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From the time a child is born and made to lie in the
cradle till the time he dies and is made to rest in
peace in his grave, music remains the prime moving
force in our society, albeit in a different beat and
melody. It is used in times of war and peace, in
times of sorrow and bliss. Looking back at the
social history of our society, we find that for all
that music does to make life easier and sweeter, the
artist was never given his or her due position and
respect in the social strata.
The story is different today. Respect is accorded to
musicians, even to hip-singers who transcend
political barriers and religious protocols. The
26-year-old, African-American singer and performer
Beyoncé Knowles was here last week to receive a warm
and cordial welcome by personalities of rank and
file. Members of the Hager Fikir Music Band were at
hand at Bole International Airport to receive
Beyoncé, according to one Amharic weekly.
A
coffee sipping ceremony, perhaps the first of its
kind in the new Millennium was carried out in her
honour. The superstar sipped the best coffee in the
world and sighed with pleasure.
She has confessed to our Patriarch that she will
come back one day. Coffee sipping may be included in
her schedule. We need every minute of celebrity time
and every sip of coffee to promote Ethiopia. Like
coffee, music is booming.
World class singers had previously come to our
country to share our story of hunger and misery and
to say they are sorry, and they had pulled out their
money when we needed it. Singers now come to stage
their music and to say they are happy, and we pay
them our money in millions.
One Amharic weekly claims that it took the sponsor,
Addis Park, over six months of hard negotiations to
bring Beyoncé's troupe to Ethiopia for a Saturday
night show of less than two hours, at a handsome
payment of 9.2 million Br, not to mention the
purchase of a new bullet-proof state-of-the-art GM
automobile and lodging during her stay here. That's
about 92,000 Br per minute of the show. Many people
were wondering if it was worth it.
Beyoncé had started rocking her first song clad in a
super-mini skirt, showing her named thighs and
shaking her hips in a suggestive movement, when the
lights on my TV screen went off. That glimpse of a
minute or two must have been an event that happened
by chance. The producer may have not read between
the lines on the contractual agreement. The show was
not meant for ETV clients anywhere in the
country. The audience in the hall is only a fraction
of ETV clients.
My friends also thought that the show might have
some currency in terms of opening up a new venue to
engage the youth their civic duties. A free concert
and perhaps refreshments could attract youth to
discussions with more important results than simply
importing two hours of music, with 15 minutes free
to ETV viewers.
Beyoncé talked about Ethiopians being pretty. For a
traveller arriving by night, welcomed by a chanting
and dancing band and driven inside a bullet-proof GM
to one of the most luxurious hotels in town, her
appreciation cannot be an overstatement. But Beyoncé
has not seen much.
Is the country trying to prove to the rest of the
world that she can pay dearly, even for celebrities?
Would our neighbours envy us or make fun of us?
Beyoncé had an audience with not only the President
of the country, but also the head of the Orthodox
Church, his Holiness Dr. Abune Paulos, to the
surprise of many Coptic Christians who thought it
was a condescending act. The singer is just a
celebrated artist, not an angel saint from the
Heavens come to bless the country. People do not see
any special reason for deacons and priests to chant
on her behalf.
One girl's impression was lukewarm. Having lived in
the United States (US) for a long time, she said she
was very privileged to see Beyoncé here in Addis
Abeba. Another young man who was given a free ticket
worth 1,000 Br said he enjoyed the local singers
more, and wished the sponsor could have spent the
money to show selected students all the tourist
attractions in the country. That would have equipped
the students with more useful knowledge of their own
country, and the people whom they will serve
tomorrow.
Others thought the concert was good, but not worth
the money spent on it. They said the dancing was not
to the taste and decency of Ethiopians by and large.
Shaking hips and running around on stage is best
left to our youth.
But money cannot buy happiness, not even with music.
One might as well sponsor a football match between
African and European, or even Latin, teams if one
wanted to access the youth at the grassroots level.
Still others wonder what the Beyoncé concert has
brought to the country that we can use to advance or
retain it in our minds for later use; not much. Of
course, the hip-hop shaking and rocking songs
undoubtedly relieve some of our momentary problems
and bind the young generation together. The stage
show is considered by others as window-dressing for
the host of problems below the surface.
Many people argue that while maintaining social and
ethnic differences, the young generation is expected
to entertain a common song like the now popular "Seleme
Seleme" among the youth all over the country if
music is to serve any common purpose like the
Kenyans singing "Harambe".
Although sponsoring such a musical concert is a
private business matter, there seems to be something
viable in the heart of politics judging by the
audience accorded to Beyoncé at the Grand Palace and
the Trinity Cathedral. Who has won in the game,
Beyoncé or Ethiopia?
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