DW’s Amharic report on Fendika’s performance at Moers (2021). From Ethiopian cultural ambassador and poet Melaku Belay: ′′The world was dark because of Corona. Our current journey brings a lot of hope for us and others. We learned that, when there is darkness in the world, the wise ones do not give up. We never give up, because everything will pass.′′ Listen here.

Italian travel journal ViaggiCultura interview with Melaku about Ethiopia (2021). Read here.

DW’s Amharic report on Fendika Cultural Center receiving Prince Claus Award (2021). Listen here.

VOA Amharic report on Fendika Cultural Center receiving Prince Claus Award (2021). Read and listen here.

Global Voices article on Fendika winning Prince Claus Award (2020). Read here.

Pan African Music article “Melaku Belay the Guardian of Fendika” by Julien le Gros (2020). Read here.

Melaku’s interview with Habiz Show (2019). Watch here (starting at 3’45”).

Melaku’s work featured in Masters at Work Program of Kana TV (2019). Watch here.

Liberation’s Music feature, “Fendika, Cauldron of Utopia in Ethiopia.” (2019) cites Melaku: "Transforming society is the challenge of art, here as elsewhere. The important thing is to be on the way. We need to create an international network to strengthen our independence and to inspire each other. It will take time, I do not doubt, but we must go.” Read here.

World-of-Women.com features Fendika’s Emebet Woldetsadik (2019). Read about Emebet’s amazing story here.

BBC Radio interview with Melaku Belay: “The Comeback of Ethiopia’s Satirical Singers” (2019). Listen here.

Sveriges Radio documentary featuring Melaku Belay and Fendika, “Det sista folkmusikhaket” (2019). Listen here.

ETV interview with Melaku Belay, in Amharic, ጨዋታ ከቴዲ ጋር - መላኩ በላይ (2018). Watch here.

CNN Inside Africa program on Ethiopian Jazz, featuring Negarit and KAYN LAB musicians performing at Fendika Cultural Center (2018). Watch here.

ENN Entertainment interview with Melaku Belay, in Amharic (2018). Watch here.

Linkup Addis interview with Melaku Belay (2018). Read here.

Sodero TV interview with Melaku Belay and coverage of Felega Azmari Festival, የአዝማሪ ሙዚቃ ፌስቲቫል, in Amharic (2018). Watch here.

EBC interview with Melaku Belay, ቆይታ ከፈንድቃው መላኩ በላይ ጋር, in Amharic (2017). Watch here.

Fendika is a musical collective based in Addis dedicated to exploring the Azmari repertoire — an acoustic tradition usually centered on a vocalist accompanied by the krar lute or the one-stringed masenko fiddle, and various percussion. Fendika has already made a stir with this sound; touring Europe with Dutch post-punk experimentalists The Ex, recording with Debo Band, and collaborating with Mahmoud Ahmed, Getatchew Mekuria, and more. And they damn near brought the house down with their exuberant, dance-filled live set at the January 2017 globalFEST in New York. Now they’re back with their fourth full-length album, Birabiro, and an even deeper-dive into Azmari tradition.

As you might expect from a group sired in a live music venue and led by a dancer/choreographer, Fendika is best experienced up-close and personal. But Birabiro is the next best thing. The album is remarkably faithful to their live set, capturing the passion and drama of a Fendika performance.

It’s a good package and a helluva album from a great band — but it’s too bad you can’t see them dance.

- Tom Pryor, Roots World 2017

Led by the dancer Melaku Belay, Ethiopia's Fendika is a small music+dance group performing traditional Azmari music, most often at the Addis Ababa club/house of culture where Belay is also an artistic director. The amplified instrumentation featuring the krar (a five- and six-string lute) and the muted kebero drums creates a raw modern, rocked-up sound from time-honored roots.

Piotr Orlov, National Public Radio 2016

New York Times review of Fendika’s performance at GlobalFest (2016). Read here.

The Guardian, “Notes from Ethiopia: The Jazz Revival in Addis Ababa” (2016). Read here.

Every other Friday night in an invariably jam-packed azmari bet (traditional music club) called Fendika in the Kazanchis neighborhood of Addis Ababa, the scorching hot traditional band Ethiocolor holds court. Here, people cram together, sitting on beer crates and drinking tej (honey mead). Run by Melaku Belay, an electrifying dancer and in many ways the Ethiopian cultural ambassador of the hour, Fendika brings together some of the finest musicians, dancers and singers from Ethiopia’s many diverse regions. At the center of it all is Ethiocolor: One of the few traditional bands that tour internationally, they recorded their debut album with the Ethio-Swedish cultural outfit Selam. However, to get the most out of their music, one must see them in their element at Fendika. There, they kick things off with an hour-long jam that showcases their virtuosic talent and determination to bring the music in new directions, spiking their Abyssinian grooves with funk riffs, Afrobeat and jazz harmony. Following the jam, the regional singers and dancers take the lead and push the atmosphere into a feverish frenzy of joyous, sweat-drenched energy.

AfroPop 2015

World Music Center interview with Melaku Belay (2015). Read here.

Ethiocolor 360. Selam Productions and Stocktown Films. Africa’s first 360 degree video. Watch here.

New York Times Travel “In Ethiopia’s Capital, A Resurgent Jazz Scene” (2014). Read here.

Le Point Afrique on Melaku Belay. “Musique Maestro Melaku Belay, Une Icone Ethiopienne” (2014). Read here.

Ahun! Part II, BBC Channel 4, Random Acts (2013). Watch here.

And then there’s the dancer Melaku Belay. How can we describe him? One Afropop staffer compared him to a walking meter of ambient electrical activity, translating the vibes on the street into ecstatic dance moves. Another said he was something like a walking earthquake. But really, the man requires no explanation. Simply watch him as he dances his way across the city, body-movin the world around him back at his fellow citizens. Isn’t that the job of art anyway, to act as a mirror to society? If that’s what this fellow’s up to, then there’s a lot of joy flowing through that capital city.

AfroPop 2013

Meet Melaku Belay, DireTube.com, in Amharic (2013). Watch here.

Ahun! Short dance film conceptualized and performed by Melaku Belay (2012). Watch here.

The rhythmic virtuosity of Mr. Melaku was often astounding. He can turn either the upper or the lower body into an electrifying vehicle of rapid pulsation. … In later dances he showed how he could play his shoulders, his neck, his head and his whole torso like percussion instruments. In one number his shoulders kept chiming in like chords in music. … At the climax of one amazing dance cadenza, his own body became a trill — initiated, it seemed, from somewhere around the diaphragm and midspine, but with the whole body shaken into a blur … All these were dazzling bravura touches. Mr. Melaku’s dancing, however, didn’t consist just of stunts. Simply to see him sway his body to the music was a marvel: the angle of his out-held elbows, the pliancy of his spine, the rhythmic point of those shoulders all made their sensuous contributions. A happily superlative artist.

- MaCaulay, New York Times 2011