Josephine Kronfli & Karibuni

ሰላምታ :
Selam, Shalom, Shlomo...
On 07.07.1964 at 2:50 in the morning I saw in the Horn of Africa, the Light of the World.
My country, Ethiopia is bordered in the north and west to the Sudan, in the east to Somalia and south to Kenya.
I was born and raised in Addis Ababa, the country's capital at an altitude of about 2500 meters - I owe my great lungs to this fact.
From my home country come many world-famous runners, most notably Haile Gebreselassie. Early on I discovered that my Parents' house was a little different. My father was of Syrian descent and, unlike most people in this country, did not speak Amharic but Arabic, English and little bit Italian. With us he spoke in English. My mom talked to me and my brother in the national language, Amharic. My grandma can't speak English and spoke with my father Italian, with us, her friends and neighbours in Amharic and to other relatives Oromigna, two of the major languages in Ethiopia."
My parents’ circle of friends was both an international and multicultural one. That was normal for an African metropolis. Many friends came from Italy, from Switzerland, Austria, Eritrea, China, the USA and other countries. The language of chaos at home was not enough for my parents so they sent my brother and I to a German Kindergarden and then on to German School. That was very handy for my brother and I because we, in German, could share secrets that no one understood.
In the 1960’s my father owed the first Music Night Club in Addis Ababa called the “Arizona Music Club”. So I grew up with artists like Mahmoud Ahmed, who started singing for the first time at my father’s Night Club, Tilahun Gesesse, Asnakech Worku, Bizunesh Bekele, Max de Paris, members of the former “Imperial Body Guard Band”, Haile Selassie I Theater, Hager Fiker Theater etc.
Some of the best friends of my parents were Judy and Abubaker Ashakih, who later owned the Venus Club. Abubaker was himself a song-writer and musician as well.
My first experience with music was singing for my parents and in the choir of the German School and playing the German Blockflöte (recorder) but then the teenage era started and my friends and I began listening to singer-songwriters who inspired us to sing and play some chords on the guitar around the camp fire at Lake “Langano" in the Rift valley. Glad that no one recorded us.
I joined my first band in Addis Ababa, playing with today’s best known Ethiopian music producer and keyboardist: Abegaz Kibrehiot Shiota, Roshan Linsi, Menasse and Brown. I forgot their family names.
The German school, accustomed to my way, led me almost automatically into the land of 'Poets and Thinkers'. In the early eighties I came to Germany, first living in Essen. In Kaiserslautern and in Münster I studied biology and the music had to take a rest for a while. After this I then worked for environmental organizations, later on as a museum educator and exhibition-maker.
Since the mid-nineties, making music came back into my life. I worked in the recording studio with the World Beat Band “Radio Ethiopia”, with musicians from Eritrea, Zambia, Bolivia, Turkey, Germany and founded the World Music Group 'LaméBora', and worked with “Solimbeya”, a band with African refugees living in Germany.
Since 1997 I work steadily on the project "World Music” for kids and grownups with the group "Karibuni" (14 CDs published by 2009). This group has been awarded numerous times for its work with and for kids from the “Pro-Folk Association” and other organizations.
"Karibuni" won the Award of the German Music journalists “Preis der Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik” and was the winner of the 1st multicultural song contest of WDR 5, Funkhaus Europa (International German Radio Station) and UNICEF.
Many Karibuni songs entered the children’s charts of German Radio Stations like “WDR” (Westdeutscher Rundfunk) and “HR” (Hessischer Rundfunk) and all of Karibuni’s CDs have been recommended by the jury of "HR" as 'Extraordinary' or 'Just super'.
Together with Pit Budde, I write educational books about different cultures and environmental subjects for “Ökotopia Publishing" (10 books by 2009).
Beside the Concerts, I give workshops in schools and educational courses for teachers. Now and then I write online reportages for the “WDR” (Western German Broadcasting) and whenever it is possible I travel around the world and listen to Celtic and traditional Ethiopian music.
Published books and CDs:
Wax & Gold (Radio Ethiopia), Blue Bowl 1995
Karibuni Watoto, Ökotopia 1997
Prime Cuts (div.) Pro Folk 1997
Fliegende Feder (Book & CD), Ökotopia 1998
Iftah ya simsim, Ökotopia 1999
A Folk Odyssey, Pro Folk 2000
Didgeridoo & Känguru, Ökotopia 2001
Karneval der Kulturen (Book & CD), Ökotopia 2001
Songs of coffee from all over the world, (LaméBora) Laika 2002
Santa, Sinter, Joulupukki (Book & CD), Ökotopia 2002
Pickadill & Poppadom, Ökotopia 2003
Fliegendi Fädere (Schweiz), Traumland 2003
Karneval vo de Kulture (Schweiz), Traumland 2004
Ab auf die Reise (div.), WDR 2004
Weihnachten in Island. Online Reportage WDR 2005
Hano Hanoqitho (Book & CD), Ökotopia 2005
Shalom, Salam – peace4kids, Ökotopia 2005
Wer sagt denn hier noch Eskimo? (Book & CD), Ökotopia 2005
Regenwald & Dschungelwelt (Book & CD), Ökotopia 2006
Gute Nacht Kinder in aller Welt (Book & CD), Ökotopia 2007
Panda - Orca - Känguru (Book & CD), Ökotopia 2009
Weltmusik für Kinder (Songbook & CD), Ökotopia 2009
My published CDs:
My published books:
Publisher & Label: www.oekotopia-verlag.de