ለዘመኔ ልጆች

[80’s/90’s – በኢትዮጵያ ዘመን አቆጣጠር – kids: How many of these books/short stories/sayings do you remember from Ethiopia’s yester-years? Back when we all watched the one TV channel, listened to “Qidamen kegna gar”, and “Ehudih landAfta”, as well as “Legedadi Radio”, with its signature starting bell? And waited for a whole week for “TalaQu film” on Saturday night to bring you either some Russian crap, “Umer Muktar” or a dated American romance? To entertain us with Lemenih Tadesse, and Tamagn Beyene’s comedy [Left out Alebachewu Teka on purpose. He was no comedian]. To bore us to death/entertain and inspire us through: Aregahign Worash, “Kotume wejin gela”, “Wedey terekaba” respectively.

[መንደርደሪያ፦ How do you know you are getting old? When you start looking back, instead of ahead, of course! When you start missing things from your youth and childhood fondly when they weren’t so great to live through. When all those things you hated once come to mean a lot to you.

The following, at least, are things that meant a lot to me even then. Things that I grew up on, were influenced heavily by, and played a part in forming who I am].

Enjoy and feel free to add to the list.

Shorts from “ከመጽህፍት ዓለም”, in no particular order:

“አብሽና ፋፋ”
“የመት ጣዬ እንጉርጉሮ”
“ሽልንጌን”
“ሴሜጋ እንዴት እንደተያዘ”

Books, in THAT order:
“ፍቅር እስከ መቃብር”
“የታንጉት ሚስጥር”
“የወዲያ ነሽ”
“ሳቤላ”
“የውበት ወጥመድ”
“ጥቁር ደም”
“ሰመመን”
“እምዩ” [for me, anyway. Love that book to pieces]

And everything written by Ethiopian Detective story writer Yilma Habteyes.

“ከኣድማስ ባሻገር” [Meh]
“የሚያቃጥል ፍቅር”
ድራማ፥ “የኣብቅየለሽ ኑዛዜ”, as well as all and everything Wegayehu Nigatu, Debebe Eshetu [his, supposed, killer] and Alemtsehai Wedajo had a part in.

ጥቅስs፥
“አየሽ አንቺ እማማ ኢትዮጵያ… አየሽ አንቺ እናት አለም… ቃል የእምነት እዳ ነው እንጂ የአባት የእናት እኮ አይደለም::”

ጋሽ መንግስቱ ለማ [who is a not-very-distant cousin of yours trutly, btw]: “ስልቻ ቀልቀሎ፥ ቀልቀሎ ስልቻ”

P.S. For more on “የመድረኩ ዋርካ”, https://abesheet.wordpress.com/?s=zikr%27e&searchbutton=Go%21