Tilahun Gessesse

Tilahun Gessesse was born on September 29, 1940, in Addis Ababa to Oromo and Amhara parents. Running away from school in Woliso to pursue music, he joined the prestigious Hager Fikir Theatre and later the Imperial Bodyguard Band in the late 1950s.

With his astonishing vocal range, emotional vibrato, and commanding stage charisma, Gessesse recorded hundreds of iconic singles including Kulun Manqualesh, Leman Lemash, and Yetsew Qen Yitsewal. During the catastrophic famines of the 1970s and 1980s, his humanitarian concerts raised tens of millions of birr for starving citizens. His state funeral in April 2009 drew over a million mourners into the streets of Addis Ababa.