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Phenomenal Teddy concert in Ethiopia buries ethnic slurs

Makonnen Ittafa | JT guest writer

Thousands of Ethiopians attended the latest incredible concert by the popular Ethiopian singer Teddy Afro but some fans were reminded of the tense ethno-political situation in the country with an earful of racist remarks from opposition supporters.

Teddy, whose real name is Tewodros Kassahun, was freed from prison in August after an Ethiopian court reduced his six year sentence. He performed his first concert since his release from Prison at Addis Ababa Stadium on October 11 despite remaining one of the main voices of opposition parties in Ethiopia. Yet, Many Ethiopians believe the government has warned Teddy from singing some of his songs with political messages.

Despite the remarkable performance, some opposition supporters were disappointed that Teddy skipped his famous song "Jah yasteseryal," which criticizes the current government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. When the crowd asked him to sing the song, he said "leave that one alone" in the local Amharic language.

In addition to the tens of thousands of Ethiopians who overwhelmed the aging stadium in the capital, several Americans, Jamaicans, Europeans and other foreigners attended the concert. Nationwide, the most fans came from Awassa, Jimma, Adama, Bahir Dar, Dire Dawa and Bishoftu. Teddy, who was charged for allegedly causing the death of a homeless man, also said all of the profit from his concert will be donated to Ethiopian NGOs and causes to help street children in the country.

However, the concert did not end without incidents, as some fans showed their opposition to the government's main supporters in the crowd from the northern ethnic Tigray region of Ethiopia.  Most notably, opposition supporters got louder when Teddy sang a modified version of the Amharic song "Hageren Alresam" by artist Neway Debebe, which honors the Sidama, Oromo, Tigray and other people of Ethiopia to promote ethnic unity. The emotional crowd however changed the lyrics to politics when Teddy's song mentioned about the Tigray people. Teddy managed to maneuver the crowd and he later said "Don't hate anyone, win with love" to his fans, adding "God will bless Ethiopia."

Even though Teddy Afro quickly overpowered and drowned the ethno-political tension to pacify the crowd, the incident left a negative mark on his phenomenal concert.

It is not the first time such incidents of ethnic slurs have occurred in Addis Ababa. Last year, Ethiopian sport competitions between the various regional states were disrupted by ethnic slurs against teams and players from Tigray. The Addis Ababa crowd often supported Benishangul, SNNPR, Oromia and other state teams whenever they played against Tigray state sport teams.

Many people in Ethiopia oppose the political and economic domination of the country by some members of the Tigray community, led by the famous E.F.F.O.R.T. business empire of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) ruling party. This has sometimes led to some resentment against ethnic Tigray people in the country. However, opposition leaders in Ethiopia often teach their supporters to be against ethnic slurs, and to instead focus on opposing the political system of the present government.

During the preparations for the concert this past Sunday, the government media gave limited coverage to the event. Over two years ago near the Ethiopian Millennium celebrations, Teddy performed at the stadium in Jimma town of southwestern Ethiopia after the government denied him a concert at the main Addis Ababa stadium.

According to inside sources, Teddy is expected to have other concerts soon at Dubai, Frankfurt, Italy and then in several cities in the United States before he comes back for another one in Ethiopia near the Christmas holiday.

Post A Comment
Comments 38 comments for this article
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Added: March 20, 2012. 09:50 PM GMT
JUSTICE is coming in mysterious ways for Ethiopians. Tigray people need to expose this unknown disease that is killing hundreds in Tigray. Eventhough the government tries to hide the existance of this unknown disease Tigray people need to bring the sick to Addis Ababa and proove that this disease exists to the whole country. During Hailesselasie time the starved Ethiopians came to Addis Ababa and exposed the existence of famine. The same thing need to be done quickly to find out the cure and the nature of this disease.
To survive this severe punishment Tigray people need to repent and expose this unknown disease that is killing hundreds in Tigray , Ethiopia to the whole world.. Eventhough the government tries to hide the existance of this unknown disease Tigray people need to bring the sick to Addis Ababa and proove that this disease exists to the whole country. During Hailesselasie time the starved Ethiopians came to Addis Ababa and exposed the existence of famine. The same thing need to be done quickly to find out the cure and the nature of this disease.
Added: September 02, 2010. 03:25 PM GMT
be oromo not gala
I warn to those galas not oromos if u try to fuck with amharas we gonna send u where u belong .u belong to madegaskar,we are the one that gave u shelter.we gonna deport all of u,we are the one that defeate italians ,we are king ,queens and prinse,princes.u are slves we are the one gave u the name oromo.
Anonymous
Added: May 12, 2010. 01:55 PM GMT
to be honest
hey Oromo, AMhara etc.... i thought first u think as a human being :) any way to be honest i was at teddy concert a while ago... i like him but... it just seems he is singing the same songs and in teh middle he goes "fiker,fiker"... "lets love one another".. i mean its good he is saying that.. but it doesn't sound "real"... i think that wat peps mean? it doesn't sound authentic...
Anonymous
Added: February 08, 2010. 07:10 PM GMT
Sam
I am really surprised by one keshim guys comment. He send his poisnous racist message which is already commonly made by woyane to divide oromos and amharas.....what surprised me is he used the name "true oromo" while he is actually from tigray. Really shameful....please while reading comments see how hundreds of kids of meles are working hard to destroy our country,,,,,shameful,,,
Anonymous
Added: December 03, 2009. 03:07 PM GMT
That is good of the government MEN
Look guys let's just be on the middle fo the the way and say "Tedy is innoscent and he didn't kill any one" that could be true and belive me it could also be a coincidence guys lets just think fo a moment I am not saying that he is guilty but let's be at least neutral and be in a position to say "He might have killed the street boy" and is there fore he is guilty! But for me this is not the big issue, We talked a lot about him but I don't think he is more important than the oposition leaders who were freed from jail after the 97 election Just for me EPRDF is a democrat government taking the African contest, here we should not forget that democracy is not something that you measure and say from this limit is democrat and below this is not, so if we say democracy is a relative meaning then absolutely As African nation who had been suffering from ethnic clashes and hatreat and having a portion of people sympathizing this ideology like the minilikeans dominance ideologists and other narowists like the oromo separatists I tell you EPRDF scores high in the level of democracy as compared to any African countries that are still trying the colonial democratic system. And finally pls don't talk about Tigreans these people are not some thing that we can talk about in asimple forum they fought for their rights and they maintained they did not do it on the paper they paid hudreds of couragious Tigreans who didnot run and retreat away what so ever happens in front they are super in performance firm in stand and unique in skill but they are also friendly and they are living with us they are proudly Ethiopians. By the way can some one tell me that there is Truely Ethiopian that Tigreans? I don't think so non of you are not even comparable to the ancient Tigreans/Ethiopians if you need to know about this just refer any Ethiopian history you will end up in TIGRAY/TIGREANS by the way Eritreans are Tigreans denied by Amharas especially the greedy Menilik who failed to think beyoun his nose. So be it by history or geography they are the ancient Ethiopians If we have to deny it is like saying the sun rises in the west they are the real Ethiopians in the country!!!! And for your surprise they did give no no heed for some one who yields nothing; YES Teddy would have been even slaughtered by anangry Tigrean against whom he was targeting but in front of a Tigrean I assure you he is nothing because his songs are just songs that could bring nothing to any of the Tigreans fullstop. By the way whether we like it or not Tigreans are warriors by histroy strong by stand and nobody can stand them even if they wanna eliminate him! He is just one simple singer don't ever forget that they are people with golden history. and I am or denying that we all have the same quality though theirs is a bit different.

Have a nice day and be cool
Anonymous
Added: December 01, 2009. 09:01 AM GMT
Opdo are NOT OROMOs
don't fool yourself Tigre and Oromo are not brother Tigres are a killer who killed Oromo legands like Ebisa Adunya and Usmayo Mussa and more student civils
Habashan 2 Habashoma
Added: November 28, 2009. 08:47 PM GMT
hayal
who cares to the roar of the losers- those whom we have bitterly beaten at the actual wrestling place: THe battle field. We are always winners and will keep to be so. We are made for that.

"Not only can we win a war; we can also make/create it."

Seye Abreha, the lion of Tigray and Ethiopia
Anonymous
Added: November 06, 2009. 07:07 PM GMT
For True OROMO
Thank you for your honesty brother Tigray and Oromo are brothers who fight together against oppression by Amhara (former) elites.

I hope next in power in Ethiopia is mixed Oromo and Tigray coalition.

peace for Ethiopia
Tigrayan Ethiopian
Added: October 30, 2009. 07:08 AM GMT
Hindsight
Teddy's decrease in bagging meles at most opportunities may stem from the fact that his fair trial and claims of anything but were dimissed by the appeal which exercised without bias when redusing his sentence. he's realised that perhaps he went a bit overboard before he was given a shot of reality.
Anonymous
Added: October 24, 2009. 05:30 PM GMT
Obbo,
Tewodros.K. Garmaama,
where is your position regarding the spectrum of the opposition in the empire. You have the choice to be one of the following five:

- pro AEUP and co (unconditional unity by any means)
- pro UDJ and co (unconditional unity per consensus)
- pro Medrek and co (union of autonomous nations per consensus)
- pro AFD and co (conditional union per referendum)
- pro ULFO and co (unconditional independence by any means)

Otherwise enjoy the following to know more about the spectrum of the opposition groups listed above:

“Rejection of Self-Determination is MEDREK’s Weak Point

MEDREK (The Forum for Democracy and Dialogue – FDD) is not bad compromise alliance for the involved political organizations representing most of the nations in the empire. It can be a good alternative to replace the Weyane regime. The only weak point, where the Weyane can capitalize on, is Medrek’s stand on the right of nations to self-determination. Ironically, Medrek has in the introductory part of its Mini-Political-Program (click here to get the Amharic version – Ethiomedia.com) that it strives to accept and respect all human rights, which are part and parcel of the UN Charter and have been ratified by the government of Ethiopia. But, why did it exclude this important right of nations?

It was always clear that all Abesha politicians, who do want to act as popes of democracy, keep silent when it comes to the right of nations to self-determination, which is part of the democracy they all talk about. Is there any half-baked democracy? Their version of democracy includes everything, which helps them to keep the empire intact, but not self-determination of nations and peoples.

Oromo Federalist Parties in Medrek Lost the Middle Position
So, if Medrek claims to accept and respect international law, which is ratified by Ethiopia and why, in this case of the right to self-determination, which has even been acknowledged by the Weyane regime, has Medrek opted to the rejection? Can this really bring the heartily support from the oppressed nations, such as Oromo and others, for Medrek? Maybe just the hatred against Weyane might persuade the people to vote for Medrek, but is that a long lasting support to its political programme?

Actually, self-determination is the middle position for both forces of unconditional unity and fronts of unconditional independence. It simply suggests: let the concerned public decide in referendum, instead of imposing the two extreme positions (’unconditional unity’ and ‘unconditional independence’) on the peoples. I think here Oromo freedom fighters have already done their homework in the last ten years by abandoning their far left position of demanding ‘unconditional independence’ and opting for the self-determination, whereas Amhara democratic forces still pray their far right mantra of ‘unconditional unity’.

In Medrek it should have been the Amhara democratic forces, such as UDJ, which should have moved from their far right position to the middle position of accepting a ‘union based on self-determination’. Paradoxically, it is the federalist Oromo parties that have abandoned the middle position that they should have insisted on, and now, they have moved to the far right position of Amharas. Is this good compromise? From Oromo point of view, it is just equal to a surrender, not an optimal compromise. In my last article, I just said Medrek was the hitherto good compromise solution, but not optimal. The optimal compromise solution is that which brings both sides of far positions (far right ‘unconditional unity’, and far left ‘unconditional independence’) to the middle position aka self-determination.

If we look at the politics of the empire very exactly, the main conflict areas are not on the issues, such as democracy, individual freedom, justice, equality, human right, peace, good governance, rule of law, development. The actual difference the Empire’s political elites do have is only on the following three issues:

- type of unity (’unconditional unity’ Vs ‘conditional union’)
- type of federation (kilil-federation Vs xeqilaigizat-federation)
- type of method to be used for the decision on the above two (force Vs consensus Vs referendum)!

Accordingly:
- the ruling party, Weyane/TPLF wants ‘unconditional unity’ with fake kilil-federation by force.
- the opposition parties can be devided in to the following five areas:

*Conservative Amharas like AEUP say ‘unconditional unity’ with xeqilaigizat-federation by all means.
*Liberal Amharas like UDJ try ‘unconditional unity’ with xeqilaigizat-federation per polity’s consensus.
*Medrek tries ‘unconditional unity’ with true kilil-federation per polity’s consensus aka per predetermination.
*AFD will try ‘conditional union’ (union based on free will) with true kilil-federation per public’s referendum aka per self-determination.
*ULFO member organizations want to achieve ‘unconditional independence’ of Oromia by all means.

As far as the above three very important criteria are concerned, UDJ is not yet true part of Medrek! Both of them are on the same page regarding the type of unity and the type of method, but they do differ in the type of federation. So, it is right to classify UDJ separately as done above. Then, the question to be answered is: which one is the legitimate regarding the interest of the public at large? I think firstly AFD’s position as an optimal compromise solution, and secondly, Medrek’s as an unfair compromise solution!

If AFD’s optimal position is hard to swallow for Abeshas at the moment, Medrek is the good compromise they can live with and for Oromos, of course, Medrek’s position is the minimum we can accept. Let’s now live with it temporarily since Amhara’s wish of ‘Ethiopian unity’ and Amharinya as the federal language as well as Oromo’s desire of Oromian autonomy and Afaan Oromo as the federal language are accepted and respected. It is actually good for uniting most of the opposition groups at home to forge an alliance against Weyane. For Oromo parties, it can be a good tactical move, but not a lasting strategical solution for the complex problem of the empire. The main political conflict at home seems now to be consolidating into a struggle between kilil-federalists and xeqilaigizat-federalists; it is good news to hear/read that both federalists in the opposition have started to work together like in Medrek against the fascist Weyane. So, Medrek is a good start for coming together of the opposition, but for the optimal solution to be realized the lasting common denominator of the opposition must be self-determination of nations. Otherwise, it will be seen in the near future that Weyane will start to capitalize on this weak point of Medrek and will try to rally oppressed nations, including Oromo, behind its puppet organizations like OPDO!”
Hundahore
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