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Tesfay Tolessa Bessa STAR Journal, July-Sep 2012, 1(3): 88-96opposition songs against the then oppressivegovernment policy (Asafa Jalata, 1993;Mohammed Hassen, 1999).The movement of Oromo Cultural Troupesunder the Imperial RegimeIn the history of their political struggle, theOromo made courageous attempts to performmusic, drama and theatre in their language towithstand the assimilation policy of the Ethiopiangovernment (Bariisa, 1991). Although there wereinformant reports reflecting religious drama andsinging of psalms on the bases of written themesby Protestant Christian Missionaries in Wallagga(Informants: Admasu Birehanu, Hailu Disasa,Kebede Firrisa), the written secular music anddrama for the purpose of cultural movement werepresented on stages by the Afran Qalloo culturaland musical bands (Bariisaa, 1991).OromoGariin ilma namaa yaada gabaabbataaQottuu jechuu se’aa arrabatti fudhataaWaa arraba mitii maqaa tarkaanfataaUmmanni wabaree qonnadhaan dhadataaDafquma isaa nyachuuf hojiidhaan bututaaHojjetee mullisee bilchesse oomishaateeDinagdee ol kaasuf qutudhaa hidhateeHalkanillee hirafuu hojidhaan bututeeAkkasumaan naminni itti dhaadateeRoorroo keessa darbe yoom irranfatee.The song dictates the ignorance of the peoplewho called Afran Qalloo Oromo pejoratively“Qottuu” (Farmer) forgetting the importance offarming for the sustenance of the life of thepeople and for the development of the country.For the learned and those who have understoodthe world, farming is the bedrock of developmentfor those who used to live on their products whichis achieved not through dependence but throughhard work. The song also taught people torecover their displaced names in the process ofthe imperial assimilation policy.Nonetheless, according to Asafa Jalata, theimmediate cause for the establishment of thecultural band was the refusal of Harare musicalband on certain marriage of Oromo coupleresponding that their musical instrument couldnot produce Oromo language musical tone. Theentire group of the nuptials who requested for theOromo songs was Oromo language speakers.OromoKa’aa hirribaa kottaa walbarrannaaDardara alagaa if cina hingartaaniiAmeta sadii dura maaliin wal faarsaniiAmeta sadii dura walleen Afaan keenyaasaan nijijjirratan nut immoo inteenyaaDurbumaan keenyallee kan karaa yaatulleenWanuma wallisan tan jaraati walleen B(Bariisaa,1997)Afran Qalloo musical and cultural band, whichwas established in Dirree Dhawaa in the early1962, was the first Oromo troupe to appear in anorganized manner for preserving Oromo cultureand reflecting multifaceted subjugation of theOromo (Ibid.). The name Afran Qallo was torefute the pejorative name “Qottu” given to themby the newly Amhara settlers for the four sons ofQalloo: Alaa, Babbillee, Dagaa and Oborraa (BadirKabir, 1995). Afran Qalloo began the oppositionagainst the Oromo with the early naming of thecultural band itself. The band posed their objectionto this name “Qottuu” by the following songscomposed by Abubakir and later on presented byHalloo Dawwee on the Oromo cultural show of1977 in Addis Ababa( Alfia, 2007). It reads asfollows:GlossSome people are narrow-mindedConsider farming as insultNot insult but advancementCivilized people take pride in farmingStrive hard to live on his workBy showing practically and working exhaustivelyFor development has to farm without reservationNever slept even in the night being exhausted by workPeople roared at him without reasonHe never forgets the tyranny passed through(Asafa, 1993). However according to Bariisa onthe marriage ceremony of the Oromo the Harareand Somali musical bands were invited withcompensation. The then privileged band playingin Amharic was not willing for they had low honorfor the Oromo. It was on this circumstance thatcertain Hassan Omar Tarree forced to advice theOromo youngsters to establish their own culturalband. The advised youngsters were IsmailMohammed, Abdulhaji Mohammed, AbubakriMusa, Abdurrahman Yusuf, and others.Consequently, Afran Qalloo Musical and culturalband was established by eighteen members in1962(Bariisa, 1991). Whatever the argument isthe immediate causes for the establishment ofAfran Qalloo Musical and cultural band was inresponse to the Oromo subordination to theHarare language. The Afran Qalloo musical andcultural band responded to the Harare band by itsfirst song as follows.GlossWake up, let us understand each otherWhy you do not see the alien youthThree years before in what they sang?Three years before, our language songThey changed but we quittedOur girls who travel along the roadSing the songs of the others (Harari and Amharic)89
Tesfay Tolessa Bessa STAR Journal, July-Sep 2012, 1(3): 88-96The song indicates that while the Harare hasresumed their songs against the assimilation, theOromo were kept quite. The Oromo youththemselves even began undermining their ownvernacular and began singing in others language.It informs the Oromo the decisiveness havingtheir own cultural bands. Thus, it clearly showsthat the main objective of the Afran Qalloocultural and musical band was to protect andpreserve the Oromo language. It also advisethose who undermine their vernacular andpraised those who were proud of it.The band also performed dramas thatmirrored the situation of the period. As in thedrama both the male and female representativeshad to be represented in order to reveal thesituation in which both genders were living, themale also acted like female since the period didnot allow Muslim female actors on the stage. Oneof the artists who represented female characterswas Abdurrahman Yusuuf. Separately seeingtheir Oromo culture from religion, immediatelythey recruited females into the cultural troupealthough the females were still separatelyorganized from the males (Informants: HalloDawwee, Abdullah Mumme Ibrahim Haji andHamid Mude).To direct all activities towards thedevelopment of Oromo culture and language aswell as to give protection for the band, thecommittees were organized from the elders. Thecommittees were named based on their dutiesand work divisions in the cultural band. Therewere koree tikstuu (caring committee), Koreegargaartu (aiding committee), and koree goristuu(advising committee). The members of thecommittees were Yusuf Abdullah (Gurachoo),Hassen Omar Turee, Ismail Galmoo, MohammedRabsaa, Idris Abdulle, Mohammed IbrahimWooday (Shantam Shubbisaa), Mohammed AbdiOmar, and Abdi Mohammed (Bariisaa,1991)The Afran Qalloo cultural band had differentbranches based on their age groups. The divisionand decisions were given to the committee sothat recruitments and assignments were made onthe basis of the determination andunderstandings of the recruits. The divisionbased on the ages of the members was topresent Oromo arts according to age relevance.This was because in Oromo culture elders did notinterfere in youth matters and vise versa. Theeldest group was named Urjii Bakkalchaa (Bigstar), Hiriyaa Jaalalaa(Teenagers), TokummaaJaalalaa( love for Unity) Biiftu Ganamaa(Morning sun) and Mascob (Alfia, 2007).All the members of the groups made divisionof labor among themselves based on theirabilities. Those who were good singers wereassigned to sing, those who had goodcomposition ability were assigned to composesongs, those who could play musical instrumentswere assigned to it, those who had goodknowledge in cultural elements were assigned tocollect and write on Oromo culture. Since therewas not organized training and no freedom to doso, the division of labor was based on the naturalgifts of the participants. Adaptation to modernways of dancing, singing, playing musicalinstruments, writing suitable poems and mixingwere acquired through trial and error. In such away, the cultural band became much moreplanned and monolithic than for what it wasintended at the beginning (Informants: AbdallahMumme, Musa Ahmad, Abdi Bu’iand IbrahimHaji) .Initially, the cultural troupe began singing anddancing with traditional musical instruments.Later on the Harar well-to-do Oromo elderssponsored them with harmonica, radio players,accordion, tambourine, sacs-phone, trephine,jazz and others. The committee hired a trainer inmusical instruments from the Catholic Church inHarar. Ali Tuuchee and Abdullah Mohammedimmediately naturalized the procedures andbegan training the others by themselves. In thecomposition of the songs, Ayub Abubakir becamea renowned Oromo poet like his teacher BakriiSaphaloo. Later on, Abubakir Musa and AbdiBohi followed him (Ibid.).After they were well established, the AfranQalloo Musical and cultural band attempted to getlegal recognition from the emperor through thearbitration of the elders. Until the officialestablishment of the Maccaa-Tuulamaa Self HelpAssociation in 1963 and the Somali invasion, theEmperor gave permission for the Afran Qalloosingers to transmit one song over the Radioevery Monday at four o’clock in the afternoon ifthe band could pay 30 Ethiopian Birr per song forthe radio station. The permission was obtainedbased on a sample song presented to theemperor by Ali Shabboo one of the member ofcultural band. The song praised the glories of theemperor achieved over the Italian invadingforces. It reads:90
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