Italian-Ethiopian writer and singer Gabriella Ghermandi founded the musical ensemble Atse Tewodros Project, after publishing a novel and some short-stories. Her literary work evolved in a series of theatre performances during which she sang Ethiopian songs. The musical project evolved from this experience.As Ghermandi explains talking from Bologna, Italy, her two homelands are united by a colonial past which is often ignored or forgotten in Italy. Gabriella's family is the fruit of this history, some aspects of which emerge in some of the Atse Tewodros Project's songs.
"During the Italian occupation of Ethiopia there was everything, the negative aspects but also that encounter that many talk about"
The ensemble owes its name to an almost mythical figure, the emperor who is regarded as the founder of modern Ethiopia.
In 2013 the Atse Tewodros Project published a CD through crowdfunding, and from 2016 it will be distributed in 56 countries by Arc Music records.
