In a recent interview with Jossy in the House Show on Jtv Ethiopia, musician Semahegn Belew said that he made a song entitled ‘Tiga belew’. Amazingly, he wrote the song while he was in prison. The song is intended to encourage the national effort to construct The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on Abay or Nile River. He made the song immediately as he heard about the commencement of the construction of the project.
The lyric ‘Abay Yelibe derese, bageru fesese’ clearly depicts the remorse of the singer in back days for the release of the water with no significant importance. As a singer grown in the region where the Nile emanated, Semahegn has been singing about the river portraying it as powerful and unattainable by the people even though it took the property of the land including soil, animal and even people’s lives. He made Tiga belew song forgetting all the remorse and even the tension induced by the restriction of the prison. “I just forget what is going on in my life as soon as I heard about the inauguration of the construction of the dam. And I went to my cell and covered by the mattress to write lyric and melody.”
It is not only Semahegn, many Ethiopian musicians made songs on the Nile River before and after the construction of the grand dam. Thus, many of the songs mainly depict the river as an unreachable natural resource and exploitable treasure for national development, a study conducted by Berhanu Engidaw from Addis Ababa University indicated. Various singers such as Ejigayehu Shibabaw, Tewodros Kassahun, Semahegn Belew, Genet Masresha, Yihune Belay, Ashebir Belay, Mesfin Bekele, Tadele Roba and Tewodros Tadesse among others made songs on the Nile either before or after the construction of the dam.
Songs about the Nile made by Ejigayehu Shibabaw (Gigi) and Tewodros Kassahun aka Teddy Afro mainly state the natural form of the river citing its origin, charitableness and beauty. Both artists portray the river originated from genesis in line with the source of mankind which the bible mentioned as the Garden of Eden. Both narrate the Nile as the king of all rivers. Both also express it as a tear of righteous people pointing out that the source of the river is surrounded by monasteries around Lake Tana where monks and clergy address their prayer to God every day.
Teddy as many other singers interrogates the river to stop pouring out of Ethiopia. “Why not my tears fail to stop watering” the singer expressed his feeling exemplifying the river as his tears or something that is the property that left him without his consent. Teddy’s song is composed in a melancholic version while the verses beg for the river to stop its unfamiliarity to the country of its origin that it left without any favor.
In the same token, Egigayehu Shibabw has made the most notable song Abay, praising the Nile as a source of wisdom and life. Gigi depicts this river as a graceful aesthetic value to Ethiopia and Egypt too. The song narrates the river as a source of life in the Sinai desert.
Not only these two but also there are several songs about the Nile praising and reprimanding the river comparing to its grace and significance to the country. Some songs like ‘Abay dar new bête’, ‘Abay yewenzoch abat and Abay dar yaleshiw ketema’ commends the Nile as a source of beauty and site of love.
However, the songs made on the Nile following the construction of the dam mainly advocate national zeal to achieve renaissance. In literal terms, these songs mainly target the dam than the river. Accordingly, these songs transmit a message that the river became functional for national development. Among such songs are ‘Chis albaw nedaj’ (the smokeless fuel), ‘Tenesastual libe’, ‘Tiga belew’, ‘Engurgurow yibka’ among others.
The songs ‘Chis albaw nedaj’ and ‘Tiga belew’ made by Genet Masresha and Semahegn Belew go back and forth mentioning background of the river and construction of the dam in line with the history of the country. The songs cite the grace of the river similar to the ancient civilized history of the nation. Therefore, the songs mention the dam on the Nile is a gear changer to the development of the country alienated from regret and poverty. The songs are successful in motivating the people to contribute to the dam and the artists were performing various resource mobilization stages.
However, most of the songs about the dam were not successful from artistic values. The songs composed inspired by the dam lack aesthetic value compared to the music that made on Abay before the commencement of the construction of the GERD. Most of them are sponsored by the government to encourage people to achieve the project.
The study by Berhanu has results implication for Nile water politics and international relations. The Nile is a unifying cause for all Ethiopians. Cognizant of this, the government is working to harness the unity for national development, the paper pointed out. Currently, many accept that the dam has become the second national incident that unites Ethiopians once again after the Victory of Adwa. Nowadays, Ethiopians are more cognizant of the dam and trying to contribute their fair share to the construction of the project either in finance, labor or knowledge.
In relation to this, the government’s determination to coordinate all people to make guardians of the flagship project is commendable. Public figures also played an important role in doing the same. Similarly, the songs that made on the project since the next day of the announcement of the construction of the dam have been playing an indispensable role in inspiring the people to develop a sense of belongingness and contribute to it as per its capability. Of course, music has an undeniable role in awaking a given society on certain issues and this seen on the aforementioned songs that enabled Ethiopians to get concerned about the river and the dam.
Ethiopians like to see the Nile contributing to national development this is why they are investing their labor, finances and knowledge to the grand-dam project. The findings also imply that utilization plans of the Nile water need to be designed to benefit all riparian countries. Deep-seated grief and regret lie among Ethiopians for they have not meaningfully benefited from the Nile waters for a long time. Finally, the songs made inspired by the dam are identified lacking aesthetic value than similar songs made for the river before the construction of the dam. Therefore, focusing on the artistic value of it is important to increase acceptance of the songs side by side to their role in motivating the people to contribute a fair share to the project.
The Ethiopian Herald May 26, 2020
BY YOHANES JEMANEH
