A-B-A-B-A : from here to hear. A film by Clara Jo

A-B-A-B-A: from here to hear. A film by Clara Jo

The collaboration ‘A-B-A-B-A : from hear to here’ evolved as a series of workshops and poetry events in Addis Ababa and Berlin starting in 2012. Testing new structures and methods in an artistic dialogue, the series set out to explore oral traditions in Amharic poetry culture, translations and interpretations between German, English and Amharic, and performative elements on stage, including traditional Ethiopian music combined with contemporary jazz elements and electronic music. Clara Jo’s film A-B-A-B-A : from here to hear follows the participating artists from stage to stage, from Volksbühne Berlin (July 2014) and the Alliance Ethio-Française d’Addis-Abeba (February 2015), and features interviews which reflect on various traditions within contemporary practice.

A-B-A-B-A : from here to hear (2016)
Director: Clara Jo
Featuring: Gashahn Abateneh, Eric Ellingsen, Mihret Kebede, Erica Licht, Robert Lippok, Nebiy Mekonnen, Abebaw Melaku, Jorga Mesfin, Ari Benjamin Meyers, Bekele Mekonnen, Rike Scheffer, Misrak Terefe, Christina Werner, Uljana Wolf, The Moseb Traditional Music Band, Addis Ababa.

Credits
Director: Clara Jo; DP: Michael Laakmann; Camera Assistant: Christopher Haug; Sound Recordists: Montse Torredà Martí, Nicholas Ricciardi, Clara Jo; Edit: Clara Jo, Carolina Hellsgård; Translator: Temesgen H. Dadi; Advisor: Christina Werner; Featuring: Eric Ellingsen, Mihret Kebede, Robert Lippok, Abebaw Melaku, Jorga Mesfin, Ari Benjamin Meyers, Rike Scheffler, Misrak Terefe, Uljana Wolf.

The event series A-B-A-B-A : from hear to here is part of the project Acting Archives, a collaboration initiated by Institut für Raumexperimente, Berlin University of the Arts together with the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design, Addis Ababa University. The series is choreographed by Christina Werner and Eric Ellingsen; realized together with Palais Wittgenstein/Roter Salon at Volksbühne Berlin and the Alliance Ethio-Française d’Addis-Abeba. It is supported by Studio Olafur Eliasson, and funded by the TURN Fund of the German Federal Cultural Foundation.