Save Fendika! An Ethiopian cultural treasure

I wrote a new piece for okayafrica about Melaku Belay and Fendika. Help these musicians buy the land that the Azmari Bet they made famous is built upon today! (time is of the essence here) indiegogo.com/projects/save-the-fendika-cultural-club-in-addis-ababa

"In Addis Ababa today, cranes litter the sky like an alien invasion. With bare feet, workers balance on ancient scaffolding wrapped around modern highrises. The air is a certain spice mixed with the kind of smog that could give anyone asthma in a week. The city is overpopulated and growing fast. I see pictures of where I stayed last time I was in the country and barely recognize a thing. Needless to say, the price of real estate is climbing high… save Fendika.

Melaku Belay dances like lightning; or like traditional acoustic instruments are electrocuting his entire body. He was orphaned as a youth and slept in the streets for 6 months, dancing for tips. The previous owner of Fendika allowed Melaku to sleep in the club while he continued to dance for tips and grow with his craft, until 12 years later he had saved up enough tips to buy the club. Since that day in 2008, Fendika has been an Azmari bet (traditional music house) unlike any other."

Read the rest over at okayafrica: http://bit.ly/SaveFendika

...and if you missed it last week, I made a 10-song playlist for Ethiopian New Years on okayafrica, that you can also check here: http://bit.ly/EthiopianNewYear

writing for freedom

Theme music: "mask." by Jean Grae. on repeat.

I want to start out by thanking everyone in Seattle who supported that beautiful Town Hall show with Krar Collective, as well as the 2 events I did at Seattle University last week. You all got glimpses of my latest work before anyone else, and I really appreciated the love. Aida Solomon at Seattle Globalist was kind enough to post some photos, check it out here.

Also, last week, The Feminist Wire ran an incredible week-long forum on Mumia and mass incarceration. I was honored to write something for it, about Mumia and My Survival which you can read here. In it, I talk about high school, what led me to become a vegetarian, schools and prisons, and how Mumia Abu-Jamal and MOVE's inspiration helped shape me.

The entire forum is incredible, brought together by Hakima Abbas and Tanisha C. Ford with contributions from so many of my favorite minds including Mumia Abu-Jamal and Angela Davis speaking on alternatives to the present system of capitalist injustice, a beautiful excerpt from Octavia's Brood co-editor Walidah Imarisha's upcoming book about how Mumia led her to activism, Meron Wondwosen speaking on the issue of political prisoners both in Ethiopia and the US, and SO much more! Did you know Mumia is a yogi? Catch up with the whole forum here, and let's keep raising our voices for every political prisoner to be free.

Another writing/storytelling project that I want people to pay attention to is Black on Palestine. Earlier this month, there was a delegation to Palestine that included dream hampton, Jasiri X, Ferrari Sheppard, Remi Kanazi, Bryonn Bain and others. They started a tumblr page you can follow here, and I love the much-needed conversations that are happening now about true solidarity between people of African descent and the people of Palestine. So necessary and overdue.

Also this month, Nnedi Okorafor wrote a beautiful piece for the New York Times titled African Science Fiction is Still Alien. The New York Times decided not to publish it, but she posted it on her blog anyway. This woman is one of my favorite authors, so you have to understand it means the world to me when she mentions CopperWire and quotes the line "whatchu' think we do all day, swat flies?!" Check it out here.

And finally, a show announcement. (Again in Seattle... will be touring soon, I promise!) I'm really excited about this one... a tribute to my other favorite voice in science-fiction, Octavia Butler. Octavia's Brood co-editors Walidah Imarisha & adrienne maree brown will be at the EMP Museum doing an interactive reading on February 28th (also featuring David Walker and myself), DJ Sassy Black (of THEEsatisfaction) will be spinning a science-fiction inspired set of music, Felicia Loud and myself will be performing a few Octavia Butler-inspired songs, and you will get to see a rarely seen interview with Octavia Butler, along with stories from people that knew her well. Ticket info on the EMP site. Also, On March 1st, Walidah Imarisha & adrienne maree brown will also be hosting a few workshops at Seattle University. Registration information for both workshops is here. Much love to John Jennings for the Wild Seed-inspired artwork on this poster.

Octavia's Brood is an anthology of radical science and speculative fiction written by organizers and activists, based in the idea that those working to change the world are already sci-fi/speculative thinkers. The anthology is set to release June 22, 2014.

Interview with Alison Isaac for Words From [A Writer]

Words From [Gabriel Teodros]

Just did this interview with Alison Isaac for her series on writers at Words From [A Writer]. Check it out!

"I think it’s really important that black people imagine themselves into the future because we so often don’t see ourselves there. I feel like culture and storytelling and media – they are all powerful tools. And sometimes we don’t even recognize that a weapon is being used against us when the only images of us are images that aren’t being scripted by us."