What people say about Fendika
Testimonies from Fendika audiences:
This place is a piece of heaven… I would like to thank all the incredibly talented Artists performing at Fendika for sharing some of the Ethiopian magic with us! (2021)
Thank you! What a great performance! E t h i o p i a! JAHUUU JAHUUU JAHUUU! You touched my heart deeply! So intense how you prayed for our beloved Ethiopia and your people, and what an important gesture that you mentioned all parts of the country in your song. You are a great example of an AZMARI, these traditional Ethiopian cultural ambassadors, who are spreading the important news around in their very special emotional way since centuries! They were travelling the country - you and Fendika are spreading the news to the world. THANK YOU! (2021)
I had the great privilege to meet each of them. Amazing people and beautiful music. Must see in Addis. Can't wait to come back! (2021)
Remarkable human. Remarkable story. Those of you who are familiar about Ethiopian culture and dance, you will know about Melaku Belay. A self-made man, who once spent time homeless on the streets of Addis Ababa to now owning Fendika Cultural Center and an all-encompassing vision of presenting Ethiopian culture to the world. One of my favourite dancers of all time. You know you are watching someone special when their body and face is an extension of the music. I get chills just watching his creativity. If you want to see art in motion, this is him. Watch his inspiring story. (2020)
If I get asked what do you like too much about Addis? I'd just say this corner and what Fendika Azmari Bet makes me feel every time I'm there , a feeling of happiness and ′′ Inner ′′ peace, that I can't describe it.
The true meaning of simplicity makes originality and not only beauty... and finally nothing beats a real experience that marks your life and your personality.
Best Band Ethiocolor traditional band! (2020)
Fendika is good for the soul. (2020)
Fendika is home to me in Ethiopia, for research, and for my search of things that bind us all as humans. A small, grassroots art center in Addis Ababa, Fendika gives energy, love, and hope to all who pass through their welcoming space, with music, dance, and visual art. The workers and artists of Fendika took me in as a family member with such expansive, inspiring love. I can't adequately describe how I felt when I was there. It's not enough to say they shared so much with me: music and dance, food and coffee, laughter and tears, embodied knowledge of the world they live in. I felt that I was experiencing another dimension of existence - more light-filled, more generous, more vulnerable. I'm not alone. I've heard from many who consider Fendika a spiritual place. I think it's because it's built with love, not with a desire for profit or fame. (2020)
I have visited Fendika and loved the place. I have high respect for the work they do trying to maintain the traditional cultures. Now in this period of unrest, I hope that the work they do can continue, because they can help build bridges. We stand with them and pray for their wellbeing and work. (2020)
Fendika brought me so much joy while I was living in Addis, and I would like to spread that joy. Melaku is an amazing and compassionate artist who brings artists from all walks of life together, and that is so special. I would like to support him and his Fendika family. (2020)
I admire and support Fendika for the precious space it has created in support of emerging artists. We will celebrate your resilience together. (2020)
FENDIKA is not only a treasure of Ethiopia, but also a treasure of the world! I always respect you, your effort, your trust and your responsibility, Melaku! (2020)
For your remarkable efforts in preserving and sharing the culture. We appreciate all you do, Melaku and the Fendika family. (2020)
This place has to stay forever. (2020)
If you've ever seen Fendika perform, you know the joy Melaku feels when dancing and singing. It is contagious. I never feel so joyful, so connected to the world, as when I watch this group perform. (2020)
Keep on shining your light, Melaku. The world needs more of Fendika! (2020)
Fendika is home to many visual artists, dancers, musicians, and art lovers in Addis Ababa. It is a cultural hub, and a place that supports some of the most vibrant and beautiful energies in the city. Melaku Belay and his crew were one of the biggest supporters of the first ever Addis Ababa International Art Symposium this past February. I am forever grateful for their love and kindness. Ethiopia nafkachugnal... may we meet again soon. Artist Omchantey Peace (2020)
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.
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
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.
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.
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