September 17, 2014
Ethiopian musician Tewdros Kassahun aka Teddy Afro, has said on his official social media pages that the distribution of a single song he played for trail on stage in a Holland concert some nine years ago is “illegal”.
The singer said the song was sub in “standard and quality”. In his short note titled “Illegal distribution”, Teddy said “The purpose and identity of the distributors, and the source is not yet known. We would like to express to the fans and colleagues of the artist that the issue is illegal when viewed from the artist’s copyright perspective and is an unrecognized distribution.”
The low quality stage recorded song contains messages that question the contents of the Ethiopian flag and the persistence of tribalism in Ethiopia asking what the former Ethiopian kings would have said had they seen what is happening now. It also preaches “Ethiopians can grow if they work in unity”. Since the song has been released on social media outlets, Ethiopians have been debating the content of the song from political, historical angles of analyses and inclinations. The artist and the song was not also spared from criticisms.
If the song was played nine years ago, as the artist himself admitted, it is then played in 2006 just a year or months after the deadly Ethiopian general election of 2005 when hundreds were killed and thousands were detained by the government’s crackdown.
Teddy Afro was arrested on April 16, 2008 and was released on August 13, 2009 for an alleged hit-and-run crime which he completely denied. His fans and those who followed the trial had said was a “politically motivated” conviction.
The Amharic version of the note that appeared on the artist’s Facebook page is pasted below.
ሕጋዊነትን ያልተከተለ ስርጭት
ማክሰኞ መስከረም 6፡ 2007
ቀደም ሲል (ሰባ ደረጃ) በሚል ርዕስ አርቲስት ቴዎድሮስ ካሳሁን በኦፊሻል ድረ ገጱ ላይ አዲስ ሙዚቃ መልቀቁ ይታወቃል። ነገር ግን የዚህን ስራ መዉጣት ተከትሎ በቅርብ ጊዜ ዉስጥ ከአርቲስቱ እዉቅና ዉጪ በሶሻል ሚዲያዉ ላይ የተሰራጨ ሕጋዊነት የሌለውና ከዘጠኝ አመት በፊት አርቲስቱ በሆላንድ አገር መድረክ ላይ የተጫወተዉን ጥራቱን ወይም ደረጃዉን ያልጠበቀ ሙዚቃ ባልታወቁ ወገኞች እንዲሰራጭ ተደርጓል። ይህ እንዲሆን ያደረጉት ወገኞች ምክንያትም ሆነ ምንጭ ለጊዜዉ ባይታወቅም፡ ጉዳዩ ከአርቲስቱ የኮፒራይት መብት አንጳር ሲታይ ሕጋዊነትን ያልተከተለ በመሆኑ እዉቅና የሌለዉ ስርጭት መሆኑን ለአርቲስቱ አድናቂዎችና ወዳጆች በሙሉ ለመግለጵ እንወዳለን።
መልካም አዲስ አመት
[Google]
