piece about Munit’s video “Noro Noro” a little over a year ago. He was referring more to her style of music and how much he loved the fact that it was not synthesized, or over synthesized, like a lot of Ethiopian music nowadays.

I don’t remember how I met Munit, but I remember the first time I saw her sing. It was 6 years ago at an event organized in DC  by the Ethiopian Student Association . I remember seeing this tiny woman with so much energy walking around and talking to mutual friends. Her laugh was infectious. Little did I know,  she had a voice that could render a room silent.

Munit sang back up for Wayna and has collaborated with countless artists. For those of you who had a chance to go back to Ethiopia in the last few months, she had a successful few months at Club Alize.

I could go on and on about her and her music, but I’d rather you come and see her perform and be blown away. Bernos’ 4th year anniversary on  Sat May 29th is at The Warehouse Loft. She’ll be performing alongside BSheba and Meklit Hadero. Make sure to purchase your tickets for the show.

As a music lover, I’ve always been open to different genres and musicians. I always want to hear the next best thing.  Over the last few years,  I’ve been privy to a lot of new and good music.

Meklit and I have never met. We have mutual friends and have heard about each other. It wasn’t until recently that I realized that she is an amazing artist.  It wasn’t also until recently that I received her album, “On A Day Like This“  in my inbox to listen to it. One dreary Saturday afternoon, while working with Nolawi and the Blen Team,  I decided to listen to it. We were all in awe.

Usually when listening to an EP/LP, I pick out 1 or 2 of my favorite tracks. I’m pretty good at memorizing album names, lyrics and track lists. Over the years though, I’ve been very picky about what I’ll commit to memory.  Meklit’s “On A Day Like This“  has been on repeat, loop, shuffle in my iPod for the last month and half. Every single track speaks volume and will move you.

However,  her rendition of Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” was an unexpected surprise.  As soon as I heard the washint playing in the beginning of the song, I was sold.  The way the washint is played in the intro will leave you with goose bumps. As Meklit begins singing the first verse, you can feel the power in her voice and almost as if she feels liberated.

Her album will make you feel good,  her songs will enchant you and her voice will mesmerize you.

As her bio eloquently puts it, “If Joni Mitchell were East African and met Nina Simone for tea in San Francisco’s Mission District, she might end up sounding like Meklit Hadero.” I cannot stress enough how amazing she is. She’s been featured on NPR’s “Tell Me More” (3/24), as well as several blogs.  In amazon.com pre-sales, Meklit’s album reached #9 for sales in the category of Jazz vocals, #20 in the category of broadway/vocals, and #42 for pop vocals. It reached the #1 slot for music movers and shakers.

Meklit will be on tour in the East Coast. We are pleased to announce that her first stop will be in DC for  Bernos’ 4th year Anniversary .  Please mark your calendars for:

Saturday, May 29^th @ the Warehouse Loft – 411 New York Ave NE , Wash DC.  More details to follow soon.

And she’ll be in NYC, as well – at the New Africa Live at Le Poisson Rouge on June 1st.

The Album is already out on Amazon only and will be released nationally on April 20th.

You can find Meklit on Facebook & Twitter .

Airing your dirty laundry; behind closed doors; biting your tongue; left in the dark; covering your tracks; keeping it under the hat; under wraps; on the DL (down-low); mum is the word; off the record.

These are English idioms off the top of my head with a little bit of help via Google; basically verbalizing the act of ‘keeping it a secret.’ Not in the slightest is using phrases like these a major vocabulary(ic) accomplishment, in fact these are common phrases used by, I dare say, by common people.

The English language remains diverse with its idiosyncrasies; in timing, accent, idioms, and regular expressions among much other dissimilarities. Nevertheless the topic is not the language itself, rather the meaning of the phrases.

Secrets are part of life, and they play an important role in keeping social in all aspects of our lives including governance, business and personal lives. I once read that without secrecy animals can’t hide their offspring’s from harms way thereby ensuring the survival of their species.

A good male friend or so I thought, recently told me about a recent incident excluding some details. Who was present? He replied with ‘my girl friend.’ What, you mean to tell me that we have talked nearly every-day over last few months and you didn’t tell me about your GF.

Apparently, it was never brought up; I shared although he never asked about my personal life. We have discussed wide varieties of themes including matter of the heart, but I did ask if he has a GF, why should I, he is a dude. If it was significant in his life and as we are friends he would mention it; perhaps I expected that it would be mentioned.

Just one example but it’s a repeating theme; I have had a woman say to me that she is also seeing someone else months after entanglement. I was told not to assume!

Women have told me significant details about their personal life after it was significantly omitted; including the fact one was married. Married..! are you efen kidding me? No, I thought you knew, she exclaimed.

At least now I could check off the “carrying on in an affair” off my bucket list, though being single instance ‘Karma is a bitch!,’ I heard.

Undoubtedly the Ethiopian community is another animal in itself; our culture is dead set on keeping everything a secret; details of our lives must be kept closely guarded. Two lives, one that is actual and another that is perceived reality.

My significant secret is the fact I was adopted but no one not even my best friend, my girl friend or my cousin knows about it. Only my mother and my cousin’s father and my grand parents know about it. Although I suspect cousins father told his wife and his wife told her best friend and now a few random people know and it’s not publicly acknowledged.

I found out about it only 10 years ago because of health reasons. I now live my life going out of my way to hide the fact I was adopted.  It will continue to haunt my life forever.

The story about the adoption a complete fiction I only made it up to emphasize the type of secrets that is kept in our society.

These are the kind of secrets that are kept hushed up; for no apparent reason! Females are worse than the males although understandably because of the magnified constraints and pressure our culture puts on them much like of the third world.

I am not saying go out of your way to make everything public. No just don’t go out of your way to hide significant details of your life from significant people in your life.  That will be a big step forward!

Now that we finally know which countries are going to the world cup in South Africa this summer, wiki published a map and it’s really intriguing.

Looking at the map, the green for qualified; {see Large version here}nearly all of Asia except the two Koreas and Japan; as a matter of fact, even though this will be the first African World cup out of 53 countries less than 3% will qualify in the world tournament.

Nearly all of South American and most of Western Europe seems almost always guaranteed. It’s not just me saying, it but FIFA ranking system is terribly flawed.

Its seems so complicated that I think most of the soccer players do not understand how it works. You can read more about the process and the recent update here.

Now if in two years if a new team becomes fantastic but the team has never participated with another team that is deemed to have a strong competitive state then it’s weighed against them. Kind of like boxing, if you don’t get a match from the champion how are you suppose to show the world that you can possibly beat him.

I will be rooting for the below teams to win the whole enchila this year.

• Cameroon
• Côte d’Ivoire
• Ghana
• Nigeria
• South Africa

Ethiopia from olivia wyatt on Vimeo.

Filmmaker Olivia Wyatt went to Ethiopia to document the music of 13 different tribes for her a film on tribal Music on Ethiopia.

Along with the film, she took some Polaroid’s of her experiences with the locals. The shots somehow found my inbox via two sources. See more on pages 46-54!

I thought they were very worthy of note, and well fairly re-emphasizes my claim about photography that the camera doesn’t matter.

More searching online, I found the below quote story,

One night I took a mini-bus 12 hours north of Addis to witness a Zar spirit possession on a hyena-invested mountain. We left at 3 a.m. from Addis Ababa. On my bus there was a Muslim woman, a catholic priest, a six-year-old boy, and other adults. I fell asleep, but awoke at 4:30 am to p

olice men with guns at my window. Directly behind them, a mini-bus was completely turned over and the police were angry that we were traveling illegally at night, so they took us all to a tiny jail in the mountains and we were told we had to stay there until sunrise.

Everyone was staring at me; they would look in my direction and whisper and laugh, or some just stared, even the police. I decided to just go and talk to the police. I asked them questions about their life and told them what New York might be like at 4 a.m. and the next thing I know, they let us go. The entire bus was chanting “forenji, forenji, forenji!” [foreigner]. Source!

Indeed Forenji! The only thing is that she thinks Forenji means foreigner, it does and it doesn’t the origin is actually not foreigner but French and its used to describe white people not all foreigners. I think!

But what a story , and what great photos!

Daym, is what I was thinking when I saw the above chart, the growth rate of twitter is unheard of in the world of web. Twitter is now processing 50 million Tweets a day, which comes to about 1.5 billion Tweets a month.

By Comparison, Facebook which has more users and the number two website in the world grew so much slower.

I went back to read an article I wrote about a year ago. I was such a pessimist, how many friendships and relationships were broken up by it, but in reality how has it helped all of us keep in touch with friends, family and help up network a bit more, both professionally and personally.

I am going to look at twitter more positively because it suits me, or at-least my view of how everyone should be. Opinions, in 40 letters or less.

This way it helps us Africans who are so frightened of expressing our feelings publicly. Twitter will be therapy for African.

I know it sounds ridiculous but think about it, practice makes perfect!

Bernos though is not doing so well on Twitter, compared to Facebook, we have 250 followers to 5000 Fans.

I was discussing with Beshou, who is much less adverse to the social media technologies, and I asked her how to improve and she gave me some marketing methodologies. Well, and the method although might work were not organic, meaning people that are not inclined to follow us because they want to know about us does not necessarily help us.

Its like mass email that is unsolicited. Those that do not opt in to receive it just ignore it, so its pointless. And so when you market, leads are not generated by quantity rather by the quality. ie extreme niche targeting!

Oluchi Onweagba, that is her name — she is no Alek Wek, I have always love Alek because of her skin color, but there is a whole girlish look to her. I know most of you guys will disagree, but we all can agree that she changed the way being black is looked at, at least commercially more so than the top black models of the 90′s.

I first saw Oluchi’s picture on a Gianfranco Ferré ad on some magazine, years ago and I looked her up because I was fascinated by her looks.

I have always been interested in the color of skin, at least for people African decent. I know for some we are all black, & yes I agree but there are a lot of different types of black people.

For most westerners, Kojo Nnamdi from Guyana is the same as Yaphet Kotto, who is from Cameroon. And yes at some point in history we were the same but we are not anymore; there are a lot of diverse types of black people with distinctive cultures and unique histories.

As a consequence our looks differ, and each culture appreciates beauty in divergent customs. But bias play a role in how  mainstream society views beauty and the proof is in the pudding. According to what I read at some point on Forbes; Liya Kebede is the only black model with earnings in the top 15, the rest are all white.

CBS, or Tyra approved for the use of the Americas Next Top Model brand for West Africa; I think somewhere West Africas Next top model is on air, featuring women from 16 countries in West Africa.

My point is to bust the idea that lighter skin is not necessarily better than darker skin.

Wale – My Sweetie (directed by tabi Bonney) from tabi Bonney on Vimeo.

2009 was a great year for us; we experienced a lot unexpected positive outcomes, and a lot of our hard work came to fruition.  As soon as we were ready to call it a year and start working on 2010, Dawit gets a call from Tabi Bonney’s production company and he tells me that Bernos is going to be featured on Wale’s video “My Sweetie” off his new album “Attention Deficit.”

For those of you who are not familiar with Wale, he is a local rapper who got signed to a major record label and released his album in late 2009.

It was a chilly, dreary and rainy Saturday morning as Dawit came and picked me up to go to the location. We were both excited and sort of unsure on how to proceed with such things. Obviously, we are going there to provide wardrobe and that was it.

However, what we didn’t expect is what really goes on behind the scenes. Tabi Bonney and his production company were directing the video.  Earlier in the week, they had a casting call for African female models in the area for the video.  We were able to bring one of our favorite models, Selam who was gracious enough to accept our offer.

We had to opportunity to meet some local talents who work in the industry. It was also amazing to see the hard work and organization that goes into these type of productions. Wale & Tabi Bonney were gracious enough to accept a few of our tshirts.

Once the video is up and ready for viewing, we’ll upload it and share with you. In the meantime, click here to listen to the single.

photo source

The smell of yerga chaffe fills my nose and I am taken by the rich seductiveness of its scent. It takes me to Lake Tana, to the buna farmers, and back again to where I am now. Where am I? I am sitting in my boyfriend’s family’s house after dinner and witnessing the famous coffee ceremony. I am amazed as the incense swirls into the air, as the roasted coffee smell wafts into the apartment’s atmosphere, and the beauty of it all.

If only life was as simple as sipping a small porcelain cup of coffee…

I am a woman. I am a feminist. I am an American and more specifically…Black American. My mother has Southern roots in South Carolina and Georgia and my father is a racial “mut” (as he likes to call himself). Being Black American and entering the habesha world has been interesting and sometimes frustrating.

Since a young girl, I was introduced to many of the different cultures within Ethiopia and Eritrea through my father who had a love affair with the continent of Africa before my conception. He, being a man of philosophy and theology, was interested in Ethiopia as one of the birthplaces of ancient Christianity. I learned about the different peoples of Africa and fell in love with a handful of countries. Ethiopia and Eritrea have always been in my top five. My father explained how the people of Ethiopia and Eritrea were compassionate and good people. And they are.

However, I was not prepared for the tightly knit nature of the habesha culture. When I met and fell in love with a habesha man, I was not ready for the frustration that would ensue. I was not ready for the remarks from habesha women that were along the lines “why did I take a good one?” because my boyfriend had a great paying job. I was not ready for the disgusted stares that would come from the habesha community as we walked down the U street corridor.

I would come home at night and ponder how some members of the habesha community could be so against one brown person loving another brown person. I wasn’t angry, but frustrated. I knew about the pride of the people. I knew they were never colonized and I knew they thought they were the most beautiful people in the world. I wasn’t against their views, matter of fact, I was attracted to my boyfriend because he was beautiful inside and out. The attitudes persisted…

However, the stares and the comments did not prepare me for what was brewing at home between us. Culture is our very own eyeglasses – our lens – that we don’t take off. We use them to see the world and it is always the right prescription because it is ours. It is what we know – it is our tape that replays every second in our lives. As me and my boyfriend looked at each other with our own lens, we discovered our own shortcomings and our cultural definitions which were hard to exchange or challenge.

I was a feminist and I had problems accepting the perceptions and roles of some women in Ethiopia and Eritrea. He had concerns with the American woman and the individualistic nature of most Americans. Although he didn’t believe the stereotypes of Black Americans, I am sure it was in his subconscious mind. I would call him African – he would say “I am habesha.”

I would tell him that those countries were in Africa and he would say “we were told that we were different, but I know that we are in Africa.” I told him that racism abounds although Obama was elected. He didn’t believe me. He thought that Washington DC was a mirror for the rest of this great land called the United States. These minor cultural misunderstandings would continue into our relationship and force us to go deeper and challenge us to think broader and in a more real sense. However, it came to a head one chilly day in 2009.

My boyfriend walked outside of a grocery store and it happened. What Black Americans know and never forget….that it lives…and it rears its head in the nastiest of ways sometimes. My habesha boyfriend walked out of the grocery store and mistakenly walked behind a car that was trying to pull out of a parking spot. The enraged driver said “Nigger!!!!” He came home and told me the story and said “but I wanted to tell her that I wasn’t a nigger, I’m habesha.” I shook my head and let it drop into my hands in pure frustration.

What he didn’t understand at the time was the complexity of color, class, and race. He didn’t understand that in the eyes of the “other,” he was now one of us. He had become Black American and he didn’t understand. He didn’t understand how he could be confused with Black American.

He didn’t understand that in America, it wasn’t if you were Amhara, Gurage, or Tigre – it was if you were black, white, brown, or yellow.  He couldn’t understand that in Washington DC where the habesha community was strong, people would know he was from Ethiopia or Eritrea, but the farther south he would go; the more he would morph into a Black person and what that would mean.

He no longer was habesha, he was a Black person that would be stared at in expensive restaurants, pondered over because of his expensive clothes, and would be discriminated against like us (Black Americans, that is). He had no idea that his skin color that could do so much good in his own country would challenge him in another.

Two years later, we are still pondering these same issues and thinking about marriage. We wonder what our children will face. What will the children of a black woman and a habesha man face? As they try to learn Amharic and English – hand dancing and Eskista, among it all – we hope they will realize that they are just people. We are all one in the same.

Elle B.

December 24, 2009 marked the one year anniversary of the passing of the wonderful, incredibly talented singer, music writer and lyricist, Menelik Wossenachew.  Below is a piece I wrote for Horizon Ethiopia’s November issue.

What makes one artist a legend and another with equal or more talent obscure?  That was the question that popped in my head when I saw the reaction to Tilahun Gessesse’s passing.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved the man.  He was an incredible performer and had one of the best voices I’ve come across.

And I believe the reaction he received was well deserved. The question for me was, how come I didn’t see 1% of the same reaction when the veteran and amazing talent, Menelik Wossenachew passed away four months prior? A scan in the life and times of the gentle crooner might answer the question.

Early Years

Menelik Wossenachew was born in 1940 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; although he grew up in the city of Harar where he went to a French school. Later on, he dropped out of high school and joined Alliance Ethio-Française in Addis Ababa for five years. In 1960 he joined the Haile Selassie I Theatre Orchestra.  He was fist hired as a backup vocalist but quickly became a favorite of the director of the Orchestra, the grandfather of all arrangers; Nerses Nalbandian.

The first two songs he sang on stage were Almaz Eyasebkush and Fiqer Lemn Yiqer. Other hits continued including Afer Atinfegign, Fiker Bastergwami, Yachi Lij Konjo Nat, Teyaqiyew Biaschegregn (Ene Wushetenew,) YeHarerwa WeTat, Fiker Ayarjim, and Sukar Sukar. The last two were written by clarinet player, Merawi Sitot and their music was taken from two popular Sudanese tunes.  Nerses Nalbandian was so impressed with Menelik’s vocal range that he had him sing opera as well.

Coming Of Age

In 1965, while still at the orchestra, Menelik joined the second Ras Band which had been assembled by Girma Beyene when the first band left to play at the newly built Ghion Hotel.  The second Ras Band consisted of Girma Beyene (piano & English vocals), Tesfamariam Kidane (saxophone), Hailu “Zehon” Kebede (bass), Girma Zemariam (drums), Menelik Wossenachew and Seyfu Yohannes (vocalists). The songs Wub Natand Tikura were performed by Menelik Wossenachew while he was at the Ras Band.  Menelik Wossenachew and Girma Beyene continued their friendship and collaboration after the Ras Band disbanded in the late 1960’s.

In the early 1970s Menelik recorded several tracks for Phillips Ethiopia including Fikrachin, Mambo Sambo, Aderch Arada and Tebeb Teqami New.  The first two were recorded with the All Star Band and arranged by Mulatu Astatqe while the last two were recorded with the Haile Selassie I Theatre Orchestra and arranged by Nerses Nalbandian.

Tebeb Teqami New was very famous as it was used as the opening to an education program on Ethiopian Radio. Around the same time period he recorded: Nefes Eko Nat (Sele Wubetwa Sadenq,) Asha Gedawo, Menew Bacher Qere, Eshet Eshet, Chereqa, Meqabren Liyew, Tizeta, Belew Bedubaye, Bati and Min Nekash. With the exception of Bati> and Min Nekash (Phillips Ethiopia) all of these tracks were recorded by Amha Eshete (Amha Records).  By this time, Menelik’s smooth as silk voice was gaining recognition and his ballads invariably left listeners wanting to hear more.

Menelik was not only vocally talented but a wonderful lyricist as well. Apart from what he wrote for himself (Fikrachin, Mambo Sambo, Nefes Eko Nat, Asha Gedawo, Menew Bacher Qere, Eshet Eshet, Chereqa, Meqabren Liyew, Tizeta, Belew Bedubaye, and Bati) he wrote two incredible songs: Tilahun Gessesse’s Lanchi Biye (he also composed the music for this) and Mahmoud Ahmed’s Fitsum Dinq Lij Nesh.

Parts of Lanchi Biye were recently sampled by the Somalian hip hop artist, K’Naan for his song America.  Chereqa(Moon) is a song based on the children song Chereqa Dembulboqa. The beautiful Meqabren Liyew (Let me see my grave) is an eerie song about Menelik’s wish to see his resting place before his death, an unimaginable thought to a majority of Ethiopians.

In the mid 70’s Menelik joined the Walias Band where his friend and old colleague, Girma Beyene was a member.  At that time the Walias Band was performing at the Hilton Hotel and Menelik was welcomed as a seasoned performer, regularly performing in Italian and Sudanese as well as Amharic. By that time though, the political climate brought about by the Derg’s revolution in 1974, had begun to make Menelik feel acutely uncomfortable.

Though he stayed several years after the revolution his unwavering independence made him a target from all sides of the political spectrum.  He decided to end his collaboration with the Haile Selassie I Theatre Orchestra and the Walias Band and go on a self-imposed exile, first to Sudan and later to Egypt. Though he became a distant figure to his fans in Ethiopia, he became a sought after performer both in Sudan and Egypt.

Late Years

After a total of 14 years in exile Menelik returned to Ethiopia in 1993 with the help of Mohammed Al-Amoudi, the Ethiopian-Saudi businessman.  In 1995 Menelik Wossenachew released a CD entitled, Gash Jembere on Ethio-Grooves record.  The CD was a compilation of his best hits including the title track which Menelik sang as an ode to Mohammed Al-Amoudi for his kindness and assistance shown to him.  It should be noted that Gash Jemebere was a taxi driver near the Itege Hotel (named Awraris Hotel during the Derg) who was known for his kindness.

Apart from special occasions Menelik didn’t perform. I was very fortunate to see him perform one song, Teyaqiyew Biaschegregn (Ene Wushetenew,) in Addis Ababa for the Millennium (GC) festivities. The man still had the voice. One of the last shows he performed was at the 50^th Anniversary celebrating the creation of the Haile Selassie Theatre in December 2005.

Menelik Wossenachew’s private life was just that, private!  Getachew Debalqe, his friend and old colleague remembers Menelik as a very discreet and shy person but a very talented soul.  He shares a story how one of Menelik’s brother was surprised to see Menelik perform live at the theatre as he was not aware of his sibling’s musical career at that time.

Menelik remained a bachelor up until his death and was known to have fathered several children.  Menelik died on December 24, 2008 from pneumonia.  He was contemplating a comeback and had gone to South Africa to fix an ear problem. Girma Beyene, upon learning of Menelik’s passing, paid the ultimate tribute to his fallen friend,

“He was a one man show.  Not only was he one of the most talented singers I came across but also one of the smartest [Menelik could speak Amharic, Tigrigna, English, French, Italian and Arabic]. I’ll miss his kindness, his voice and above all I’ll miss his friendship.”

So coming back to the question I raised on the onset of this piece.  Why fame for one and obscurity for another?  I guess there are no clear answers. Maybe its luck or because he had stayed away from music during his exile or that he didn’t have quite the discography as others (Tilahun Gessesse, Mahmoud Ahmed, and Alemayehu Eshete) or that he didn’t jump start his career upon his return. Whatever the reason in the end what is important is that his contribution to the development of contemporary Ethiopian music should be recognized and not forgotten.

Enjoy a mix of some of Menelik’s songs

• Wub Nat: Written and arranged by Girma Beyene when Menelik was a member of the second Ras Band
• Yachi Lij Qonjo Nat: backed by Haile Selassie I Theatre Orchestra–arranged by Nerses Nalbandian
• Aderech Arada: Lyrics by Getachew Debalqe arranged by Nerses Nalbandian; backed by Haile Selassie I Theatre Orchestra
• Chereqa: a children’s song-arranged by Girma Beyene backed by All Star Band
• Meqaberen Liyew: Lyrics and music by Menelik Wossenachew arranged by Girma Beyene backed by the All Star Band
• Tebeb Teqami New: arranged by Nerses Nalbandian backed by Haile Selassie I Theatre Orchestra
• Fiqrachin: Lyrics  by Menelik Wossenachew: music and arrangement  by Mulatu Astatqe; backed by the All Star Band
• Mambo Sambo: Lyrics by Menelik Wossenachew; music and arrangement  by Mulatu Astatqe; backed by All Star Band
• Bati: Lyrics traditional and Menelik Wossenachew; arranged by Girma Beyene; backed by Marathon Band
• Tizita: Lyrics traditional and Menelik Wossenachew; arranged by Mulatu Astatqe

Audio Podcast

** As always my thanks to Francis Falceto for the wonderful Ethiopiques series and for his wonderful book Abyssinie Swing: A Pictorial History of Modern Ethiopian Music

The annual ritual continues here at bernos! We are doing the same great deal we have done for the past three Christmas.’

Free Shipping on all bernos T-shirts between now and Dec 31st. December 18th will be the last day we can guarantee that an order received will reach our U.S. and Canada customers before Christmas.

And and…Don’t forget some of our big sale items like the bernos Argyle Rasta for only 14.95$.

As usual, we thank you for shopping with us and please continue to Tell a Friend about us…

Happy Holidays from the crew here at bernos.