Ethiopia: Teddy Afro’s New Album Stirs Up Online Discussion  · Global Voices
Endalkachew Chala

The release of a highly anticipated Teddy Afro’s new album, Tikur Sew, which can literally be translated as “A Black Person,” has stirred up discussion online. Tikur Sew is a homage to King Menelik II, whose victory over the Italians at the Battle of Adwa in 1896 made him a pride of Africa.
The lyrics of the song, which are written both in Amharic and Afan Oromo, are loaded with the history of Ethiopia’s Battle of Adwa, a topic that is seldom sung by Ethiopian musicians.
One of Ethiopian music Facebook pages writes:
Teddy Afro's new song is spreading like a wild fire in a street….love is in the air, in the streets of Addis…..wow…simply wow…………Teddy is the man……
Other discussions are taking place on Teddy Afro Facebook fans page, which has over 65,581 likes.
Teddy Afro in concert. Photo of Flickr user ALEMUSH released under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) .
Another fan posts an extended note [am] on his page:
ዛሬ ለሕዝብ ጆሮ የደረሰው የቴዲ አፍሮ አልበም እጄ ከገባበት ቅጽበት አንስቶ እያንዳንዱን ሙዚቃ እስካሁን ቢያንስ ስምንት ስምንት ያህል ግዜ (በኃይማኖቷ ምክንያት ሙዚቃን አርም ካለችው እናቴ ጋር እየተነታረኩም ቢሆን) አጣጥሜዋለሁ ፤ በቶሎም የምረካ (የምሰለች) አይመስለኝም፡፡ በተለይ “ጥቁር ሰው” እና “ደስ የሚል ስቃይ” የሚሉት ስራዎች (ላለማጋነን ከሃያ ግዜ በላይ ደጋግሜያቸዋለሁ) የሚገርም እርካታ ፈጥረውብኛል፡፡
ሆኖም ያልተሞከረ ታሪካዊ ዳራ እና ወኔያማ አቀራረብ ይዞ ብቅ ያለው “ጥቁር ሰው” በተሰኘው ስራ ውስጥ የተወሱት (የተወደሱት) የኢትዬጵያ አርበኞች ማንነት (በብሄረተኛ ኦሮሞዎች ዘንድ ስለአርበኞቹ ውስጥ ውስጡን ያለው ውዝግብና ቅያሜን ማለቴ ነው) እንዲሁም አርበኞቹ ከተወደሱባቸው ስንኞች መኸከል የተወሰኑት
(ለምሳሌ …
“”…አድዋ ሲሄድ ምንሊክ “ኑ” ካለ
አይቀርም በማሪያም ስለማለ
ታዲያ ልጁ ምን አለ?
“ወይ” …
“ወይ” ሳልለው ብቀር ያኔ
እኔን አልሆንም ነበር እኔ
እኔን አልሆንም ነበር እኔ
እኔን አልሆንም ነበር እኔ…”)
…የሚሉት ስንኞች ለድርብ ፍቺ (MISINTERPRETATION) የተጋለጡ መሆናቸው ለታሪካዊና ፖለቲካዊ ክርክር ብሎም ቶሎ ለሚከስም ውዝግብ (ከላይ ከጠቀስኳቸው ብሄረተኛ ኦሮሞዎች ጋር) መንገድ እንደሚከፍቱ ከወዲሁ እየተሰማኝ ነው፡፡
የሆነው ሆኖ የቴዲን በሳል እና ወኔያማ ስራ ተከትሎ በርዕሰ-ጉዳይ ላይ አይቀሬ ሆኖ እየተሰማኝ ያለው እሰጥ-እገባ እንዲሁም በጉጉት የምጠብቀው የቴዲ ምላሽ (ሁሌም የምናውቀው አይነት ቀና እና አስታራቂ አንዳንዴም ብልጣብልጥ ምላሾቹን ማለቴ ነው) የኋላኋላ ለብሄራዊ አንድነትና መግባባት መንገድ እደሚደለድሉ ገና ካሁኑ ልበሙሉነት እና ደስታን ፈጥረውብኛል፡፡ ታሪክን ለመስራት ደፋር መሆን ካለብን ይሄ በቂ አብነት ይመስለኛል፡
I am looking forward to hear Teddy’s intelligent and shrewd response to the foreseeable controversies regarding his Album. But I feel his attempt will positively put in an element for building a common national identity. Besides, he sets an exemplary effort for courage and wisdom!
Markos, an Ethiopian blogger and Global Voices Author, lists 5 reasons why you need to buy Teddy Afro's album:
1. His songs invoke emotions
Artists should invoke emotions and Teddy Afro is very good at it. He takes Asmera to Addis; for most people still don’t believe that Ethiopians and Eritreans are two different nations. He invokes emotions about the social challenges what Ethiopians have in the country and outside the country. He sings about equality and unity. I would also expect that he would invoke emotions in this new album.
2. He is an activist
Activism is barely accepted in Ethiopian society let alone with the government. It is great that there are many online activists right now, thanks to social media! But the in the society at large most activists are driven by their political parties not in their own philosophies. Teddy’s activism comes out of himself. His new album titled “tikur sew” [am], Black Person. I expect that he will exercise activism in his new album.
However, Befeqe does not think that Afro is an activist. In his blog post he responds to Markos [am] explaining why he does not need to buy Afro's album:
ይህንን መንግስት እና ይህንን ኑሮ አላማረረም (I don’t want art for the sake of art)
‹እንዴ ቴዲ እኮ ዘፋኝ ነው?› ካላችሁ፣ እንዴ እስክንድርም እኮ ጋዜጠኛ ነው እላችኋለሁ፤ ‹እንዴ ቴዲን እኮ እያሰሩት ነው?› ካላችሁ፣ እንዴ እስክንድርንም እኮ ከሰባቴ በላይ አስረውታል እላችኋለሁ፡፡ ‹የፈለገውን አቋም መያዝ፣ ማራመድ ወይም አለማራመድ አይችልም እንዴ?› ካላችሁ ግን እስማማለሁ ግን ባያስጀምረን ነበር፡፡ የምርጫ 97 ሰሞን ጥዑም ፖለቲካ ዘፍኖ ከዘፋኝነት ወደነፃ አውጪነት ካሸጋገርነው በኋላ ማፈግፈጉ ያኔ የሕዝቡን ትኩሳት ተንተርሶ ሊጠቀምብን ነበር ማለት ነው? ያኔ ተቃዋሚዎች ተስፋ አላቸው ከነርሱ ልወዳጅ ብሎ ነበር ማለት ነው? ዛሬ ድንገት ተነስቶ ‹የለም! ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ እየተካሄደ ያለውን ነገር አላየሁም፣ አልሰማሁም› ቢል እኔም አልሰማውም፡፡
But Zelalem Kibret, a blogger residing in Addis Ababa, looks at Teddy’s song in a different in a post titled “Ethiopian History 101 By Teddy Afro”:
The New Teddy Afro album is amazing as always has been and I prefer to give my reflection on the title of the album called ‘Tikur Sew’.
In Tikur Sew Teddy tries to give a history lesson for Ignorants but, not in a conventional way rather in a new & lovable way.
1. E pluribus unum , Out of Many, One
The first thing that I found Interesting in ‘Tikur Sew’ is Its mentioning of different Patriots & war lords who plays pivotal role in the battle of Adwa, from different Ethnic Group :
❥ First It mention Dejazmach Balcha Aba Nefso, an Oromo patriot
❥ Then Emperor Minilik ( Aba Gagnaw) , from Shewa, Amhara
❥ The Next is Fitawrari Habte Giorgis Dinagde ( Aba Mela ) , a Gurage Patriot
❥ It is Ras Mengesha Yohannes, Tigrian Patriot ( The son of Emperor Yohannes IV from Tigray) turn to be mentioned and followed by.
❥ Ras Alula Engida, another Tigrian Patriot,
An exiled satirist blogger Abe Tokichaw also posts [am] a rejoinder to the discussion:
ለእምዬ ምንሊክ የተዘፈነው ጥቁር ሰው! ኢህአዴግ ይበልጡንም ደግሞ ህውሃት ሚኒሊክን እንዴት አድርገው እንደጠመዷቸው ልብ ስል አደዋ ላይ ሚኒሊክ ድል የነሱት ጣልያንን ሳይሆን ህውሃትን ነበር እንዴ? ብዬ እጠይቃለሁ። ባለፈው ግዜ እምዬ ምኒሊክን ክፉኛ የሚያንጓጥጥ መፅሐፍ ከህውሃት ወዳጆች አንዱ የሆኑ ሰው አሳትመው ነበር። በዛ ላይም እንዳየነው ከኢህአዴግ ወላጅ አባቶች አንዱ የሆኑት አቦይ ስብሀት ፀሐፊውን “እጅህ ይለምልም!” ብለው ከሞካሹ በኋላ በሚኒሊክ ላይ ዘመቻው እንደሚቀጥል ተናግረው… “ጥቁር ሰው” ሙዚቃ አፄ ሚኒሊክን ድጋሚ ያነገሰ ቢባል ይገባዋል። አሁን እንግዲህ ሰሞነ ቴዲ አፍሮ ገብቷል።
The question is whether Teddy Afro's music will be censored. Gezahegn Teji, an Ethiopian who has written a thesis on music censorship in Ethiopia, challenges the practice of music censorship in light of the Ethiopia’s Constitution which forbids of any form of censorship:
Officials, journalists, DJs, music editors, lobbying and religious groups, and music producers are found to be active agents censorship. Music is censored to circumvent retribution, to satisfy bosses and to be perceived as caretakers of “government’s ideology”. Hence, self-censorship overrides other types of censorship, i.e. official, unofficial, and market censorship.
De Birhan’s blog reports that the album might have been “censored”:
As the Ethiopian music audience eagerly awaits the release of Tewordos Kassahun’s aka Teddy Afro’s new album “Tikuer Sew” meaning Black Person rumour has been circulating in the city of Addis Abeba that the album might have been “censored’’from being distributed. No authentic source could verify this.
Teddy Afro is one of the leading young singers in Ethiopian music scene. He was accused of hit-and-run manslaughter and was imprisoned for six years in 2008. The appellate court reduced his sentence to two years in February 2009. However, Afro was released from prison eight months early on account of good behaviour. Ethiopian activists maintain that his imprisonment was a result of political nature of his music.