Atse Tewodros Project

The Atse Tewodros Project is a musical project created by writer and performer Gabriella Ghermandi, that forges musical collaborations between Ethiopian and Italian musicians. In December 2013, the Atse Tewodros Project self-produced their first CD. It includes nine songs by Gabriella Ghermandi, Aklilu Zewdie, Enush Hailu, and Berhanu Gizaw. They are nine musical pieces in which the modes and pentatonic scales of traditional Ethiopian music are combined with European instruments played in a jazz style. The CD also includes songs from the Ethiopian Resistance that fought against the Italian Fascist Regime. By doing so, it reclaims the past, both for the general public and for the individual; it creates a way to describe the course of human and migrant lives and to talk about plural identities.

Gabriella Ghermandi - vocals
Yohanes Afework - washint (traditional Ethiopian flute)
Michele Giuliani - piano
Endris Hasan - masinko (traditional Ethiopian one-string violin)
Cesare Pastanella - drums and percussion
Fasika Hailu - krar (traditional Ethiopian lyre)
Marcello Piarulli - electric bass
Mesale Legese - traditional Ethiopian drums, drums and percussion