Hamelmal abate biography sample

HAMELMAL ABATE: Ethiopian Artist & Peace Ambassador Par Excellence

By Elias Amare

Hamelmal Abate has been my favorite Ethiopian female artist for a long time.

But my respect for the Harar-born Oromo diva went a notch or two higher when at the height of the Weyane-TPLF war on Eritrea, she was one of the few courageous artists to stand up and say no to the senseless war in 2000. This is what she told a Los Angeles Times reporter in Addis Ababa at that time:

«To aid the hungry, a number of Ethiopia’s best-known musicians held a benefit concert Sunday … Hamelmal Abate, 34, a popular singer who returned from her home in Alexandria, Va., to take part in the benefit, complained that Ethiopian television gave the event scant publicity, and that the preferred venue, the Addis Ababa stadium, was being used for a soccer match.

The warble-voiced emigre was the only Ethiopian interviewed by an American journalist to speak out against the fighting, even in general terms.

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