Artist Mussa Husein was born in 1961 in Moyale town, Oromia state. He had been to Kenya for medical treatment in his childhood and had attended his 1st and 2nd grade there. When he returned to his homeland in 1967 he joined Moyale Elementary School.
When Mussa return back home he had almost forgotton his mother tongue and was fluent in Kiswahili. For that reason,Mussa had difficulties to communicate with his friends. However, when he kept on studying local languages he was able to speak Amharic and Oromifa perfectly within short period.
In 1973, Mussa continued his education at Negele Borenal. By the time, it takes three days to travel from Moyale to Negele town. For that reason, he was forced to attain his class subsidized by his teachers.
Though life was challenging, Mussa had never gave up. Therefore, Mussa kept on studying hard. But his desire to achieve his goal was crippled by the political situation of the country. .
Following the political change in 1974, the national exam was postponed for two years and in 1976 Mussa took national examination. However, the poltica, instability was
still a threat for the then students. Due to this reason, Mussa and his friends could not get their exam result within scheduled time.
In 1977, Mussa`s teachers who were imprisoned by the government were released. Thus, when the country stabilize he received his exam result and joined grade nine at Dila Comprehensive High School in SNNPs.
Economic problem was still a challenge to the young Mussa. To curb this financial problem, he has to work in part time as a tutor for young students. Completing grade nine in Dila, he headed to Gedio as a member of Ediget Behibret Zemecha- the then campaign where high school graduates will take part in social and economic issues of their country
Five months later, Mussa came back and took his grade 10th exam result. Unfortunately, he got one “F” which was an obstacle to attend university. However, he joined Teachers Training Institute. After accomplishing the training he joined Argene Elementary School as an Amharic language teacher. Year later, he went back to Moyale Elementary school, (where he attended his elementary education) and taught there for a decade.
In 1996 Mussa moves to Negele and joined Geda Elementary School which was called by the time Kaleb Elementary School as an English and Science teacher. Mussa is a dedicated teacher. Beside, his passion for music is well known among his friends and students and his favorite Kuili is well remembered. Kuili is one of Mussa`s favorite song. In Kiswahili, Kuili means truth. The music has a direct attachment with his name and the lyric has also something interesting.
In Negele, he has participated in various music concerts and recorded his own album. But the process to record and publish his song was not an easy task. For that reason, he has to go up and down. But, thanks to the recording company his effort has bear fruit. Mussa still remember his feeling when he heard the record was a nice one.
Music is part of his life. But, the challenge to publish quality music and the need to pay for the recording company (3,000 ETB) was something bad he experienced in those days. Therefore, Mussa determined to face every challenge to secure money that would help him to pay for another record with quality sound.
Accordingly,
he decided to stay in Addis working as a teacher in a private school. Beside,
he also engaged in selling lyrics and
melodies to various amateur and famous musicians including Berhane Tefera and Nigusu Tamirat.
Through time he secured enough money and got his quality album record from Binibana Studio in 2013. The song was the title of the album which Mussa dedicated to African Union. “I play the music about my country which is a symbol of liberty to the continent.” Onnetiya, and Songa Africa were among the tracks in the album that most listened and loved by the audience. However he did not secure better money from the 2000 copy sell. This is because of the album mainly due to the political instability of the time and the cost overrun of the album. He also planned to record his second album as possible as he can.
For Mussa life is empty without teaching and playing music. “Music is a satisfying capsule to my soul and teaching of course, the call of my heart that I am born to guide the new generation.”
Currently, Mussa is teaching at Negele Technical and Vocational Education and Training College. Besides, he also play guitar in Negele Cultural Music Band. For the past years, he had been serving the band as instrumentalist and vocalist. His contribution to band has clearly seen last June where his cultural band ranked third and granted bronze medal competing with more than ten cultural bands drawn from various parts of the country.
The Ethiopian Herald April 14/2019
BY YOHANES JEMANEH
