High hoops: how two brothers became Africa's biggest circus duo
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Loading... - Kwame Nyame
- 10 Aug 2022
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It all started with three oranges. One school breaktime in Jimma, western Ethiopia, Bibi and Bichu Tesfamariam saw a teacher throwing fruit into the air. “He had three oranges and started doing tricks, and me and my brother were like: ‘Wow, this is the coolest thing we’ve ever seen!’ We didn’t even know what it was called. He told us: ‘This is juggling,’” says younger brother Bichu, then 13, and now 38. The brothers were desperate to learn. “We came back the next day with lots of oranges.”
That was the start of a career that has led to the brothers performing around the world, from appearing at the opening celebrations of the Millennium Dome in London to the Fuji Rock festival in Japan. They have juggled at English National Opera and on numerous TV shows. They provided entertainment for 14 years at Giffords Circus before setting up Circus Abyssinia to showcase the talent of other young circus artists from Ethiopia. Their latest show, Tulu, is about to set out on a world tour, starting in London before going to Edinburgh.
Circus wasn’t a big part of Ethiopian culture when Bichu and Bibi were growing up – they’d only glimpsed it on TV – but after that breaktime encounter the pair became obsessed with juggling. The teacher in question was from Canada and brought in a Cirque du Soleil video, which they would diligently copy. He taught them how to make their own juggling balls by cutting a sock in half, filling it with sand or seeds and sewing it up. They would make their own juggling clubs out of wood in the school workshop. “We’ve still got scars from the blades,” says elder brother Bibi, 40.
