Nigus Entertainment × Abyssinia Entertainment × StreamAfri · Genna to Timkat · 7–23 January 2027
The Marley Family
Comes Home to Ethiopia
Bob Marley came to Africa once, in 1980. Forty-seven years later his family is invited to the land his music always pointed toward — for Genna and Timkat, the two greatest festivals of the Ethiopian year, and the first international concert in a newly inaugurated national stadium. This page is the invitation.
Nigus Entertainment
Host
Abyssinia Entertainment
Partner
StreamAfri
Broadcast
Ministry of Tourism
Addis Ababa
Ethiopian Airlines
Proposed
Who This
Invitation Is For
Bob Marley’s children carry the work forward on every continent. The invitation is open to the family and to whoever among them wishes to make the journey — together or one at a time.
Every name here is invited, none is booked. Ky-Mani Marley has already performed on Ethiopian ground, to Ethiopian crowds. What is new is the invitation to come for Genna and Timkat together, as guests of the country.
A road already shared
Why January
The Ethiopian calendar puts its two greatest festivals two weeks apart. The visit opens on one and closes after the other.
Genna
Ethiopian Christmas. Tens of thousands of pilgrims in white fill the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela — carved downward out of solid stone in the twelfth century, still in use. Chanting and candlelight until dawn. UNESCO World Heritage since 1978.
Timkat
Ethiopian Epiphany, and the largest festival in the country. The Tabot is carried in procession and the crowd blessed with water at dawn, at Fasilides’ Bath. Hundreds of thousands in white, through a seventeenth-century royal city. UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2019.
Seventeen Days
In January
See the live calendar in the room
7 to 23 January 2027 — opening on Genna and closing after Timkat, the two largest festivals in the Ethiopian year. Nothing below is booked; it is what the hosts are ready to put in place, in the order it would happen. The blocks are ranges, not fixed days.
-
017 JanLalibela
Arrival & Genna
- Genna · Ethiopian Christmas at the rock-hewn churches — a UNESCO World Heritage site
- State welcome and Ethiopian coffee ceremony
- Private dinner with the hosts. No press.
- Closed to cameras entirely, at the family’s discretion
-
028–10 JanAddis Ababa
The city and the state
- Unity Park and the National Palace
- Adwa Victory Memorial Museum — the battle that kept Ethiopia uncolonised
- Ethiopian Science Museum · a conversation with young Ethiopians
- Walk of the new Addis corridor
-
0311–13 JanAxum & Gondar
The historical route
- Axum — the obelisks and the claimed resting place of the Ark
- Gondar — the castles of Fasilides
- Lake Tana and the island monasteries
-
0414–16 JanAdey Abeba National Stadium
Three days of rehearsal
- Full three-day rehearsal block — production, sound and lighting
- Stage build and backline to the family’s specification
- Closed set. Crew and family only.
- Days held clear either side
-
0517 JanAdey Abeba National Stadium
Concert night (proposed)
- Ethiopia’s newly inaugurated national stadium — the first international concert ever staged there
- Broadcast across the continent by StreamAfri
- Archive and post-production retained for the family
-
0618 JanAddis Ababa
The Marley Memorial Museum
- Site visit and groundbreaking for a permanent Marley memorial museum in Addis Ababa
- Facilitated with the Ministry of Tourism of Addis Ababa
- Joint press moment and PR release, jointly approved beforehand
-
0719–20 JanGondar
Timkat · Ethiopian Epiphany
- Timkat — the largest religious festival in Ethiopia, and a UNESCO-recognised tradition
- The procession of the Tabot and the dawn blessing at Fasilides’ Bath
- Tens of thousands in white, through the streets of Gondar
-
0821–22 JanBishoftu
The lake
- The crater lakes and the highland air
- Private programme and rest
- Closing dinner with the hosts
-
0923 JanAddis Ababa
Departure
- Morning held clear
- Protocol departure from Bole International
Genna (7 January) and Timkat (19–20 January) are fixed by the Ethiopian calendar. Every other date here is a target. The shape of the seventeen days is the hosts’ proposal — any part of it can be cut, moved or closed to the public at the family’s word.
How You Will
Be Received
This is not a booking. It is a homecoming, and the hosts intend to receive the family the way a nation receives its own — arranged with the Ministry of Tourism of Addis Ababa.
Diplomatic treatment
The family and their party are received under diplomatic protocol: state courtesies on arrival, government liaison throughout the visit, and the standing of official guests of the city rather than visiting performers.
Arrival without friction
Private terminal handling at Bole International, protocol officers through immigration and customs, and luggage and equipment cleared ahead of the party. Nobody in the group stands in a queue.
Security & ground operations
Close protection coordinated with city authorities, a dedicated convoy with escort between every venue, and secured floors at the residence. Movements are planned with the family’s own security leads, not around them.
Hospitality
Accommodation, hospitality and ground transport for the family and their party are carried by the hosts, in Addis Ababa and at Kuriftu African Village in Bishoftu.
Privacy on your terms
Which moments are filmed, which are broadcast and which are never recorded is set by the family in writing before anyone travels. Genna itself can be closed to cameras entirely.
These are undertakings by the hosts, offered with the invitation. Each one is written into the terms before anything is announced.
A Permanent
Marley Memorial
In Addis Ababa
Not a plaque and not a week of banners. The hosts are working with the Ministry of Tourism of Addis Ababa to establish a permanent Marley memorial museum in the capital — a building that stays after the stage comes down.
Bob Marley’s music pointed at Ethiopia for his whole career. He reached the continent once. A museum in Addis Ababa makes that relationship permanent, on Ethiopian ground, in Ethiopian hands.
The museum is a proposal under active discussion with the Ministry of Tourism. Nothing is sited or permitted yet, and no part of it depends on the family accepting the invitation to perform.
The City Will
Know You Are Here
Addis Ababa is a city of more than five million people, and the campaign reaches it at street level — not only online.
Buses
Full-side livery across the city bus fleet, running the main corridors daily in the weeks before the visit.
Signage
Billboards and gateway signage along the new corridor, at Bole International, and at the approach to the stadium.
Broadcast
StreamAfri carries the campaign and the concert night across the continent, with archive and post-production retained for the family.
He came once.
His family returns
to a nation ready
to be seen.
The Ethiopia
You Will Land In
Not the country of the news cycle. A capital in the middle of the largest rebuild in its history — new corridors, new museums, a new national stadium, and a tourism ministry actively opening the city to the world.
City access and programming are arranged in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism of Addis Ababa.
The Stages
of the Return
Four places, four registers — the newly inaugurated national stadium, a museum, a street, and a lake.
Invitation-only
Everything Else
Lives in the Room
A private space for the family, their management, and the hosts. One place to hold the conversation, the calendar, the numbers, and the paperwork — visible to both sides, at the same time.
Deal timeline
Six milestones from invitation to Genna week, each with an owner, a status, and its own thread.
Shared calendar
Every key date in one view, labelled target until agreed, with an iCal feed for your own diary.
Budget forecast
Eight cost categories, who carries each, and what is agreed versus forecast. Costed jointly, in the open.
Document vault
The invitation, term outlines, rights and privacy drafts — versioned, permissioned, recorded.