Ethiopian Idol in full swing...

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"...Most of the time I tell [contestants] to go back to their old jobs, forget about a career in singing," he said. "Or I tell them they sing like donkeys. Sometimes they get angry. The girls burst into tears, and a few weeks ago one singer threw a stick at me after I told him he had failed to get through to the next round.
"The problem is in our culture it is not common to tell the truth or criticise. People cannot take criticism..."

"..I am a very good singer but the judges kept saying I had serious problems reaching the high notes," said Natinel. "They did not even listen to me. What they have done is a very bad thing. They made me look a fool..."



"...Medina Mohammed, 17, a student who made it to the next round after travelling some 200 miles from the Afar region to compete, said her family watches in a bar. "We love it," she said.
"Feleke wasn't too tough, but his reputation had made me nervous," added Medina, who has tribal scars on her cheeks and performed in the multicoloured beads and red cloth of her Afar ethnic group, singing a traditional love song. The judges described her voice as "honey-like..."


http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story
/0,3604,1681083,00.html

Also:
http://www.news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/01/wethiop01.xml&sSheet=/
news/2006/01/01/ixworld.html


http://www.edmontonsun.com/Entertainment
/Spotlight/2006/01/08/1384403-sun.html

Pictures: The first one is of Jony Ragga (not related to the show), the second is of Medina Mohammed ,a contestant, and the last is of a music producer, Dagmawi Ali (not related to the show).