Girma Yifrashewa, Ethiopian Pianist & Composer Born Oct. 15, 1967, Celebrates Chopin Bicentennial

[Elilta (Cry of Joy): Ethiopian Classical Music by Girma Yifrashewa; Elilta (7:06), Ambassel (9:40), Chewata (9:31), Sememen (9:50), My Strong Will (7:32), The Shepherd with the Flute (8:50); Girma Yifrashewa, piano; Doroteya Dimitrova, violin; Lyubomir Nikov, cello; Mikhail Zhivkov, clarinet; Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra; Dian Tchobanov, Conductor; Balkan Multimedia Center (2006)]

Girma Yifrashewa is an Ethiopian pianist and composer who has been profiled at AfriClassical.com for several years, and has often been featured on AfriClassical Blog. He was born in Addis Ababa October 15, 1967. As a youth he played the kirar, an Ethiopian instrument. On his first day of music school, at age 16, he saw a piano for the first time. Girma endured severe hardships while earning his Master's degree in Piano Performance in Sofia, Bulgaria, but persevered. Subsequently he became the first Ethiopian classical pianist to perform widely in Africa. Girma played in 11 countries on his debut tour of Africa, and has since perfomed often in Europe, Australia, the U.S. And elsewhere.

We have taken great pleasure from Girma's 2006 CD Elilta. AfriClassical.com is proud to have a 1-minute audio sample of each of the 6 tracks on the recording. Four are solo piano; one is a quartet; and one is an orchestral work with the Sofia Philharmonic, conducted by Dian Tchobanov. Hear them at the Yifrashewa page or the Audio page. With this CD, Girma Yifrashewa has demonstrated the feasibility of incorporating Ethiopian themes within Western classical forms.

Girma has performed music of Chopin in Poland this year, and is also celebrating the Chopin Bicentennial with a concert he is leading this month in Addis Ababa. It was our great pleasure to interview Girma Yifrashewa last Fall, while he was in Los Angeles for the conference “Africa Meets North America” at UCLA.