Capital: What made you decide on a music career and how did you kick start your career?
Dawit Senbetta: I loved listening to Walias Band on the radio as a child around the time that I was 8. Hailu Mergia on the keyboard was talented. His skills mesmerized me every time I listened to him and I got hooked to music ever since. I later fell in love with the piano notes in 8th grade when the school purchased a piano and left it in one of the classrooms. I felt as though the piano was calling me and I and the musical instrument were inseparable since. Often I would be caught playing the piano during class hours and would get in trouble with our Caucasian principle at the time. One notable time I fell at the principal’s feet so that he doesn’t report my skipping of class to my parents. Touched by my gesture I was allowed to play after class and on Saturdays. This in conjunction with my first live show that I attended at school by performances by Dereje Mekonnen and Abiy Mekonnen alongside two other musicians really played an instrumental role to shape me musically so to speak. Especially from the day that I witnessed my live concert, I knew I was going to be like them one day. The rest as they say is history and I still feel the same about it to this day.
Capital: So you’re a self-taught pianist. Did you receive further training in your musical career?
Dawit Senbetta: I sure was self-taught to some degree. I would try to mimic Hailu Mergia’s style of playing. I would also play Tilahun Gessesse and Bizunesh Bekele without knowing who they were, without even knowing the names of the records I tried to imitate. I kept copying the melody I would hear in their songs on the piano and that is how I taught myself. I also attended music school in America though I felt homesick after a year and joined Yared Music School where I graduated. The other trainings were of course from life upon performing in Addis Ababa University Cultural Band without pay, performing at staff weddings. I also joined Ethio Star Band after I graduated from music school. I played in that band alongside Bezawork Asfaw, Mohammed Tawil, Girma Chibsa, and Tewodros.
Capital: Your most popular song is “Honebin Tizita” which translates to “It has become a memory.” Could you please take us through the process of making that record?
Dawit Senbetta: The video was made by 3D Productions. I wasn’t originally planning to make a video for the record but the guys at the production company insisted on it. One of the staff members called me over to their office and they showed me the video they had made for it. I was extremely moved by it. It impeccably portrayed what my music was about. It even brought back some fond memories. The video was so beautiful that I couldn’t even stop sobbing so I felt like I couldn’t play my show that evening. I even told the director, Dawit Damte, that whether the song gains traction because of the video or not, it’s something that I will always cherish. The song was written by Yilma Gebreab who is one of the most dedicated writers I’ve ever worked with. He’s truly someone who loves his work and so humble as well. He wrote 7 of the songs on my album including Honebin Tizita. 2 of my songs were written by Minilik Wesnachew. I wrote the title song on the album.
Capital: Who are some of the artists that you admire?
Dawit Senbetta: Hailu Mergia is honestly one of the most talented instrumentalists. The more I stay in music, the more I am impressed by how he plays. Dereje Mekonnen is a close second to him. Nebiyou, who was Walias band organist, is very gifted as well.
Capital: What American artist’s music did you play often?
Dawit Senbetta: My brother had lots of vinyl records of Sam Cooke, Jim Reeves, and Frank Sinatra. Jim Reeves mostly sang gospel music. He was my father’s favorite specifically for that reason. My father was quite a religious man but he found a good balance in worldly life as well. He didn’t want us to listen to music other than gospel songs. I would listen to Jim Reeves often for this reason so when I started playing live, I played his music specifically his love songs. I wasn’t planning on playing his gospel music at a bar. I slowly started playing Frank Sinatra. My Way, Love Story and Killing Me softly and Jim Reeves’ I Love you because you’re were my favorite ones to play.
Capital: How do you see the future for your music?
Dawit Senbetta: I want to refine my singing and keep building on my preexisting works. I don’t plan on releasing any more albums if I’m being honest. I enjoy performing covers very much. I would like to add my signature technics to other musicians’ records. I enjoy performing live at Radisson Blu now. This is what I’d like to keep doing. Instead of recording my albums, I enjoy making music for my daughter as well. She is almost 18 now but she’s already quite the musician.
Capital: What advice would you give to up-and-coming artists?
Dawit Senbetta: Kids and youth these days have access to almost all they desire thanks to the internet. This is a double-edged sword. On one hand, they can teach themselves so much through watching online videos. It’s much more convenient now to train yourself remotely. All you need is passion and the instruments. Things were way more difficult for us in the old days. We would keep listening to cassettes over and over again to learn the lyrics and play the background music. You don’t have to do all that now. While this is all good as is, it is now easier than ever to compare yourself with people who have had years of training or are just naturally talented. Seeing an 8-year-old guitar protégé playing better than you ever could any time soon as a 25-year-old could be demoralizing. You have to be extremely careful when it comes to comparison. You should admire the talent and learn at your own pace.
Capital: Where can we listen to your music?
Dawit Senbetta: I currently have been performing at Radisson Blu. The show starts at 7 PM on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. You can catch me playing live there. You can also listen to my music on my YouTube channel named after myself, Dawit Senbetta. My daughter also does music. She has a telegram channel called Nani’s Covers.
HEARTFELT MUSIC
Noah Ayele
Name: Noah Ayele
Education: Business Admin degree student
Company name: Prolovution
Title: Founder
Founded in: 2020
What it does: Produces clothing
HQ: Gerji
Number of employees: 6
Startup Capital: 50,000 birr
Current Capital: Growing
Reasons for starting the business: Filling demand
Biggest perk of ownership: Creative freedom
Biggest strength: Courage
Biggest challenging: Ignoring pessimism
Plan: To be competitive nationwide then worldwide
First career: hotel management
Most interested in meeting: Zemedeneh Negatu
Most admired person: Nipsey Hussle
Stress reducer: Meditation
Favorite past time: Visiting monasteries
Favorite book: The Alchemist
Favorite destination: Pelican Paradise Resort, Bishoftu
Favorite automobile: Rolls Royce
Vaccine Apartheid: The Epitomy of Imperialism
By Hileleule G. Tesfaye
Do you remember when the first COVID 19 vaccine was announced? Of course, you do. We all saw it as the light at the end of the tunnel. We even hoped for our parents to get the vaccine in time. We were so naive.
Last year, as scientists worked around the clock to develop COVID-19 vaccines, officials from developed countries were queuing up to promise equal access. In developing countries, hope turned quickly into resentment, as it became clear that vaccines would first be only available to the global north, with little thought to equitable distribution.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of February 20, more than 200-million vaccine doses had been administered worldwide. However, the vast majority of vaccines were administered in a few developed nations who only account for 10 percent of the global population. Research conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit shows developed nations are likely to achieve “widespread vaccination coverage” by late 2021, but the world’s poorest countries will not hit that same benchmark until 2023, if at all. Was this the equity promised?
WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the predicament as a “Catastrophic moral failure”.
Vaccine nationalism has been indicated as the cause of inequality. However, many argue the real problem is the intellectual property rights of big pharmaceutical companies which prohibit other manufacturers from producing the vaccines. Developing nations are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They unable to purchase vaccines because of scarcity and cannot manufacture them because of intellectual property prohibition.
This issue prompted India and South Africa to approach World Trade Organization (WTO), calling on it to waive parts of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement (TRIPS). They stated a temporary suspension of certain intellectual property (IP) rights such as patents would ensure “timely access to affordable vaccines and other medical products essential to combat COVID-19”.
During the TRIPS Council meeting on February 4, the proposal was strongly opposed by developed nations headed by the USA and EU. They insisted the waiver would not address vaccine scarcity, and would rather halt incentives for innovation and make pharmaceutical companies unable to keep up with a mutating virus. They added scarcity could be fixed through licensing and expanding manufacturing capacity.
Supporters of the waiver, which include many developing and least-developed countries and NGOs, say depending on a few pharmaceutical companies to produce vaccines for the whole world is absurd, and affirm that every manufacturing capacity must be exploited. They claim the vaccine shortage is “artificial” since the companies have only granted production licenses to a small number of firms. They add that the underlying intention of these companies is perpetuating monopoly through IP rights.
The WTO talks are taking place as some wealthy countries face criticism for cornering billions of COVID shots while leaving poor countries struggling for supplies.
For example, Canada has secured enough shots to vaccinate its citizens six times.
Facing such scarcity, the only way to find vaccines seems like to manufacture them. Here developed nations argue an IP waiver doesn’t transfer the all-important know-how and technology to make it. This is as condescending as it is untrue. There any many vaccine companies with manufacturing capacity, hundreds of companies in India alone. There is also the Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network (DCVMN) that is already producing billions of vaccines for other diseases.
One possible avenue is the WHO’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP), which was meant to become a source for open-access knowledge on COVID-19 science and technology. However, as yet, not a single patent-holding drug maker has agreed to sign up. There is also the WHO-backed COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) facility, that aims to ensure fair global access to coronavirus vaccines. The facility plans to distribute 2 billion doses by the end of 2021 but has struggled to gain traction.
Under the status quo, it is apparent that vaccines cannot be made quickly or cheaply enough to meet global demand. I agree that the proposed temporary waiver is necessary for an urgent scale-up in vaccine productions. However, developed nations and their pharmaceutical giants have been unwilling to take this step, clinging instead to a greedy, quasi-colonial economic order that disadvantages poor countries-and threatens to prolong the pandemic. It is difficult not to acknowledge this plight for its apartheid nature and imperialist undertone.
This is not the first-time intellectual property became a tool to deny access to life-saving medicine. It contributed to a ten-year delay in access to HIV medicines for people in developing countries, leading to millions of unnecessary deaths. Two decades later, a similar script is being played out by the same set of actors. Should we set a precedent that intellectual property should be protected in the middle of a devastating pandemic, putting profit before lives?
The ironic reality is that the impacts of vaccine inequality will not be confined to developing countries. Experts say, the longer the virus is allowed to continue in a context of patchy immunity, the greater the chance of mutations that could render the vaccines already administered, less effective or ineffective. Furthermore, a study commissioned by the International Chamber of Commerce predicts “the global economy stands to lose $9.2 trillion if the global south doesn’t have access to COVID-19 vaccines”.
In Ethiopia, the Ministry of Health Dr. Lia Tadesse recently stated that they have secured 9 million doses through the COVAX facility. This is far from the required amount to reach herd immunity. Additionally, the acquired vaccines are funded by aid and loans further pushing the country into a debt trap. Ethiopia must urgently back the proposal tabled at WTO and join forces with other countries to advocate for the equitable distribution of vaccines.
The fate of the waiver proposal is unknown with the next TRIPS Council meeting scheduled for March 10. There are signs of despair but also hope. Developed countries are doubling down on their objection to the waiver by restricting vaccine exports and hoarding supplies. China and Russia have also remained silent on the issue. There is also hope that the new Director-General of WTO Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala will support and advocate for the proposal.
The fact WTO decisions must pass by consensus remains a formidable challenge for the proposal but also an opportunity for unity. For a virus that knows no boundary, our response should be one based on international solidarity. If we fail to achieve this, the virus will not only have taken so many lives but will also expose that our greed outweighs our sense of humanity.
Hileleule G. Tesfaye is A Legal practitioner and master’s student at Center for Development Research, University of Western Cape. You can reach him at hileleule@gmail.com
THE CONTINOUS LEGACY OF THE VICTORY OF ADWA
The 125th anniversary of the Victory at Adwa is upon us and the fervor can be felt throughout the city with a range of academic, artistic, and cultural activities planned from government to civil society. We are all familiar with the phenomenal win, after the Treaty of Wichale went too far with the infamous Article XVII, asserting Ethiopia as an Italian Protectorate. But that’s another story. The combat between Italian and Abyssinian forces is often told in a mythical manner describing a tale of Ethiopian “underdogs” running barefoot into battle, armed with only one-shot guns against the well-dressed Italian battalions, armed to the tee, yet still suffered defeat in the highlands of Northern Ethiopia. Well, this story has ‘sort of-kind of’ status. This narrative of an ill prepared and significantly smaller army was part of Emperor Menelik’s war strategy, when indeed almost 100,000 Ethiopian forces were a well-prepared fearless force, armed with traditional and modern weaponry. Though not a fair fight, the bait was bought and needless to say, we celebrate a win that was a shot heard around the world. The victory propelled the Pan African Movement and Africa’s efforts to end colonialism; challenging the notorious Berlin Conference’s carving up of the Continent.
The win at Adwa was colorful and well curated. The troops hoisted red, gold and green banners as they rode on well-groomed highly decorated horses, carrying ornate elephant or rhino skin shields and the sacred St. George Talbot. They were clothed in white cotton and wool garments accented with “goffer” “anfaro” and “lemd” made from lion mane and skins decorated with gold, silver and fine stones such as rubies and sapphires. It was such an incredible sight that ancient paintings and contemporary accounts alike, capture the battle with vast colors and detailed distinction. While today’s Ethiopian fashion may not be designed for the battlefields it is certainly holding its own on the international scene. “Culturally Inspired Globally Desired” is the mantra of AFRICANMOSAÏQUE, the brand of Anna Getaneh dubbed “artisanal design”. Anna – wife, mom of two and former fashion model in Paris and New York – is one of Ethiopia’s leading social entrepreneurs who blends her passion for fashion with a people centered approach to her business. But while that is not breaking news, the launch of her AFRICAN MOSAIQUE EDIT fashion and lifestyle magazine this weekend IS.
African Mosaique has teamed up with Neteb Production to publish an “…international standard fashion and lifestyle magazine that will promote and build awareness around locally manufactured design and innovation as well as share stories of the talented artists behind the labels…” states their press release. The organizers are planning a “first of its kind” publication which will cover a wide array of topics “…highlighting pioneering personalities around fashion, art, music, food, architecture, and culture.” The launch in Legatafu will include a host of offerings for guests from high-end food stations and live music to a photograph exhibition by Michel Temteme. For those unfamiliar with the photography of Michel, Vogue and New York Times are not. The understated well-travelled and seasoned Ethiopian photographer has a different eye. Working in Milan for many years in the fashion industry, he captures beauty in motion but is not limited to just one sphere. His portfolio is diverse and dynamic and Michel can be considered one of Ethiopia’s leading photographers. It appears Anna has carefully selected the best for her newest venture, “AfricanMosaique Edit” magazine, a perfect accompaniment to her vision of “…sourcing, manufacturing and developing talent in Africa.”
Real talk, cultural clothing matters and made ‘for us by us’ was relevant then and is now. In the context of Adwa, I was recently asked by a journalist about the impact of the victory on Ethiopia and Africa for that matter. My response in a nutshell: ‘lasagna instead of injera; embroidered skirts, laced collars chemise blouses with flower and fruit filled hats instead of hager libs; and Italian as national kwonkwa instead of Amharic. You see, Ethiopia’s win ensured the survival of culture in all forms…food, clothing and language. Nelson Mandela was even said to have “…Harnessed Freedom Trough Clothing…” according to a Caroline Kloster, fashion and culture writer. Mandela wrote of wearing a kaross to court in his bio “Long Walk to Freedom”. The kaross is the traditional attire worn by a Xhosa Chief, made from woven cloth draped over one shoulder and accessorized with extravagant neck beads. Kloster writes Mandela “…emphasizing this difference, signifying the entire political mission of the ANC: achieving a world where Black South Africans can be different from White South Africans and still be celebrated and empowered…mark(ing) a drastic change in Mandela’s political career, his change in clothing followed suit.” Some may argue that Mandela’s 1962 time in Ethiopia gave thrust to his vision for not only ending apartheid but in Mandela’s word “…fight(ing) for the value of African characteristics and culture.”
So, as we celebrate the Victory of Adwa, may we not just look at this from a historical lens but with the subsequent effects including a present statement on identity and cultural sovereignty. The right to wear our clothing – sourced, designed and manufactured by us for us – taking a leaf out of Anna’s book. Adwa preserved this right for generations to come. Forseeably, in the year 2146, when African Mosaique or some other Ethiopian fashion house combines cutting edge materials with traditional attire, we will again celebrate the victory of Adwa which ensured the preservation and promotion of Ethiopia’s rich cultural heritage.
Dr. Desta Meghoo is a Jamaican born
Creative Consultant, Curator and cultural promoter based in Ethiopia since 2005. She also serves as Liaison to the AU for the Ghana based, Diaspora African Forum.
