The last of 17 historic venues known as Azmari Bets, the Ethiopian cabaret club Fendika has been saved from demolition in Addis Ababa.
Situated in the Kazanchis district of Ethiopia’s capital, the Azmari Bet, or House of Azmari in Amharic, originally hosted performances by Ethiopia’s Azmari musicians.
The Azmari, itinerant poet-musicians from rural Ethiopia, improvise to the sound of the masinqo, a single-string fiddle whose leather body resonates with horsehair stretched over a wooden neck and rubbed by a bow.
While they have they adapted their art for today’s modern urban world, the Azmari continue to play with words, using humour to make fun of their audiences, society and even power, in a rare display of freedom of expression in Ethiopia.
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