• Jaalala Blog

Here are my latest music video picks. It is by singer Gossaye Tesfaye. I have to admit that Gossaye is one of my favorite Ethiopian singers even though i believe there have been too many copy cats of his (and Teddy's) music style in Ethiopia, so much so that the repetition has bored many people to death. But he is an exception. This song titled "Wegen Tesebseb" has the "YOUTUBE record" for the most viewed Ethiopian video ever! It was the first Ethiopian video to pass the one million viewers YouTube mark.  The video does not have that great quality but the messege tells Ethiopian people to "come together." 

Gossaye is also inside the famous video "Balageru III," which actually has a much better quality. The dance scenes in the video are excellent, mixing the modern "Harlem shake" with its ancient form and predecessor "Eskista."

Enjoy my 2 picks below.

• Jaalala Blog

I started posting my video picks on my blog last month, here are my 2 video picks for today. The first one is inspired by the Christmas day news article that described how an Abyssinian/Ethiopian Christian king saved the first Muslims from persecution and arguably saved the religion of Islam singlehandedly. It is no surprise that the first Mosque is also found in northern Ethiopian town of Negashi. Below is a short hollywood video depicting the time when the persecutors tried to change the King's mind about giving the muslims a refugee. The Arabs blamed the first muslims for betraying the religion of their forefathers by adopting the new "foreign" religion of Muslim. But the King of Ethiopia defended Islam and gave refugee to the muslims. The second vid is a recent muslim celebration program in Ethiopia.

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• Jaalala Blog

Recently, i have not been blogging as often as i used to do. Sorry fans. You all know that we all have our tough days or our busy times so i just didn't have the time to write. Well, even if i didn't write, everyone knows my views on current events like about the traitor senior Hailu Shawel who sold democracy to fix his retirement in Ethiopia and about the OLF officials brainwashing Oromo students in Germany last week. Both events are a SHAME in my opinion. I think OLF should let Oromo youth develop independent thinking and i think Hailu Shawel's AEUP should have joined the MEDREK coalition instead of supporting the fake Meles election. Sometimes i really feel like we are just too stupid and we deserve a dictator like Meles Zenawi.

Anyway, I had some free time today and I was checking some videos on Youtube. Here are a couple of them that i really enjoyed. Actually, i will be doing this regularly and picking nice videos of the day or week. If you have some nice videos you want to share, send them or post its link below. Enjoy.

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Opinion | By Blogger Jaalala

This is one of those things you can say "Only in Ethiopia!" The trip to Ethiopia by the hollywood superstar Actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie could not have gone more under the radar. We all saw a little media coverage about Angelina bringing her adopted daughter Zahara to Ethiopia but nothing else from the trip. Apparently, that is because almost nobody knows (and cares to know) about the two celebrities. I was surprised to hear from friends that the two famous American stars even took public transportation in Ethiopia and went to markets around the capital city Addis Ababa. But no one recognized them!. Then when the two stars went to Merkato (the largest market in Africa) an Ethiopian guide was allegedly approached by curious man who asked who the hell the famous actress is. I don't know whether this is a good thing or bad for Ethiopia. Even the jihadists in Afghanistan or Mogadishu would know Angelina Jolie!  People in virtually all arab capital cities, they also know her. Addis Ababa must be the only capital city in the world where famous people like these are not known by the locals.

I wonder if the two also went to Bole sub-city (the most "upscale" district) of Addis Ababa because that would have been the ultimate paparazzi test. Anyway, i always felt sorry for hollywood actors who have no private life because of the paparazzi taking pictures of their every move. So this could a blessing in disguise for actors/actresses and for Ethiopia.

For any famous hollywood entertainer and public figure out there, the best and perhaps the only world capital city to get away from the annoying paparazzi is Addis Ababa. Enjoy it while it lasts.

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The views expressed in this blog do not represent the views of Jimma Times or its staff. The v... [Read More]

Opinion | By Blogger Jaalala

The speed of evangelical Christianity growth in Ethiopia is reaching  faster than almost everywhere else around the world. Last time i was chatting with a friend about the so-called "Pentay" or "Pente" churches in Ethiopia as they are nicknamed. And These churches are being built everywhere, in every town and every village. The churches and their media products have also created a growing and flourishing industry. Oromo gospel song, CDs and VCD releases have reached the high level of Amharic growth in their speed. This obviously indicates the growing demand, especially in the youth population, which is basically most of Ethiopia. The two main anti-evangelical resistant populations in Ethiopia have always been the Tigre-Ethiopians and the Somali-Ethiopians. But even these 2 groups have not stayed that way recently. Even though some preachers risk their lives by going to the dangerous Ogaden somali zone, that still has not stopped evangelical growth in the Somali community of Ethiopia. Unlike the Orthodox Christians and Suni Islam, there is no barrier for the evangelical Christians.

Check out some of these diverse communities of Ethiopian evangelicals

http://oromochurchmn.org/
http://www.oromochurchdc.com/
http://www.ecfethiopia.org/index.htm
http://etmuluwongel.org/
http://www.eecmy.org/
http://somalisforjesus.blogspot.com/
http://www.ekhc.org.et/

This is just some of the thousands of Ethiopian evangelical presense online that mirrors the explosion of evangelical church numbers in every corners of Ethiopia.

Anyway, What does all of this mean?

I really believe that Ethiopia will soon become an evangelical dominated nation. If that becomes a reality, i am not going to be celebrating too much, even though i am evangelical myself. I think the QUALITY of evangelicals' faith & devotion might become very weak when our QUANTITY increases too much. Anyway, in th... [Read More]

Opinion | By Blogger Jaalala

To all readers of my blog, I think I owe you all an apology for making you watch the DREADFUL, TERRIBLE running by Ethiopians in Berlin on SATURDAY afternoon. I wrote on my last Blog my prediction that Ethiopians might get a lot of medals on Saturday.  I hope no one will blame me for being hopeful about Meseret and co. But I was wrong entirely. She ruined a Saturday night of many Ethiopians.

 I truly believed that Ethiopia would win 4 or 5 medals on Saturday. But the Kenyans won the 4 medals instead. What an irony!

Anyway, the last day (SUNDAY) was the real party for Ethiopia as Kenenisa won AGAIN and Aselefech CAME OUT FROM NOWHERE to take bronze in the women’s marathon! That was a great ending for Ethiopia.

On another note, I felt very bad for our Gelete Burka in the 1,500m race. I couldn’t understand why Natalia (of Spain) pushed Gelete to the ground. Very heartbreaking! If Natalia did not make her fall, Gelete would have won the race.

And Then, I couldn’t understand what IAAF was doing. I was somewhat happy that the Spanish girl was disqualified (after she finished the race first and “won”). But at the end of the day, what did Gelete get from the disqualification of the Spanish girl? Nothing! There should be some kind of monetary award or consolation prize for runners who are PUSHED during races like this. But the IAAF just punished the wrongdoer without comforting the victim. That is bad management!

What made me even more mad was that when Natalia got disqualified, they gave the GOLD medal to the second place winner, who happens to be Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain. This is even more insult to Ethiopians! Maryam Yusuf Jamal was an Ethiopian citizen until s... [Read More]

Opinion | By Blogger Jaalala

I feel like tomorrow can be our big day to collect a lot of medals. The record for the two events (Marathon and the 5000meters) have always been set by Ethiopians historically. But our runners sometimes underperform so we can never be sure.... it is going to be close.

Yes, there is no Haile tomorrow (who holds world record for the marathon) but here is the list of the top seven runners for the Saturday marathon.

Tsegay Kebede-Ethiopia
Jaouad Gharib- Morocco
Abel Kirui - Kenya
Deriba Merga -Ethiopia
Yemane Tsegay-Ethiopia
Emmanuel Mutai-Kenya
Yonas Kifle- Eritrea

The Moroccan Jaouad has the best personal time of 2 hours and 5:04 minutes. But i think Tsegay and Deriba have more confidence from their nice Olympic performances last year. If Ethiopia gets all three medals, it would be amazing, a miracle! And it would make us a top three or top five on the world medal table.

Another place we can get two or three medals in one event is the 5,000 meters for Women race tomorrow. I know, i know, Meseret Defar has not been "Defar" recently. But she might recover. Honestly speaking, i think the only woman athlete better than Meseret in the world today is Tirunesh Dibaba. But Tirunesh is not running so Meseret should have stacked up gold medals. Sadly, she has let us down and she is underestimating the competition. Maybe she needs Tirunesh to kick her a*s so she wakes up again!

Kenya will be a challenge here too but Meseret and Meselech Melkamu clearly have the BEST times for the 5,000 meters. They should still watch out for Vivian and Sylvia from Kenya. If the third Ethiopian Sentayehu Ejigu overachieves, we can sweep the medals here too. I really think We should own these middle and long distance races. The Kenyan team is diversifying and expanding to shorter races like the 800 meters. It is Something we should be doing by the way. Except Deresse who just won th... [Read More]

(Blog) Oromo Gospel Music: Say welcome to Mesfin Gutu!

Opinion | By Blogger Jaalala

I have always felt bad for Mesfin Gutu, the famous Ethiopian evangelical singer. And it is not because he is Oromo but because the Amharic audience always knows how to pick artists high up there and throw them down hard!

Yes, some of his personal life decisions have been questionable. But he is one of the best talents out there. People should respect his space and give him privacy. Now, he is coming to the Afan Oromo audience, back to his roots! I have heard that he has a new album out in Afan Oromo, though i have not bought it yet. But here is a peak....

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You just gotta love it when Ethiopian artists are multi-lingual. It is a beauty!

So who is Next Oromo to come back to his roots with an Afan Oromo song? I believe it will be the talented Kefa Mideksa..

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