Abstract
Drawing on a popular music video titled ‘Beelbaa’ by a young Oromo artist, Jambo Jote, this article discusses the moments and contexts that compel young people to speak up in subtle and poetic ways. By interpreting the content of the lyrics, doing a visual analysis of the music video, and connecting both to contemporary discourses, it explores how researching social memory through music can be used as a lens to understand Ethiopian society, politics, and history. The article draws attention to alternative spaces of resistance as well as sites of intergenerational connections such as lyrics, music videos, songs, and online discussions. I argue that storytelling through music not only bridges differences on problematic and sometimes highly polarized discourses engendered by selective remembering and forgetting of national history, but that it is also indispensable for reconciliation and peaceful coexistence. Tuning into young people’s music can touch us in ways that are real, immediate, and therapeutic, making it possible for our collective wounds to heal. I further demonstrate that as musical storytelling appeals to multiple generations, it can facilitate mediation, truce, and intergenerational understanding.
Highlights
My academic work allowed me to undertake longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork, documenting the cultural, material, and political-economic contexts in which young people come of age in Ethiopia
Its production is sponsored by Minew Shewa Entertainment, an American company owned by an Ethiopian American entrepreneur
I will present and discuss the music video Beelbaa that came out a few months after the change of political leadership in Ethiopia that was propelled by the youth revolution
Summary
There is a dearth of studies on how young people’s music opens space for love, care, and reconciliation, facilitating transformative peace between communities that are caught up in cycles of conflicts, and political-historical injustices. This article locates politics and the quest for intergenerational healing in young people’s engagement with and production and consumption of popular music in Ethiopia. It explores how storytelling through music becomes a catalyst for dialogue that fosters intergenerational connections. Drawing on an example of a popular music video titled Beelbaa by a young Oromo artist, Jambo Jote, I discuss how researching social memory through music allows us to ‘excavate’ hidden socio-historical processes that perpetuate oppression and ‘diverse unfreedoms’ (see Balagopalan et al 2020). I reflect on the transformative capacity of music to facilitate peaceful coexistence, bridging intergenerational and interethnic boundaries and healing social wounds
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