My Ethiopian-Idol (4 now)

There are few people who fascinate me. And those the mere mention of whose name brings warmth to the sister’s soul are even fewer. Artist Abraham Wolde is one of those few. He’s a cute, talented playwright & actor (remember “Gizo brazer”?) who more than once, infact three times, wrote & directed songs that brought tears to my eyes. And I don’t get teary over songs all that often (except, maybe, once! Will tell you all about it in another post).

Infact, my interest in a “zefen” stops the minute I memorized all the lines in it. That’s where me and my fav “zefen” draw the line. If you forced me to listen to it one more time, I may complain of a head or stomach ache. And, yes, I’m one of those [dare I say, few?] shamless Ethiopians who do not feel the need to apologize for changing their minds about stuff. I take change as good news because change shows growth and maturity, not “telewawachinet” or “beAlama alemetsinat” as we are brought up to believe. Dish it, is how i see it, if you don’t think it works any more! Why waste your loyalty over things that never needed your loyalty in the first place? And, except in matters where the question of “honor” and the subject of right & wrong were concerned, that’s how I been operating!.

Needless to “meGoreR”, therefore, I don’t go through the type of hell I see people go through to hide the fact that they have matured out of their previous tastes. Because I’m well aware I do not have a little Scribe tugging at my sleeve and jotting down every opinion I aired, and a city full of people (who probably hired the Scribe) ready to take my ass to court when what I’m saying now and what I believed in the past don’t go hand in hand. That neither I, nor my words, matter to that extent and if some took us to, those some better find themselves somebody more deserving of their devotion & under whose feet they won’t look ridiculous when observed sitting!

So … yeah.. if you heard me say I loved this song today and I hate it tomorrow, ask me why! Don’t make haste to judge me or attempt to “maSaFer” me because you’d find me irredeemably unrepentant. “Get a life, dude!” is my silent reply, even if my “kesaShoch” aren’t always men, to those who try to shame me for changing my mind. As if there is one person, one type of cloth, one skin color or look, one food & one [political/religious/social] conviction I should meSaLem & swear to stand-by till Kingdome comes!

Where was I?! (before letting my “miRet” carry me into hostile territories, as I always do :))?! Oh yes! Abraham Wolde and his “BalaGeru”s!! – Which I loved! Have been loving & would probably continue to love for some time to come. Maybe I just have a weakness for “balaGers”, cute song & playwrights & their songs, or his songs are like that exquisite 2nd album of Gigi’s (her “Semna WorQ” I hated & said as much to the embarassed protestation of my all-time-Gigi-Fan friends). Which, in turn, reminds me of that thing they say about Shakespeare, Opera and wine (the “wine” part I added because, although respectful to it’s legendary quality, i’m not a huge fan of it’s taste). If you love it, they say, you’ll love it forever! If you don’t love it, they add, you’ll atleast learn to respect it! Mostly because u don’t really understand it, says I, or are intimidated into liking & approving it by mass-opinion or people you think are superior to you.

But in Abraham Wolde’s songs case you like them because they speak of the type of “Ethiopiawinet” that neither denies nor exaggerates. Rather tell one of the way it used to be when “zer”-naiive Addis-born Ethios who would like to see love and propserity abounding in the motherland weren’t considered, beDebo, “Enemies of the State” (by the undersigned too, once!). And makes him/her yearn, if not for the naiveté of those times, but for what we threw out “with the water” when our eyes were opened. Unless you are one of those who would rather remain in denial, for whatever personal reason.

So cheers Abraham! I may not know much about you (my google search was to no avail), but I can see your heart is in the right place! Atleast for this once bitter, “zer”-concious, Addis-born Ethio sister (who realized there was more to “Ethiopiawinet”, & her “Ethiopiawinet” in particular, than what both the government & its “teQawamis” said after an incident she’d talk about someday. A realization, she fancies, that made her change her mind for the better!).

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