- Title: Family of slain Ethiopian singer mourns their "hero like a lion"
- Date: 23rd July 2020
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Afaan Oromoo) MOTHER OF HAACHAALUU HUNDEESSAA, GUDETU HORA, SAYING: "What can I do? My son didn't live for himself but for others. He feels the pain the pain of his people. My son was a hero like a lion. He roars about his people but he was eaten by rats. Rats only know how to pierce silos in the dark." HUNDEESSAA'S FATHER WIPING HIS EYES WITH HANDKERCHIEF
- Embargoed: 6th August 2020 09:23
- Keywords: Death of singer Haacaaluu Hundeessaa Oromiya region protests the Oromo people
- Location: AMBO AND ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
- City: AMBO AND ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
- Country: Ethiopia
- Reuters ID: LVA003CO14TP3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: AUDIO AS INCOMING
The mood in the Ethiopian town of Ambo, a poor region in the Oromia region remains tense, weeks after one of its famous sons, singer and activist, Haachaaluu Hundeessaa, was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Addis Ababa.
Still reeling from his death, Hundeessaa's family remembers the simple, selfless acts of the late singer, who is survived by a wife and three daughters.
"My son was a hero like a lion, he roared about his people, but he was eaten by rats," Gudetu Hora, Hundeessaa's mother, tearfully told Reuters at the home.
Hundeessaa, 36, was a member of the Oromo, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group, and his songs were anthems for the young protesters who brought down one of Africa's most repressive regimes.
His death sparked protests in the capital in which 178 people were killed. Two people, including the suspected shooter, have been arrested over his murder.
"My heart won't heal until the day I go and join him," said Hundeessaa Bonsa, the late musician's father. "My wound lives as it is, it won't heal. Haacaalu was the shining son of the house," he added.
Hundeessaa's songs, recorded in the Oromo language, were the soundtrack to a generation of protesters whose three years of anti-government demonstrations finally forced the resignation of the prime minister in 2018 and his replacement by Abiy Ahmed, whose father is Oromo.
His first album was released in 2009, after he had served five years in prison, where he wrote most of his songs, according to a profile in O Pride, an Oromo magazine.
His most famous single was "Maalan Jira?" (What fate is mine?), which became a rally cry following its release just before a wave of government-backed evictions began around the capital in 2015. The song has been viewed more than 3 million times on YouTube.
(Kumerra Gemechu, Nazanine Moshiri, Lisa Ntungicimpaye) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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