| Michael Jackson |
Just over two months ago, Ethiopians had to farewell their most treasured musical talent, dubbed: “the king.” There is no doubt that Tilahun Gesesse, who died in April this year at the age of 68, is the best Ethiopian musician Ethiopians have ever known, just as there would be no question that Micheal Jackson, who died at the age of 50 this week, is the best non-Ethiopian musician Ethiopians have ever known and enjoyed.
There are many Ethiopians who are still grieving for their dead icon of music, whose passing was just as sudden as Michael Jackson’s. Tilahun was reported to have had a sudden heart attack just before he passed away and so did Michael Jackson. And the loss for Ethiopians has just become double with the passing of an American extraordinary talent, known around the world as “the king of pop”.
Michael Jackson had an uncanny ability to make people fall for him. So millions in the world fell for him; loved him and displayed inexpressible hysteria just to see him perform. Whether cultural, racial, geographical or whatever else, he crossed almost every boundary to be loved in every country and culture.
People everywhere have loved and will continue to love him and remember him for his ability to sing and dance like no other, for his kindness, his compassionate nature and for his distinctively Michael Jackson looks.
But Ethiopians have loved and will continue to love him and remember him for one more reason: Michael gave Ethiopians a special gift in 1985 – less than a year after the world had seen television images of thousand of hunger-stricken Ethiopians. One of many successful attempts to bring international attention to suffering Ethiopians, so as to alleviate their suffering, was the world-famous “we are the world, we are the children” song, co-written by Michael Jackson.
The song says: “There comes a time when we heed a certain call; when the world must come together as one; …we are the world, we are the children; we are the ones who make a brighter day; so lets start giving.”
Michael wrote the lyrics along with Lionel Richie. Most comforting to Ethiopians was not just the awareness raised by the song about the misery the infamous famine caused in Ethiopia. But it was the realization that not only ordinary people in the West knew about the situation, but also extraordinary people like Michael Jackson were also at the forefront of the global effort to help overcome the situation.
“I want to express our debt to Michael Jackson,” says Samson Ketema, a young Ethiopian, who also says that Michael “wrote and sang about our pain 24 years ago, and now we mourn his untimely death.”
Michael’s passing is indeed very premature and also sudden. But his extraordinary works of art and humanity will make sure that he will continue to live in the hearts and minds of millions across the world forever.
It took a talent like Michael Jackson’s and a heart like his to make possible the recording of a song by a super-group of 45 popular American musicians about the suffering of a people in a forgotten part of the world. With his efforts, talents, compassion and celebrity, he helped to raise awareness which would otherwise have been very difficult.
Michael’s is a life lived to the full; he lived not just for himself, but also for others. With the passing of this legend, the world is deprived of a talented and compassionate man that can never be replaced.
He once said: “In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.” These are some of the messages he consistently tried to communicate through his music.
Love for Michael was the most important thing in life and that’s why he also said: “If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with.”
For Ethiopians, 2009 will always be remembered as the year they lost Tilahun Gesesse and Michael Jackson to sudden heart attack. The king of music in Ethiopia and the king of music on the world stage are no more. Ahead is life without Tilahun and Michael. Farewell the two and good luck the rest.
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