The Teddy Afro Phenomenon: An Analysis
Tewodros Kassahun aka Teddy Afro may not have a
strikingly different and out of the ordinary voice. But he has a
strikingly different manner, philosophy, view and poems. A
“controversial” singer of the new breeds of intellectual Ethiopian
artists, thinkers and philosophers, Teddy Afro has released his
contentiously controversial album, Tekur Sew (Black Person). A short
analysis follows.
A
Book about Teddy Afro…
One
of the very few musicians whose life story has been written is Teddy
Afro in today’s Ethiopia. A young writer who goes by the name Abel
Zebene wrote a book titled “Ye Teddy Afro Talakent Mister” literally
meaning the secrets of Teddy Afro’s greatness two years ago in 2010. The
amateurishly written but well composed book does a secondary review of
Teddy’s biography and assesses why the singer was so popular. The book
calls Teddy a “revolutionary singer”. According to Abel, it was since
Teddy Afro started singing that art received its due place within the
society and music albums started to be sold as much as millions of
birr. The writer also states that Teddy regards freedom as his highest
virtue in life and fears nothing but God. Ye Teddy Afro Talakent Mister
also states that Teddy Afro loves his dad so much. His late father,
Kassahun Germamo was a popular journalist and MC. His father is said to
be behind the nurturing of today's ethical, nationalist, unitary, loving
and wise Teddy. Teddy had one big difference with his dad...Music...his
Kassahun wanted the young Teddy to be a Medical Doctor. Teddy loved
music. However, Teddy was a high ranking student. Until he completed his
matriculation, the author says, Teddy competed with the best ranking
students and was his friends were the studious students.
Singing about three major themes; humanity,
unity and love
A
critical element that is lacklustre within the Ethiopian musicography
is capability of researching, analysing, writing meaningfully,
emotive-expressive issue based lyrics and arranging music. Up until
recently, almost all singers had written no poems, composed no song,
they only joined art because they had “good” voice. They all were
signing/yelling machines proffered lyrics, melody and arrangements by
others. They were simply conduits. This resulted in the absence of
creativity and originality in music. Almost all songs were about love
and hate of a girl friend and boyfriend. Radically though, the happening
of Teddy Afro converted that. Music became a timely, emotive,
expressive and philosophically researched output. The major make-ups
that make Teddy stand out as a popular music player are his unwavering
and icebreaking thoughts and philosophies. Teddy is one of the few
musicians to cover, sing and preach about justice, ''unity'' and
political reconciliation between Ethiopia and Eritrea. He sings about
the unity of Ethiopians. The godly nature and eminence of love is also
preached by the young man. He listens to the cries and problems of the
public and echoes it. He sermonizes that we should have our own heroes
and recognise them: Haile Gebresellaise, Kenenisa Bekele, HIM Emperor
Hailsellasie and now King Menelik and his war comrades are some of them.
The issue of street children, poverty, HIV/AIDS, lack of
political/administrative progress or change, freedom and justice are
some of his topics that he often raises and advocates.
In the
civil rights movement of the United States and in the road to Zimbabwe’s
independence, music played an essential role of unifying the freedom
fighters and the masses at the same time raising their morale through
messages that defined the purpose of the armed struggle. As a “man of
freedom”, Teddy calls himself, intrinsically, Teddy Afro serves as a
singer of freedom, unity and change.
Teddy the aesthetic and
philosophical singer
Tewodors
Kassahun was born on 14 July 1976 in Kuas Meda area, Addis Abeba. Teddy
Afro is one of the few singers whose poems and speeches are highly
researched, well thought and measured. His motto, “Love Wins” has been
adopted by our team De Birhan Media as our official motto. Abel’s book
mentions some of the few sayings of this young singer.
Secondly,
Teddy knows the aesthetics of music. He knows and does represent that
music is a scientific discipline that requires a concerted research and
study. Therefore, he reads, listens and writes music carefully. Music
books state that music theory connects four fields of study, such as
hearing, singing, reading and writing as shown in the diagram below.
Reading
and hearing of music is introvert while singing and writing are
extravert acts. Hearing and singing are mainly performed through the
good ears of the musician/audience while reading and writing of music
are done via the musicological eyes of the musician/listener. A good
artist converts these acts into theories in the brain and makes them
practical when it is finally produced as a musical output. Teddy Afro
exceptionally from other singers owns these musical interconnections. He
listens to other’s music carefully, reads poems, lyrics and all forms
of publication from history to current affairs, writes amazing poems
that listen to the heartbeats of the audience and sings it beautifully
as a result. Taking his latest Tikur Sew/Black person song/Album as an
example is worthy here. This song sung as a tribute to Ethiopia’s
unifier and sole black African king that defeated a white Western
colonising nation, Italy has been labelled by some as “”Ethiopian
History/ The Battle of Adewa 101” comparing its deeply researched,
analysed and composed lyrics with Freshman Ethiopian history courses
offered in Ethiopian universities. This shows the reading and writing
aspects of music theory legibly inscribed in Teddy's new album.
Similarly, the diatonic arrangement, multilingual singing and voice
insertions in Tekur Sew explain the hearing and singing musical
qualities and innovativeness of the singer.
Aesthetics
is a sub-discipline of philosophy. Musical aesthetics as a sub genre of
it then studies music based on qualities including lyricism, harmony,
hypnotism, emotiveness, temporal dynamics, resonance, playfulness, and
color. With a close watch, most of these characteristics of music are
boldly observable in most of Teddy Afro’s songs.
Most listeners
due argue that Teddy Afro's songs are of emotions and categorically
criticize him. Peter Kivy's analytic philosophy inspired extensive
debate about the nature of emotional expressiveness in music. Most
theoretical definitions of music define music as an art of emotiveness.
The fact that Teddy sings emotive songs puts him at the top of
musicologists than wannabe singers. Emotiveness has to be expressed in
music; that is the role of music. As to Stanford.edu, those who take
the experience of music's expressiveness to be a more intimately
emotional one (through being predicated on imaginative engagement with
the music, say), tend to emphasize that experience as more central to
musical understanding, and thus attribute a larger part of music's value
to its expressivity. Expressivity is the core part of Teddy’s music in
addition to emotiveness. In this day and age of inflation when citizens
cannot even afford to buy chicken, millions of Ethiopians bought
Tewodros’ album; understandably because his songs are emotive and
expressive of their feelings and life.
The Free Dictionary online
version dictionary defines lyricism as tthe practice of writing verse
in song form rather than narrative form to embody the poet’s thoughts
and emotions. A verse that would in short exemplify this definition from
the track title “Sele Fiker” meaning for love from his new album is:
አፈር ይዞ ውስጡ አረንጓዴ፣
ለምን ይሆን የራበው ሆዴ፡፡
This can literally be translated as:
With
a soil which is green inside
Why
is my stomach starving?
This
verse states that Ethiopia contains a fertile soil and land but the
nation, millions continue to be hungry and self insufficient. The singer
taking himself as the first person character emotionally questions the
moral of himself and his compatriots for being stationary than changing
the status quo social-economic scenario. Such exuberance and many other
types of lyricisms are exhibited in the singer’s lyrics which are all
written by himself. Teddy also introduces new concepts, philosophers,
ideas, and personalities. In this new album, he sings about a new
character (on the Sele Fiker track) new to most of the Ethiopian music
audience, named Tewanye. Tewanye was a thinker and philosopher who
lived around five hundred years ago in Gonder, Ethiopia during the reign
of Atse Eyassu. Little has been mentioned or written about him. Teddy
now pokes us to read about this philosopher and why we have not followed
his steps and moved forward.
Some listeners categorically put
Teddy as a bad musician/ unmelodious while many select tracks from his
albums that are bad and argue that although he is a good musician, he
also has or produces bad music (bad seen against the above aesthetics of
music). Simon Frith (2004) argues that, "'bad music' is a necessary
concept for musical pleasure, for musical aesthetics." Therefore, the
fact that Teddy “has or produces bad music” doesn’t necessarily make him
unworthy as they rather do beautify the musical aesthetics. Teddy was
released from jail in August 2009 for good behaviour, after he served
over two years in jail for an alleged hit and run which most consider
was “politically concocted attempt of silencing the politically justice
minded singer”. Tikur Sew came out after 7 years of his last album….with
a reportedly over 5.7 million copies sale in two days. Sources say that
Addis Fortune reported on its Saturday 14 April issue that around
300,000 tape and half a million CD distribution was made for the first
phase, which makes a turn over sales of 15,000,000.
What makes Tekur Sew spectacular? And why
should it be listened?
1. Record breaking album sell – Since
the entrance of the legendary singer Teddy Afro into the Ethiopian
musicospehre. His latest album has reportedly been sold for over 4.6 million
birr. Within four days of the release more than six million copies of the song have
been sold, according sources close to the artist.
2. Putting King Menelik II on the map : the
singer has put the imminent king of Ethiopia and the black world, called by
many who love and respect him Emyee, though with lots of opponents that
consider him as a “massacring colonialist”, has been ignored by the current
regime as an “enemy and suppressor of their regional kings and regionalism”. Indeed, the
negative paintings and falsifications of Menelik II's role was kick started by
Western colonialists and supremacists who were humiliated by him. Various books
have been written, some Ethiopian ethnic groups have been blindly indoctrinated about the
“genocide” Menelik excuted on their ethnic groups. As if there was an expansionist, unifier, and a nation formed through round table, many
Westerner’s and their disciples accuse the Emperor of being brutal while unifying Ethiopia.
One
strategy applied was fomenting hatred between the two major ethnic
groups of
Oromo and Amara using Menelik, an Amara (although his mother was an
Oromo) as a source of difference. Higher officials and members of the
incumbent ruling party TPLF including
the Prime Minister Meles Zenawi have spoken and written books that
negatively
criticized and despised Emperor Menelik II, his ethnic group and any
form of
association with him. As a result of which the legacy and fame of the
Emperor
and mentioning his name and roles has been low key. But thanks to the
brilliant
singer, Teddy has put Emperor Menelik II back on the map. This song
beautifully
serves as a history reference album. Most feature films and movies in
Ethiopia cost
around half a million birr to produce.
This song of Teddy, Tekur Sew soon to be
released alone cost over 400,000 birr. Many Westerners have also taken part in the shooting of the clip. Hundreds of
Addis Abeba University students who took part in the shooting were paid
around 500 birr per person. One student said in an interview before
Easter "Thanks be to Teddy now that I have my 500, I have money to pay
my transportation cost to visit my families of the holiday in rural Ethiopia."
3.
Unifier:
Although
there have been some reports that stated that Teddy had made factual errors in
the naming and context of some incidents in his Tekur Sew lyrics, broadly
speaking, it is a well written factual lyrical story that attempts to bring all
ethnic groups and their roles in defending
Ethiopia’s sovereignty to light.
There has never been such a music “popular” not traditional, that has such a
caliber, mixing and artfulness. Importantly, it has a message of unity.
Menelik, the history of Ethiopia and ethnic issues may be very controversial
and divisive topics but one thing that Teddy boldly asserted in Tekur Sew is that we
all have one commonality that unifies and bonds us, Adewa. The battle and victory of Adewa equalise and
justify why we should be together. In
the political context, the current togetherness of Ethiopian opposition
groups
mainly led by formerly secessionist Oromo groups and centralist and
unitarist
parties receives an indirect endorsement from Teddy’s super production.
This art of timely release, as expressed by musical gurus fulfill
the musical values of emotiveness, timeliness and expressiveness.
Additionally, he mixes Amharic and Oromigna languages in this album
title, and
says ‘
Ijoollee Biyya Keenyaa ’ in ‘My Children of my country’ with a simile that our similarities
are greater than our differences.
4. Aesthetic values: Tekur Sew contains the
major aesthetic qualities such as including lyricism, harmony, hypnotism, emotiveness, temporal dynamics, resonance, playfulness, and color. Most of the negative, corrective and
promotional comments, reviews and criticisms are indications of the music
aesthetic values. Tekur Sew, Sele Fiker and Afrikaye hinge the listener to wake
up and dance while haile, helm ayedeegemem, Fiyoriana and setehed composed in a
slow, low tone and rhythm force us to sit back relax and reflect.
5. The title: Tekur
Sew literally meaning
Black Person/man is out of the customary grammatical naming norms and
the vocabulay
meanings of naming album titiles. Many wondered what he meant by Tekur
Sew when the album was promoted months before its release. Blackness or
being black has been little used in literary
and music arts worldwide or in Ethiopia. Frantz Fanon is one of the few
to popularize
blackness and color related post colonial theories and broach the issue
of colour into the academic discourse. Teddy Afro now ascribes the
phrase Black Person/man an honorable and eminent status and class by
artistically deconstructing it through King Menelik, pride of black people. This academic song needs to be translated and studied by Afrocentrist thinkers and academics.
6. Helping the altruist artist: Teddy
Afro’s popularity hiked mainly due to his humanitarian and altruist
activities. According to Abel Zebene’s
book Teddy Afro’s humanitarian activities began when he started visiting Abebech
Gobena Orphanage in Addis Abeba and began donating money. He has been
successively supporting the orphanage. Abel writes that the founder of the
Orphanage had once asked Teddy Afro to take over the Orphanage and administer
it himself. Some of his altruistic
and humanitarian activities among many include: donation to those
affected by
floods in Dire Dawa, financially assisting the late artist Manalemosh
Dibo when
she was ailing in hospital, giving around one million birr of the income
from
his concert in Addis Abeba Stadium to a local NGO that worked with
street
children and beggars and the recent ransom payment of over 700,000 birr
for the freeing of an
Ethiopian young man arrested in Somaliland. In addition to these, he
called for a u-turn of thoughts; this young philosopher taught many to
be generous, lovers,
optimist, mannered, humble, nationalists, and unified by being an
example. The
Teddy Afro phenomenon is a phenomenon that has removed the Dergistan and TPLFized old
phenomenon of jealousy, hate, contempt, selfishness, bitterness and despotism
and replaced them with all those that negate these.
Similarly, around 10 of his
songs are composed by an upcoming novice music composer named Michael Hailu. By
this, Teddy is assisting Michael financially, networks and making him popular.
Critique
1. Libe/leben: The most over used word in
the new album of Teddy Afro is Lebe/my heart. This writer came across a good
number of times in almost all his lyrics. Such repetition should have
been removed.
2. Exclusion of a verse: In
the song titled “Hayle” or power, Teddy inserts a poem from the legendary Ethiopian
Laureate Tsegaye Gebremedhin’s poem titled Feran (we are afraid). For
deliberate or unknown reason Teddy excludes a line from the poem that reads “የነፍስን አንደበት ዘጋን”
meaning we have closed/censored the voices of souls. The singer might have
chosen to quote the last few verses of the poem but still makes it an
incomplete poem and de-copyrights Tsegaye.
3. Monotonity of love theme and beats: Repetitive
themes
of love are heard in most of his songs. Like many other singers, they
were dominated with monotonous themes of love of a girl. The music
composition
also shows similarity from one another, this may be due to that fact
that around 10 of the songs were composed by one music composer.
Resembling beats are heard in most of
them.
Conclusion
Some
years ago when I was a novice of the Weston world, I was the usual Ethiopian
young man curious to know the psyche, behavior of the western man and their
views re: Ethiopia. I happened to make few good friends. One of these good friends
has been an older man of good breed and with high infatuation of Ethiopians and
Ethiopia. This man one day gave us folded gifts to use it as we had nothing to
do then and were all “an illegal aliens”. As soon as I arrived home, I opened
the gift. It was Teddy Afro’s Yasteseryal album. This is the extent that Teddy
Afro has colonized the minds of Western audience. Many people that I find in
this part of the world know only two things about Ethiopia; famine and HIM
Hailsesllasie. But now there is a third addition; Teddy Afro, Ethiopia’s new brand
name. Tikur Sew is a success; if art is
to be a scientific and philosophical tool of peace, development and
reconciliation, there is no better examplar.
Teddy
afro is an inspiration of the new generation. African youth can be inspired by
their artists and exemplary icons when their barrel holding leaders fail them.
Tewodros is one of those that inspired Ethiopians all across the world to think
twice about the value of their unity, love and freedom. Teddy Afro has made his fiancée public; winner the title of Miss Ethiopia 2006 and an
independent journalist and film director by profession. We wish them well.
The poem below summates my point of view in this write up. It is a poem put as comment under Dawit Kebede's article. Tekur Sew is a pill to those diseased with hate and falsehood.
*******ጥቁር ሰው እንደዶሮ::*******
የፋሲካ በዓል ቢመጣ ዘንድሮ:-
በቴዲ ታረደ
ጥቁር ሰው እንደዶሮ::
አወይ መሞት ኖሮ:-
አይበስልም ወይ አሮ???
እርር ብሎ ከስሎ:-
የበሰለ መስሎ:-
በሕዝብ ደም ተማስሎ:-
ባጥንት ተቀቅሎ:-
በምንሊክ ምጣድ ቢራገብ ዘንድሮ{-
በካሴት ታረደ
ጥቁር ሰው እንደዶሮ::
ለነጻነት ችቦ በኤሎሄ ትንሳኤ:-
ለኢትዮጵያ ተስፋ ለሕዝቧ ሱባኤ
በሙዚቃ ቅላጼው ታሪክ ሊያመላክት:-
በእስር በወከባ በፍቅር ሲዋትት:-
አመታት ሲያስቆጥር ፋሲካን ዘንድሮ:-
ቴዲ አረደልን
ጥቁር ሰው እንደዶሮ::
እንግዲህ ትንሳኤ ነጻነት የሚሻ:-
ትግል ጎራ ይግባ ይቃመስ ከጉርሻ::
አውቆ የተኛ ሰው ፍፁም አይነሳ:-
ሕሊናውን አልፎ ልቡ እስከሚበሳ::
እናም በፋሲካ መግደፊያው ዘንድሮ:-
በቴዲ ታረደ
ጥቁር ሰው እንደዶሮ::
Let’s promise to put Emye Menelik back on the map!
Viva Emperor Emeye Menelik, pride of the black race and God bless the young thinker, Teddy Afro!!!!!!!!
By T, Staffer of De Birhan Media
17 April 2012
