The Post
Green Ethiopian relocates to Cosmo
By Kennedy Gondwe and Picture by Collins Phiri
Friday August 26, 2005
FIVE years after fire ravaged the Cosmopolitan night club in Makeni, the place is about to swing back to life under the name Green Ethiopian restaurant.
Government's move to ban lodge owners in residential areas from playing loud music has prompted Green Ethiopian management to relocate from Olympia to the former Cosmopolitan night club.
Green Ethiopian Restaurant owner and manager Atita Jembere says she has already spent up to about US$40,000 on renovating the joint which is expected to be open to the public within two weeks.
"The former Cosmopolitan has been leased to us for the next five years and I have spent almost US$40,000 in the last four months on bringing it to expected standards," she said.
"The new place will continue operating under the name Green Ethiopian Restaurant Disco and Bar. We shall still continue with our policy of promoting Zambian music by hosting live bands."
Jembere said she will continue running the Olympia joint as lodge and bar until December when her lease expires.
Having spent the last five years in Olympia running the Green Ethiopian, the anguish of leaving a place many night freaks loved is visible in Jembere's face.
"I was really attached to this place and I can't believe that I have to leave," she complained.
Jembere said she couldn't understand why government banned the Green Ethiopian from hosting live bands when other places in Lusaka have continued doing so.
"It's really unfair," she said.
"I was always there for my customers and I look after my workers very well."
Talking about Jembere always being there for her customers, even her clients have been around for her.
It came as no surprise that despite being off activity for months, the lodge was packed to capacity during a farewell party held last Friday night.
In a befitting farewell, artistes Selina, Ozzy and K'millian among others performed to a huge audience that pitched up to share their last memories of the Green Ethiopian.
It will not be long before when these faces start heading south of Lusaka to meet at the former Cosmopolitan.
Zambia: Koffi Fails to Turn Up for Show
The Post (Lusaka)
July 2, 2006
Mabvuto Phiri
Lusaka
A mini riot broke out at the Green Ethiopian Restaurant in Lusaka in the early hours of Saturday morning when Congolese musician Koffi Olomide failed to turn up for a show at the venue.
But Koffi's manager who preferred to call himself Robert said the musician's failure to perform was due to the organisers Global Lead Promotions' failure to pay the required fee.
The event, dubbed the launch of the album Danger de Mort, has been marred with problems since Thursday when the promoter was taken ill putting the scheduled shows in jeopardy.
On Friday, the venue was suddenly changed from the Pamodzi Hotel to the Green Ethiopian Restaurant.
At the Ethiopian Restaurant, the hall was barely filled with some local artistes performing cover tracks to keep the revellers entertained as they waited for Koffi.
At about 23:00 hours, the fans started getting impatient with a few raising questions as to whether the Grand Mopao would turn up for the launch.
Just after midnight, Koffi's band members started tuning their instruments raising hopes that the Kora Award winning Koffi was about to make a majestic entrance.
After about two hours of listening to songs from Koffi's earlier albums, the crowd started chanting 'Koffi, Koffi, Koffi' and after sensing trouble, the band's men quietly packed their guitars and keyboard and left the scene.
With none of the organisers available to attend to the angry revellers, the crowd turned to the cashier for a refund of their money. "We are not fools. Either bring Koffi here or give us back our money," a self appointed leader of the crowd demanded as the other patrons roared in approval.
Police officers on the scene tried to disperse the crowd as tempers rose but the music fans were in an uncompromising mood as they forced their way into the ticketing booth to get their money back. The cashier, fearing for his safety, started paying back the money but in the uncontrolled environment where tickets were torn up at the door, it was difficult to determine who had already received their refund.
This resulted in some unscrupulous fans getting refunded more than once.
When the cashier ran out of cash, the police moved in taking the cashier into protective custody as irate fans formed a convoy to the police station.
"I came here to be entertained but I have ended up being swindled," one fan Levy Mseteka said.
Another fan said K150, 000 charged to see the show was too much to just go down the drain without Koffi performing.
Some of the fans that did not receive their refund started grabbing and taking away plastic chairs as compensation.
The proprietor of the Green Ethiopian Restaurant Atita Jembere said she was greatly disappointed at the turn out of events and lamented the loss of the chairs.
"These organisers came to me at the last minute and asked to hire the hall. I insisted that they pay me in advance K3.5 million failure to which I would not allow them to use the hall," Jembere said. But Koffi's manager Robert said in a telephone interview that the musician had demanded to be paid his fee in advance but the organisers had failed to do so.
"Koffi demanded to be paid before he even came to Zambia. He wanted to be paid while still in Paris but the organiser promised to pay before the show. Koffi can only perform after he has been paid," Robert said.
He said the rest of the tour was dependant on whether or not the organisers will be able to pay the fee.
"If they don't pay, we will go back," said Robert. Koffi was scheduled to hold a series of shows in the country as part of the launch of his album Danger de Mort.
The tour included shows at the Pamodzi Hotel, Lusaka International School of Lusaka, a show in Kitwe and another in Livingstone. The failure by Koffi to perform comes hot on the heels of another failure last week by another international music group Makoma to perform due to poor organisation.
The Ethiopian American (www.TheEthiopianAmerican.com)
An Ethiopian Footprint in the Heart of Lusaka, Zambia
December 2005, Vol 1 No 3
EA Staff Writer
Although very few Ethiopian families are said to live in Zambia, one can't help but feel right at home cruising down Addis Ababa Drive and Haile Selassie Avenue in downtown Lusaka. Even more exhilarating is stepping into The Green Ethiopian Restaurant and Lodge, Lusaka's only Ethiopian restaurant and a popular spot for an evening of drinking and eating by Zambians. This large restaurant with seating both inside and out serves good quality inexpensive Ethiopian as well as Zambian specialties.
Situated adjacent to the restaurant is a massive two story night club that hosts local musical events, functions and weeding receptions. The welcoming tone of the place is set by owner and managing director, W/o Aster (Atita) Admassie Jembere and an extremely courteous staff. Although the popular bar scene dominates the overall ambiance, a good old fashion mouth watering authentic Ethiopian dishes such as Tibes and Kitfo are available with a complementary Ethiopian traditional style coffee. more >>
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Restaurant Facilities