The sphere of art is so vast that what so far has been related to the readers will be incomplete if the following narration of the play write is left unmentioned. The Ethiopian Herald again thanks the play write Ato Ayalneh Mulatu for his unreserved willingness to reveal of art in all its various didactic aspects exhaustively.
Herald: What was your contribution to People for People musical drama that was staged in many countries around the world?
Ato Ayalneh: For that matter, I am its creator. As a matter of chance, Mohamed Idris, Gemechu and I went to London to produce a film known as The Dawn of Hope based on the famine in Ethiopia. While working there, we rented a small house to save money to buy clothes shoes and what have you for our children.
Luckily the hotel rent included supper and breakfast which was served by the governor of the hotel. Thinking that we came from a country ravaged by hunger would sit in the corner and see us eating. On a certain Saturday morning, Mohamed was away for work. She brought a packet full of cornflakes and placed it on the table in front of me and walked back to her place and was watching me as I was eating breakfast and lunch at one go.
Later, I asked her why she was watching me like that. She said, “I know where you come from.” It was after that I argued with myself that Ethiopia is not known for only a famine, but has rich cultural heritage.
So, we decided to change her image. There were good leaders at that time and President Mengistu Haile Mariam, when we proposed the idea to him, he gladly accepted it. I composed the play, and all the famous professionals became members of the committee.
The work from top to bottom was daily being monitored. Music from every ethnic group was recorded on tape and video; the costumes, as well were selected from their origins. Tadesse Mesfin, the great artist, designed them all.
The costumes of the nations and nationalities of Ethiopia that you see today were designed at that time. We labored about for eight years closed door and Chairman Mengistu was repeatedly coming to monitoring the progress of what we were doing.
There were foreign professionals who were invited to confirm the appropriateness and the relevance of the program to foreign people. My role in process was initiating and coordinating. For the composition to be accepted, each one of us had to compete.
My work was simple and suitable for music and for that reason I won. In such relentless endeavors we were able to produce a film that Ethiopia prided herself on. All in all everything that we did in the process of the production and showing has been documented in volumes. The composition had a message in which there were a girl and a mother. Two great warriors, each was vying to make the girl his own at all cost. As they were in fierce fighting, the mother came and asked them why they were fighting. They replied it was her daughter; she asked them if they had consulted the girl.
They replied they hadn’t; they were simply fighting. Then the mother suggested they both ask the consent of girl. They complied, and at last when she hugged the man of her choice, peace reigned and the spectators applauded. Later when I returned to Ethiopia, the case was given wrong political connotation and I was charged with seventeen cases. Later the play was shown in the United States, and when the spectators saw the two contenders hug, they cheered them. The message was about the fight between Ethiopia and Eritrea which could have been solved by referendum and Mengistu’s fall down could not have happened. The government did not accept the success strategy designed. Our fathers or the past kings would even listen to what the local musician (azmari) would say since his songs are the reflections of the ideas of the society. Whatever plays we produce, no leader takes note of it. Our plays suggest that governments correct their mismanagement or else succumb to the progressive system and what have you. But the tragedy is that top people in the government don’t see dramas and don’t read books as much as they should. The question, “Why do we write?” is up front in the minds of inquisitors.
Herald: How do you compare the past and the contemporary Ethiopian journalist?
At Ayalneh: First of all, what should be considered, to me, is not the increasing or the decreasing of the number of journalists, their writing or not writing, etc., the question is if there exists writer’s institute in a given country. If so, the journalists are trained and graduate from there. Today, in Ethiopia, most of our journalists are, just like film producers, theatrical professionals do things by experience. It is only few of them who accomplish their duty in the manner they are trained for. In this case, it is obvious that problems pop up in the process of their performances. However, if they can create themselves for the situations appropriate to the profession and organize themselves, they can be respected for their developed skills appropriately useful for the development of their country, Ethiopia.
Currently we do not have such ones. Most of them could be time servers, some labor for their daily bread. Western journalists, their rights are respected and are not chased away by the government, and even if this happens to them, they are respected and supported by the society. Here with us, if the journalist is out of work, even a business man does not allow him to advertise his products or services at all. Concerning myself, as I was chased from the university, schools closed their door on me and theatre halls, too, did the same thing to me. The question here is who chased him away? The government; you are automatically branded as enemy to all. Let alone others, members of a certain Idir, about two hundred of them, came out saying, we do not allow a person who is condemned and chased away by the government to use our hall . They did not give me back the money I had paid for the rent of the hall. In our country, if the government loves you, you are loved; if it hates you, you are hated.
Therefore, our journalists and writers cannot be blamed for writing things in the interest of the government. They have not done wrong; they cannot do the otherwise. Writing is their bread and butter job. They have to eat for existence; what else can they do?
Moreover, since they are self-made and organized as such, struggling to use their skill and cop with life is perfectly alright. Quite a number of Ethiopian journalists have gone through a lot of troubles. They are cornered and have no one and nowhere to turn to. At the same time, very few of them have prepared and are ready for eventualities and as result have been persecuted, imprisoned and even tortured. We have to distinguish between the time servers and those who submit to the system just for survival sake as they cannot find other jobs if they are hated by the government. Such is the only means to ensure their right of the survival of the fittest.
Herald: Many people believe that you have an in-depth knowledge of Russian literature. Is it a fact or opinion?
Ato Ayalneh: For your information, I was a student there for about eight years to learn, not only Russian literature but also world literature at large. I was in charge of the by-weekly Amharic radio program known as the Notebook of the Author for seven years. For the sake of my radio program, I was translating many productions of great authors around the world and particularly Russian and broadcasting them. Since the situation was such, I had to read, understand and translate the strong, profound and substantive Russian literature and broadcast it in Amharic. Reading Russian Literature written by authors like Pushkin and others was not simple at all. By doing so, you gain love and honor for the literature and the people of Russia. Regarding Pushkin, he has blood link with Ethiopia and Russians admire him and pride themselves on his works.
They say that he is the creator of our modern literature. They assigned me to handle the Notebook of the Author considering me my blood linked to Pushkin. Russians is a great nation, not only their literature, but also their life style is similar to that of Ethiopians. During the war of Adowa, not a single country, even the Red Cross assisted Ethiopia. But in all the difficult times, Russia has always lent itself to support Ethiopia. The United States or any other country did not come for the rescue of Ethiopia as much as Russia did. Degazmach Balcha Memorial Hospital, which was established by Russians involved in the war of Adowa, is a living witness for an in-depth involvement of Russia in national security of Ethiopia. Considering religious affiliation, Russia, too, is a follower of the Orthodox faith like Ethiopia and the two countries share the same spiritual sentiment. The social interactions of Russia and Ethiopia are very similar.
Herald: In conclusion if you have anything to say.
Ato Ayalneh: The message I would like to say concerns two things: The first one is the occurrence of corona virus in our country. We see two things; on the problem Ethiopia faced prior to the coming of Coronavirus was very complicated. If the election were to be held before coronavirus, what could have been the destiny of Ethiopia? It could have been bloody. Thus coronavirus, to me, has ironed out the differences as situations now appear relenting. The second one is the tragic perishing of hundreds of thousands lives fills us with fear and disgust. Of all, we should follow the guidelines of the government and at the same time, in addition to the western approach for the solution, we should also use the traditional medicines that have been there for thousands of years.
The issue of the Blue Nile should be the top priority at this intensive moment of crisis. The saying, ‘Abay bet yelewum gind yizo yizoral’ meaning the Blue Nile has no home is erroneous statement as Abay has a home which is Egypt. In fact, it has carried logs of wood, soil and gold for millennia and hurries home to Egypt. Therefore, we all stand by the government and hasten the completion of the construction of the Great Dam.
The Ethiopian Herald June 26, 2020
BY JOSEPH SOBOKA
