A-B-A-B-A : from hear to here

17 - 19 July 2014 / Acting Archives, Collaboration, Workshop

A-B-A-B-A : from hear to here is an experiment on rhythms of poetry, soundings, in-voicing, performing, playing, rehearsing, and talking together. In this exercise of style, poets and musicians from Ethiopia joined international poets, musicians, artists, and translators based in Berlin for a workshop taking place at the Institut für Raumexperimente and the Roter Salon at the Volksbühne Berlin between July 11 – 19, culminating in a poetry night on Saturday, July 19.

Spoken poetry has a long history in Ethiopia. Often loaded with hidden meanings, this lyrical form is known as “Wax and Gold”. During A-B-A-B-A : from hear to here, contemporary expressions of this tradition were tested in an artistic dialogue. Ethiopian poetry today refers to itself as “Poetic Jazz”. Poetic Jazz crosses genetic material from music and poetry in a way that discovers a style and form based in listening. Rhythms, styles, and modes of playing are created between the musicians and the poets and reflect the specific quality of the poems being performed. A weeklong workshop in Berlin blended structures of listening and playing. Music and artistic approaches and styles of critiquing poetry, particular to some European and US poetry today, entered the mix as well. The workshop led to a poetry concert night with contributions by Eric Ellingsen, Mihret Kebede, Robert Lippok, Abebaw Melaku, Jorga Mesfin, Misrak Terefe, Rike Scheffler, and Uljana Wolf.

Participants are: Eric Ellingsen (poet/writer, Berlin/US), Mihret Kebede (poet, Addis Abeba), Robert Lippok (musician, Berlin), Abebaw Melaku (poet, Addis Abeba), Jorga Mesfin (musician, Addis Abeba), Ari Benjamin Meyers (composer/conductor, Berlin/US), Rike Scheffler (poet, Berlin), Misrak Terefe (poet, Addis Abeba), Uljana Wolf (poet, Berlin), and others

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

A-B-A-B-A: from hear to here. Poetry Jazz at Roter Salon

19 July 2014 / Acting Archives, Collaboration, Workshop

A-B-A-B-A : Workshop, Day 1

17 July 2014 / Acting Archives, Collaboration, Workshop

A-B-A-B-A : Workshop, Day 2

18 July 2014 / Acting Archives, Collaboration, Workshop

A-B-A-B-A : Translation Workshop

11 - 16 July 2014 / Acting Archives, Collaboration, Workshop