A recently released song by a young Ethiopian Oromo artist, Andualem Gosa, has brought sensational motivation to the youth and become a hit on social platforms. The young generation seems to find something fascinating about the song and its theme. The artist was also well known for his famous song “Derbelala,” which depicts a picture about how Addis Ababa has become a gravitational pull for every ethnic group from every direction of Ethiopia. The song is still being dominantly listened to in the City. Even though he become popular with Derbelala and the recent Afan Oromo song, Andualem has started out his career singing Amharic songs in idol auditions.
The recent song, which was released days ago, brings an early 19th-century legend, Bilillee/Mehbuba, back to life. She is the centre of conversation among millions of Ethiopians on social platforms. The name Bilillee in Afaan Oromo means elegant or pretty. The newly released song by Andualem repeatedly mentions her name with deep sorrow or agony. Why? Because he is blindly in love and looking for her proves almost mission impossible. The singer directly talks to the beautiful girl through his lyrics. He feels deeply struck by her beauty, as he describes it as a star in a black hole. He is trying and hoping to find her, but how could a 19th first century beautiful girl be found and talked to?
The singer seemed to bring the name Bilillee to his lyrics for the love he’s looking for is so enduring but also difficult to find.
Bilillee, the legend, was born in the early 19th century, but destiny would take away the name her loving parents picked and named her after even a better name, Mehbuba, which means’my beloved’ in Arabic. In 1835, her home village, Gumma, which is located in the southern part of the now Ethiopia, was ravaged by civil war. During the war, Bilillee lost her father and six brothers. Her mother and her sister were held captive by the invaders, who burned her village to the ground. They were taken as slaves and their journey from Gonder to Kartum then to Cario in 1837 was a life changer. Even though Bilillee was supposed to be destined for staggering, exhausting life-long slavery that was not exactly what happened.
According to historians, in 1837, Bilillee was purchased by the German prince Hermann Ludwig Heinrich Von Puckler- Muskau. It was said that the prince fell in love with Bilillee and instead of treating her like a slave he would rather write a strange later to his wife that depicted her as his mistress. Writers say that the prince was captivated by the young Ethiopian girl. After he bought her, he would disguise himself here as a Mamluke boy. Both the prince and Bilillee had done a great deal of journey and been to Palstine, Syrea and Istanbul. The ways the young girl managed to embrace western culture were beyond imagination, and this made the prince love Bilillee the most. She had an infectious smile and her net kindness made her the darling of western society. Her charm and beauty were the top topics in newspapers and magazines. But the beautiful young girl unfortunately couldn’t handle the extreme cold weather of Europe, so she was finally diagnosed with Tuberculosis. The Prince had to leave for Berline on a business tour and two days after his departure, Bilillee had passed away.
According to some historians the Prince described Bilillee “as the being I loved most in the world”. He wrote to a friend “I felt more love for her than I thought myself capable of. Her death was my most intense pain”.
Bilillee’s unexpected life of romance was one of the joyful realities that people would love to imagine in their own lives. A love that trespasses borders, a beauty that concurs human being’s most evil enemy called slavery and racism, a personality that that everyone adores, is something that one could imagine and write a song for.
The song by Andualem Gosa does not depict the real love history of Bilillee. He just mentioned her name and stunning beauty, with his ironic verses. He probably is missing the beauty and personality that he couldn’t find from the people of the new generation. He also seemed to remind the young girls about what kind of beauty they have to live with. He says at some point on his lyrics “Bilillee I’m still looking for you, but couldn’t find you anywhere. Your beauty is like a mystery in enigma. I’m still missing you, have you lost your way home”.
As the song went viral on social platforms and so many kept on sharing the story of Bilillee, the legend has risen again. This proves that one significant work of art or one has the power to bring unsung legends to life or it also works otherwise. This can be observed from what some famous people leave on their social platform pages and the positive energies they inject to the brains of young people. So many works on creating positive energy to society and the irresponsible deeds of very few would take over the air and poison generations.
What would be more significant than inspiring generations with love, affection and a perfectionist ways of life? What is more important about passing hate speeches on social platforms like postcards? Is it not searching for a beauty, charm and personality, which seem to be impossible to find, what people are missing from their bible of success?
Even if Andualem Gosa’s new song may not literally go down this deep, the name mentioned Bilillee/ Mehbuba, has already triggered some vibe on the youth and it seemed to be a fresh way of inspiring through music on the traditions of new Ethiopian music generation.
Many young Artists like Andualem are playing crucial roles in revolutionizing the music industry of Afaan Oromo, coming up modern instrumental mixes and new thoughts of school. This is expected to be encouraged by all actors in the music industry and government entities working for the development of culture and tourism.
BY NAOL GIRMA
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 10 MAY 2024
