Chinatown Square

Check out Chicago’s Chinatown Square: a little nook of Chinese art, food and shopping right here in the city.

Don’t miss the last performances of Chicago’s World Music Festival

 

Chicago’s World Music Festival will host its closing event on Sunday, Sept. 22 from 2-9 p.m. at the Chicago Cultural Center. The closing celebration, “One World Under One Roof,” promises seven hours of musical performances from a host of cultures and countries such as Nigeria, Brazil, Poland and Greece.

Among many, closing event performers include the Ukrainian folk and improvisation group DakhaBrakha and an all-female percussion ensemble, Las BomPleneras, presenting the Puerto Rican rhythmic forms bomba and plena.

The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special events present the festival annually. For a week and a half, Chicago residents can enjoy musical performances rooted in cultural traditions and styles from all over the world, completely free of charge. The events take place in various locations around the city, from Rogers Park to Navy Pier to Humboldt Park.

In 2014, Chicago plans to host another World Music Festival, but the exact dates of the events have not been released.

For a full performance schedule, click here.

“A Swedish Painter: Michael Söderlundh”

At the opening, gallery-goers could mingle with the artist, share appetizers and enjoy Söderlundh’s pieces of art.

Andersonville’s Swedish American Museum, located at 5211 N. Clark, opened its new temporary exhibit on Friday, Sept. 13 at 6 p.m. “A Swedish Painter: Michael Söderlundh” featured the recent works of Swedish artist Michael Söderlundh, who has been an active artist since the 1960s.

The Museum describes Söderlund’s paintings as works that “seek to discover new meanings beneath the known forms of nature.”

Plaques detailing the artist’s inspiration accompanied the paintings. On one plaque, Söderlundh thought of his art through the lens of his childhood:

“The road outside my house seems to have been my first source of inspiration. Cars, snow ploughs and buses are abundant in drawings from my childhood. Wide-eyed faces are peering out of the vehicle windows, smoke billows from exhaust pipes and gravel spurts under the wheels. Almost everything is in motion.”

Söderlundh has been commissioned to decorate various buildings and public places in Sweden, such as murals for hospitals and an underground station in central Stockholm. He’s a Dalarna native, but currently lives in Stockholm.

The exhibit is open to all ages until Nov. 24. Admission is $4 for adults, $3 for children, students and seniors and $10 for families.

To explore other ongoing and upcoming exhibits at the Swedish American Museum, click here.

Ethiopia just got 8,000 miles closer

Ethiopian cuisine is served on a crepe-like bread called injera.

Exotic Ethiopia may be far, but Chicagoans can experience the country’s cultural practices right in their own city–no passport required. Ethiopian Diamond Restaurant, located just south of Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, cooks up meat and vegetarian dishes that offer a genuine taste of Ethiopian cuisine.

A crepe-like bread called injera comes with every entree, and is used to scoop up and eat varieties of stew. Spices characterize the exotic tastes of the dishes. If spicy food isn’t your forte, that’s okay too. The menu includes a range of mild options as well.

But Ethiopian Diamond brings more than Ethiopian food to the city. It brings a country’s entire dining culture. True to the traditional Ethiopian meal, the restaurant serves its food on a large community platter in the middle of the table. According to the country’s dining rituals, in eating from one common plate, diners signify the bonds of loyalty, trust, family and friendship. To demonstrate these bonds, diners can participate in the practice of gurrsha–placing food in the mouth of another diner from one’s own hand.

Two friends and I split two main entrees–one vegetarian, one with meat–amongst the three of us:

Doro Tibs: Chicken breast marinated in fresh lemon juice and garlic, sautéed with onions and green pepper

Yatkilt Watt: String beans, carrots and potatoes cooked in a mild sauce with spices, onions, garlic and ginger

Ethiopia is Africa’s top coffee producer, so don’t forget to try a hot cup after the injera’s all gone.