Ethiopian pianist to rock Sheraton

By Joseph BatteTo celebrate this year’s International Francophone Day, the French embassy has gone an extra mile by hauling in Girma Yifrashewa, one of the finest pianist on the Africa continent, but from a very unlikely country — Ethiopia, for a one-off concert at the Sheraton’s Rwenzori ballroom today.Unlike Uganda which was exposed to western classical music by the missionaries, in modern Ethiopia, music education, especially western classical music, hardly existed until recently.The only music school in Ethiopia was established less than 40 years ago, while western classical music appreciation was hardly present until a couple of decades ago!It was under this prevalent situation that young Girma, then a wide-eyed, handsome, 16-year-old enrolled at the Yared Music School in Addis Ababa.At the time, it only took students of exceptional vision and courage to study music full time.Girma was one student who was endowed with both these qualities and more. He had a vision to become a great pianist. This was not a far-fetched dream. To begin with, he was no stranger to music.He had complete music masterly of a six-stringed instrument called the Kral, which he had since childhood. After four years of rigorous, sweaty piano lessons under a Russian instructor called Valentina Semionova, he obtained his diploma in music.“My fierce determination was to become, not just a pianist but, a great pianist. I was very happy when I was granted an Ethiopian government scholarship to study for five years at the State Musical Academy of Sofia, Bulgaria. I was in the class of Prof. Atanas Kurtev, one of Bulgaria’s outstanding pianists,” he reveals.He says while in Sofia, he participated in a number of concerts, including three widely acclaimed performances.Girma also received further training in the Royal Academy of Music in London, under Prof. Frank Wibaut and at the Hochschule fur Musik ‘Felix Mendelssohn Barthholdy’ in Leipzig, Germany, under Prof. Helgeheide Schmidt.He also held a concert in the church of St. Dunstan’s in the West End, London. Girma won the prestigious Phoenix Prize on June 26, 1996 at the Italian Cultural Institute in Addis Ababa.But after a concert in Italy, he returned to Ethiopia to take up a piano teaching post at his former Yared Music School.In describing his personality and music talent, Prof. Atanas Kurtev once wrote that Girma was, “endowed with a natural refinement and a rare nobleness, an accomplished pianist with a marked lyrical disposition.”His debut CD titled The Shepherd with the flute lends credit to this assertion. The classical music CD that was recorded in Bavaria Studio in Germany, features works by L.V Beethoven (Fur Elise), F. Chopin (Fantasie-Improptu Op.66), Mozart (Rondo alla Turca) and Schumann’s (Arabesque). All cement his reputation as a performer in the spheres of romantic and impressionist repertoire. “When I first heard Chopin and Beethoven, I simply fell in love with them. Since then I love the English church in Addis Ababa.”So, be at the Sheraton today and see how he blends Ethiopian and western music. Above all, come celebrate the Francophone Day with gutfuls of classical music that will keep big smile pasted on your face throughout the week, even when Girma is long gone. Tickets are sold at sh10,000 and sh5,000 for French students at Alliance Francaise at the National Theatre.ends