Ethiopia, one of the ancient countries in the world, is the home of great civilization— the Aksumite civilization, which flourished between 1st to 8th century AD. Culturally as the Aksumite Kingdom was advanced, composers, philosophers and writers had left many unforgettable masterpieces. Among the immortal legends who contributed lasting work to generations is found Saint Yared. Who was Saint Yared? What did he do in his lifetime?
Saint Yared was born on 5 April 525 AD in the historic city of Aksum to his father Abuyad (Issak) and his mother Christina (Tawklia) and grew up there. His father died when he was only seven years old.
Then, his mother gave Yared to his uncle named Gedion who was a treasurer (Gebez) in Akusm. She was hopeful his uncle would teach and raise him properly. However, the young boy was not active in his schooling. As a result, his uncle was angry and frustrated of him. Yared was weak in understanding lessons especially the Psalms of David. Due to his weakness, his intolerant uncle used to punish him severely. But no improvement was witnessed on Yared’s education.
Though he tried to understand what was conveyed to him, he failed repeatedly. Hence, his uncle’s punishment become extremely harsh and he could not manage to bear it. Then he fled to unknown areas so as to spare himself a corporeal punishment.
Teklemuz Gobezay, history Lecture at Mekelle University describes the single incident that changed the future life of the young boy as ‘inspirational’ and hailed him as the most dynamic and super genius person. Teklemuz noted that one relentless insect had motivated him to pursue his education assiduously.
‘‘Once upon a time, the young Yared ran away to escape further punishment from his uncle. But he hadn’t the slightest idea where he wants to head,’’ he narrates. “When he traveled the desperate journey, he was awfully exhausted and thirsty. Then, he sat under a tree to take a rest. Engulfed by hunger, tiredness and frustration, Yared noticed a small insect trying to climb a big tree. But the insect was continuously falling down. Though, it tried to climb the tree six times, it terribly failed. However, the little insect managed to climb the tree at its seventh attempt. Then it achieved its aim to eat the fruit. This was the turning point in the life of Saint Yared,’’ the lecturer explains.
After that Yared took a lesson he could be successful if he peruses his education diligently. Then he came back to his uncle’s home to say “Thousand apologies!” for deserting home. He started school in a new hope and motivation. As he turned clever at his school, via rote learning, he memorized the 150 Psalms of David. Also he digested the books Prophets, and King Solomon including the translations and the laws of the church. His success entitled him to be a server of Zion-Axum which is a high privilege and achievement for a person at his age.
Since he became highly successful in his career, he arranged and composed his own religious music. The sacred melody which is being used by Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox churches to date is extremely marvelous. The unforgettable legend named his melody through the interface of three birds that inspired him to invent spiritual music. His musical blending are known as Ge’ez, Izil and Araray. Besides, he wrote five volumes hymns known as ‘Zema’ that entails chapters entitled Digua and Tsome Digua.
Accordingly, the great Ethiopian composer of all time had been bestowed sainthood for his immense contributions. Finally, Saint Yared passed away on 11 May 511 AD aged 46. However, he is immortal due to his extraordinary masterworks that could last forever. His legacies are still vividly seen in the spiritual and cultural songs of Ethiopia. To commemorate him and his works, music college, street, hotels and hospitals were named after him. In addition to this, a square was named after him in the capital Addis Ababa on 18 January 2020.
The Ethiopian Herald Sunday Edition 26 January 2020
BY TSEGAY HAGOS
