BY MULUGETA GUDETA
Historically, popular resistance wars in Ethiopia have been accompanied with a surge of defiance and feelings of patriotism that are often translated into creative outbursts of new songs whose lyrics best illustrate the political environment at a given time. Thus singers, musicians and poets occupy a respected place in Ethiopian culture of resistance against aggression whether it comes from within or form outside the country.
The latest craze in the stream of Ethiopian patriotic songs is of course Teddy Afro’s (a.k.a. Tewodros Kassahun) whose “Kenabel” or ‘raise your head’ is this month’s most popular single that is coming in the heat of the ongoing war for national survival. Teddy Afro’s single came on the heels of Tariku Gankasi’s – “Dishta Gina” that had captured the public imagination for many months this year. Its second version, a remix has added more creativity and modernity to the original tune with Ekon’s participation.
According to Wikipedia, “Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam, also known as Akon, is a Senegalese-American singer, songwriter, record producer, and entrepreneur from New Jersey. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of “Locked Up”, the first single from his debut album Trouble, followed by the second single “Lonely”. Akon is of course a lover of Ethiopian music.
“Dishta Gina” hit the airwaves at the beginning of the war while Teddy Afro’s new single followed as the war grids on and a high dose of moral and patriotic uplifting of the public mood was on the order of the day. “Raise your Head” is a literal call for the generation engaged in this patriotic war to feel pride and dignity in the face of those who are trying to humiliate the country. Thus, it is a call both on the public and on Ethiopia to meet the challenge with dignity s I did many ties in its long history.
Teddy Afro is of course the foremost singer and musician of Ethiopian patriotism with his well-known album “Ethiopia” still that remains the number one hit on the album. “Ethiopia” is a mix of modern music, traditional tunes, and poetic rendering of what Ethiopia means to is people and what its historic destiny is. Teddy is not only a singer but also a song writer, composer and lyricist who write most if not all of his songs. His has displayed a high degree of maturity professionalism and talent since his first album was released many years back. He is now emerging as the most important and most influential of Ethiopian musicians of this generation, a deserving heir to the late Tilahun Gessesse whose influence on Teddy is evident.
It is not without reason that many historians maintain that Ethiopian history is a history of wars against foreign and domestic aggressors over the last many centuries. Geography sometimes makes a people prone to be exposed to foreign aggression but Ethiopians did not succumb to the military crusades conducted to colonize the land and turn the people into slaves. During many resistance wars, Ethiopian music and songs of war provided moral support and played as inspiration for the courage and even heroism that the patriotic fighters displayed at the various fronts in times of hardship like he presents one.
Every society has its heroes that distinguish themselves both in real time wars and in mythology. In Greek mythology for instance, Achilles was the strongest warrior and hero in the Greek army during the Trojan War. He was the son of Peleus, king of the Myrmidons, and Thetis, a sea nymph. The story of Achilles appears in Homer’s “Iliad and elsewhere. He was one of the great heroes of Greek mythology. According to legend, Achilles was extraordinarily strong, courageous and loyal, but he had a single vulnerability and that was his “Achilles heel.” Homer’s epic poem The Iliad tells the story of his adventures during the last year of the Trojan War.”
Ethiopians may not have mythical heroes comparable to the Greek ones but they have and had real heroes who conducted wars against foreign invaders who tried to subjugate the country and turn it into their colony. Adwa is of course an epic battle in Ethiopia history and an epic victory that occupies a special place alone in the annals of warfare in Ethiopia for the courage of the fighters and the leadership of military strategists. Another remarkable thing about the Battle of Adwa is the role played by music and songs in giving inspiration to the fighter’s right on the battlefield.
In addition to church music by the priest who travelled to Adwa with the Menelik army, there were also the azmaris or traditional folk singer with the kirar, who improvised patriotic melodies and uplifted he spirits of the actual fighters. Churchmen travelled carrying their arcs of the covenant as a sign that Adwa was a blessed war for the defense of Ethiopia’s survival in the face of colonial aggression. There were blessings, prayers and psalms echoing on the mountains of Adwa in the middle of the fighting.
We may take the Italian aggression of 1935 as the first modern warfare Ethiopians fought in the 20th century. According to sources, “The Italo-Ethiopian War, (1935–36), an armed conflict that resulted in Ethiopia’s subjection to Italian rule. … A border incident between Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland that December gave Benito Mussolini an excuse to intervene. Rejecting all arbitration offers, the Italians invaded Ethiopia on October 3, 1935.”
This war also witnessed the role of patriotic songs and music in giving the resistance fighters pride in their operations and confidence of victory in the battle. Traditional music with the azmaris and so on sung patriotic songs and composed patriotic lyrics that encouraged the fighters and mobilized the people against the occupiers. After the Ethiopian victory and the return of the monarchy to Addis Ababa, azmaris were ignored and relegated to the so-called azmari bets, or traditional might clubs where they entertained people against payment a certain amount of money for their services.
Music and nationalism were inseparable during the long political history of Ethiopia particularly in the post-Italian occupation period. As Wikipedia summarizes the situation very well, “Music combining Western and local cultures continued to spread across Ethiopia. In 1960, a strong national movement originated in the fine arts community and began to spread across Ethiopia. Organizers felt that their national identity was being threatened by the growing influence of western traditions, which led to the establishment of organizations that focused solely on preserving Ethiopian heritage across the country.
“After the 1974 revolution, the new government organized local performing groups in neighborhoods and regions throughout the nation in order to promote their political agenda. The groups were known as the kinet, and their purpose was to cultivate nationalist sentiment by combining Ethiopian cultural music with the ideas of Marxism–Leninism. The kinet is said to have played a role in the development of Bahil-Zemenawi, a traditional modern genre that used previously abandoned local musical material and combined it with Western material…”
The present war against the TPLF, although an internal conflict, is not differ from past patriotic resistance wars simply because there is strong international component to the fighting as Western powers are interfering in Ethiopia’s internal affairs in support of the TPLF, simply because it serves to promote their converging interests. Both the West and TPLF are working hand in glove, the former for the control of the Horn region by weakening Ethiopia which is a regional economic powerhouse, and the latter in the hope that the Americans might help it regain its lost power by aggravating the political and economic chaos that TPLF worked for the last 30 years to create and nurture it. TPLF is therefore playing the role of surrogate in a conflict that threatens to destabilize the entire Horn region with all-rounded Western assistance.
The US seems set to avenge it recent humiliation in Afghanistan by creating a local Taliban and the TPLF hopes to regain its lost power as the Talban has regained it after 20 years. The difference between the Taliban and TPLF is that the former is a bunch of religiously motivated zealots who burned down their own country for the sake of power while TPLF is an anti-religion group of disaffected former officials whose motive is neither politics nor ideology but blind hate and driven as they are by suicidal motives and revanchist instincts. TPLF is trying to replay 1991 when it was a deceptive movement that portrayed itself as “liberator” and secured the support of the people it is now fighting against.
In 1991, TPLF had a semblance of policy to offer the people even though it lived short of is promises. Nowadays, TPLF has nothing to offer even to its own constituency, except a policy of indiscriminate destruction, if you call that a policy. It seems history is repeating itself, the first tie as a tragedy and the second time as a farce.
In 1991, the Derg was a completely discredited dictatorship and most Ethiopians had no choice but to support the TPLF which was disguised as “liberator”. Now the situation is completely different and reversed. The TPLF has taken up the place of the Derg as a hated and distrusted entity that has become the curse of the nation with its 30-year-old policy of lootings, killings, tortures, and what not. This is what the West and the US in particular have failed to read properly or are acting in full knowledge of what they are doing. Washington’s present policy is not only reckless but also irresponsible as a nation of more than 110 million people before championing a group whose leaders should be sent to the war crime tribunal in The Hague along with the Hutu genocide perpetrators.
The present situation has provoked anger among Ethiopians of all walks of life and the urge to fall back on their patriotic history of resistance. Patriotic music and songs have once again come to the fore as the weapons of popular mobilization and popular resistance. Popular war songs, shilela, kererto and other traditional expression of anger and courage have become the staple of public expressions. During WWII, American musicians and entertainers were travelling to the war fronts in Europe to entertain and inspire the GIs who were fighting against Hitler.
The French were resorting to patriotic appeals during WWI, when they fought the same German invaders. They called it a war for the defense of “La Ptrie” or the motherland. Concerning resistance against neocolonial proxy wars by any African country, it is often portrayed in the Western press as something the poor and suffering people of Africa should not resort to in order to defend their dignity and their very survival. And this is a sign that the West is standing on the side of proxy warriors against their own people. And that is the saddest chapter in contemporary neocolonial history in Africa.
The Ethiopian Herald November 21/2021
