A project by Amanuel Alemayehu and Trsit Mulugeta / Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Azmari

Ever since I was a child my father told me the value of music in our country, And the types of musicians involved. From many he mentioned one interested me the most was the group of musicians calledAzmari. And it made me even more proud that my father was one of them, in fact he was famous amongst them, that was why it was very hard for my mother and me to get over it when he was executed for the wrong accusations the rulers accused him off.

             I was broken and lost my purpose, I was like that for a long time until I figured that it was pointless sitting here being miserable and started training my self-day and night to be as good as my father was. I practiced day and night until I grew up to be one of the best Azmari in the nation.

            A lot has changed since my father died, a lot but the rulers, they were still not listening, ignoring and dictating. That was when we said enough is enough and gathered my friends around to be the voice the people needed to hear, a voice that was hidden for years. The people trusted us with their message and we were responsible of making sure their voices were heard as loud as possible, but no matter how hard we tried they still were not listening. But that won’t stop us now because more voices need hearing, more problems need solving, and we will be the channels speaking on behalf of our country.