Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)
24 September 2007
Addis Ababa — Addis Ababa was filled with extravaganza and unprecedented levels of sumptuousness last week with its residents and visitors crowding out not only the three concert places where local and international performers decked out the festivity but also its main streets.
Never before was such a huge number of people crowding the night out on the streets since the 80th Birthday of Emperor Haile Selassie, according to a resident in his mid 60s.
Indeed, city folks were entertained free at the National Stadium and Jan Meda the night through, while over 14,500 partygoers have paid 1,500 Br for a ticket to attend the officially sanctioned event held at the 10-million-dollar concert hall on the Africa Avenue (Bole Road). Despite strong scepticism prior to the Ethiopian New Year Eve that the hall might have not been ready for the event, the construction company, Luigi Varnero Impresa Construzioni Plc, has done a remarkable job in putting the structure up within three months.
"If it was not for the 'ETV' mark on the national television, I would hardly know it was a concert held in Addis Abeba," said a man who followed the event live on TV from home.
The stage was huge, the lighting was state of the art and the sound system was superb. Never before was Addis garlanded with such musical gala of the size seen last week. The event inside the concert hall, organised by Addis Park Development and Management Plc, a subsidiary company of MIDROC Ethiopia, was simultaneously broadcasted to the other two concert places in the capital - Jan Meda and the national stadium where 150,000 and 20,000 people gathered respectively - and to all the capitals of the regional states.
Four heads of state from the immediate neighbourhood of Ethiopia - Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan, Ismael Omar Ghelleh of Djibouti, Abdullahi Yousuf of Somalia, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and Paul Kagame of Rwanda as well as the African Union's (AU) Commissioner Alpha Omar Conare - have attended the main Millennium attraction that featured the American R&B sensation, Black Eyed Peas; at the end of it, fans had to be pushed out with a chain of security personnel a little after 3:00am.
The star of the night was Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who was seen to the public clad with the Ethiopian traditional costume for the first time ever since he assumed power in the early 1990s. The crowd inside the concert hall and those who followed the event through live TV transmission were delighted to see him and his wife, Azeb Mesfin, dance in public to the tune of a Sudanese song, again an incident that was witnessed to happen for the first time.
"It is great to see the human side of leaders of this country," said a young man in his early 30s.
Neither was his speech made before the start of the concert a disappointment for many. His public recognition of Ethiopia's history of statehood stretching for over 2,000 years and the recollection of its glorious past has been taken as a major departure from his party's past controversial position that the current geopolitical identity of the country is seldom 100 years. It was this assertion that has in fact put his party at loggerhead for too long with the majority of city dwellers.
There was evidently a change in his tone and the substance of his message.
"There is a history that was never put into negotiation and maintained throughout," Meles told a jubilant crowd that reacted to him cheerfully. "It is the independence history of this legendary nation. We Ethiopians and Africans recall this history in pride, forever and at any place because it has been maintained through the blood and bones of its children even at a time when our country was in its declining phase during the second half of the second Millennium and at the pick of colonisation for the scramble in Africa."
It was only a follow-up surprise by the Prime Minister who has had an "unusual and frank," discussion a week before with several hundred young men and women of Addis Abeba inside the conference hall at Arat Kilo, next to his office. Not only had he recalled how he began to smoke cigarettes while at high school in order to emulate those perceived during his generation as city-slick and advised them smoking is no longer "being cool", he also spoke openly about the nature of his marriage.
He revealed to an enthusiastic crowd of young people that he has little choice but to be a democratic husband for his wife knows how to shoot what spites a fire. Hardly was there any time before when Meles was seen speaking in public about issues of personal and family affairs.
This frankness and straightforward talk is what has pleased Hailu Kassaye, a resident of Cherkos District, who works in the gas station of Shell on Africa Avenue. Frehiwot Tadesse, a resident in the Sidist Kilo area and works in the same gas station, is another who sees that the change of tone evident with the Prime Minister could lead to stability of discontent that has rocked the country over the past two years.
"I do not mind much whether there is a change of government so long as he [the Prime Minister] has changed," she told Fortune.
A college student and a resident of Shiro Meda, Gebertsadik Gebretensay, believes the Prime Minister has begun to properly read the public demand judging from his responses to the youth. Hewan Bekele, vegetable vendor from Army Hospital area, shares this view; she believes the Prime Minister has now developed a positive attitude to the public.
"This could also lead to tune down the bitterness felt by supporters of opposition parties," said Gebretsadik.
There are, however, sceptics and dissenting voices.
A man in his mid 50s, who insisted to remain anonymous, sees all the reported changes in the public addresses by the Prime Minister simply as pretentious moves, if not an attempt to appear "democratic" when he is about to leave office.
"I do not believe he will be giving up power as he told Time magazine," Nebiyu, a resident of Richie area and working inside Bole International Airport, told Fortune. "Even if he were to, I am afraid there will be a power vacuum for no one appears to be ready to take over."
This is a view far from what a man from around Piazza, a painter and a father of two, shares. He is upset to see the extravaganza because he argues it demonstrates the Prime Minister's level of confidence that he has put dissent under control through show of force.
Others, nonetheless, would like to take their time to see more substantive moves by the government he leads to believe what they see as a makeover public relations exercise.
"It is too good to be true," said a retired lecturer.
What is true is, however, the increasing popularity of Ethiopia's contemporary sensational vocalist, Tewodros Kassahun - fondly called Tedi Afro - who appeals to fans crossing the political divide. Indeed, there are those who are not impressed with his politically tuned activities and some of the songs that preach political reconciliation and togetherness. They see in him a young singer-cum political activist, but highly inflated.
But if there was any other personality that was the subject of public discussion last week, none would be outshining Tedi Afro.
Following the release of his latest single, Gize Le Kulu (a Ge'ez phrase literally translated to 'there is time for everything'), Tedi has tried to reach his fans at an open concert originally planed at the Ghion Hotel. The government's move to cancel the event at the last minute sparked controversy around town, thus making Ethiopia's music idol perceived as a symbol of defiance to a powerful government.
The government does not necessarily take him as a series challenge to the system, according to insiders. Neither is he taken as a personality galvanising protest against the ruling party. At best, he is viewed as an irritation too knotty to deal with. It is due to this perception among the officialdom that town officials in Jimma, 347Km east of Addis, described their decision to let Tedi play in the town on September 12, 2007, as "a courageous move".
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