A Tale of Two Drum Beats: The ‘Wollo Model’ of Religious Tolerance
A Tale of Two Drum Beats By Tariku Abas Etenesh (First appeared on www.theethiopianamerican.com ) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ቅዳሴ እና አዛኑን አጥር ቢለያቸው፡ ፈጣሪ ከሠማይ አንድነት ሰማቸው፡፡ …… “Liturgy and Azan(Salah), apart by a thin fence*, The Almighty of Heavens heard them as one voice . (Teddy Afro) Whenever I hear Tewodros Kassahun’s (aka Teddy Afro’s) classic song “Shemedefer,” it reminds me of my friend Mohammed Ali. Did the name Ali trigger a memory timeline and bring to life an image of a legend? I thought so. But let me save you the surprise: the young, flamboyant, greatest boxer of all time—“king of the world” (as he deservedly called himself)—is not the Ali I’m writing about. My friend Ali wasn’t even born when the great boxer became a champion not only of professional boxing, but also of the struggle against the grim reality of racial segregation in 1960s America. The ...