Tsegaye gabre-medhin biography
Born in the highland
Tsegaye later attended the prestigious British Council-supported General Wingate school &#; named after British officer Orde Wingate, who had assisted
His interests, however soon took him away from both commerce and law, which he considered as necessary, but soul-destroying pursuits.
Tsegaye gabre-medhin biography References [ edit ]. In comments he provided to the reference book Contemporary Dramatists for its sixth edition in , he explained his reasons: "Just like no Chinese literature can make a truly British culture, so there is no English, French, Dutch, or Portuguese, etc. Gabriel Prosser Conspiracy. More From encyclopedia.He turned instead to his true loves: poetry and the theatre. On returning to
Besides compositions of his own Tsegaye translated Shakespeare (Hamlet and Othello being the most popular of these works), as well as Moliere's Tartouffe and Doctor Despite Himself, and Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage.
Tsegaye, in all things a patriot, was proud of
He insisted emphatically that his country needed heroes, and used the theatre deliberately to teach his compatriots to respect the Ethiopian heroes of their past. One of the most widely acclaimed of his plays, Tewodros, commemorates the life of the charismatic Ethiopian emperor of that name. A pioneer reformer and moderniser, he committed suicide in rather than fall into the hands of a British expeditionary force which had been dispatched against him.
Another of Tsegaye's plays, Petros at the Hour, tells the story of Abuna Petros, an Ethiopian bishop, who accompanied
Captured by the enemy on the outskirts of
Yet another play, the Oda Oak Oracle, a comedy about Ethiopian country life, also enjoyed great popularity, both in Ethiopia and abroad, and was staged in no less than eight countries: Britain, Denmark, Italy, Kenya, Nigeria, Romania, Tanzania, and the United States.
His poems, both in Amharic and English, were also widely read.
A score of them, including Prologue to African Conscience and Black Antigone, were published in the Ethiopia Observer in
During this time Tsegaye travelled widely; he attended the UNESCO-organised First World Black Festival in
In , at the age of only 29, he was awarded his country's highest literary honour: the Haile Selassie I Prize for Amharic Literature &#; which earned him the title of Laureate, by which he has ever since been known.
Ardent patriot that he was, Tsegaye was insistent that his beloved
Befriended by President Léopold Sédar Senghor of
He frequently emphasized the African roots of the theatre; and devoted much time to studying ancient Egyptian history &#; to gain a better knowledge of the overall culture of the
This led him to make an extensive study of linguistic history of the region, with special emphasis on the relationship between his country's Cushitic and Semitic languages. He was at around this time appointed a Commander of the National Order of Senegal.
Later, after the Ethiopian revolution of and the fall of Haile Selassie, Tsegaye was appointed for a short time as vice-minister of Culture and Sports, and was active in setting up
In he wrote an extended, and very poetical, essay "Footprints in Time", which appeared with beautiful photographs by the Italian photographer Alberto Tessore, as a "coffee table" book. It traced Ethiopian history from the prehistoric time of Lucy, the first-known hominid, who had then recently been found in the afar area of eastern
One of Tsegaye's passionate interests throughout this time was in the struggle to regain
A close friend of Chief Segun Olusola, the Nigerian Ambassador in
Tsegaye was no less insistent that
Tsegaye always believed in the unity of the Ethiopian people and felt that this by far transcended purely political matters of the day.
In later years he concerned himself increasingly with questions of peace, human rights and the dignity of humanity. He was elected to the United Poets Laureate International, and received many international awards &#; the most recent of them from
Despite his health problems Tsegaye was active &#; and creative &#; to the last. Ever true to his African aspirations in he composed a poem on the continent's cultural heritage, which the newly-established African Union adopted as its anthem; it read:
"All sons and daughters of
Unable to return to his native land, which lacked the dialysis facilities on which his life literally depended, Tsegaye remained in close contact with the Ethiopian diaspora by whom he was affectionately referred to as Blattengetta, a title traditionally accorded to the most distinguished of Ethiopian scholars.
He was 69, and had for several years been prevented from returning to his native land by his need to undergo dialysis treatment in the
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