Mahmoud Ahmed is one of Ethiopia’s greatest performers, whose career started in the country’s ‘Golden Age’ in the ’60s and ’70s when a thriving indigenous jazz and funk scene swept the nation. Since his first trip abroad in 1994, he has become the first Ethiopian musician to gain international fame, winning even more renown with the BBC’s World Music Awards in 2007. He has come to perform at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York. As he turns 77 today, we offer ten things to know about this musical icon.

1. A bona fide Guraghe man, Mahmoud had a lifetime’s worth of odd jobs before rising to stardom, including an injera seller, a shoeshine boy, nightclub bouncer. He came from a humble background and his late parents had very low income. At the tender age of five, he used to help his father who worked as a handyman in Greek’s Olympiakos Club in Addis Ababa.

2. In his teenage years, while supporting himself and his family as a shoeshine boy, Mahmoud used to listen to the music broadcasts of Tèquali Radio, the Imperial Bodyguard station, that drifted from the bar, sitting on his shoeshine box at a popular spot in the city. He would listen to the music and he would play it in school the next day.

3. When Mahmoud turned eighteen, he found a job at the Arizona Club, a fashionable Addis Ababa nightspot, washing dishes there, always singing as he worked. One evening, when the band’s lead singer failed to show, he begged his way into performing a song with a band at the club, receiving rapturous applause and launching his musical career. He became the vocalist with the Imperial Bodyguard Band in the early 60s, subsequently remaining with them for ten years.

4. In 1972, he did his first lp with Ibex Band, on Tango-label (Kaifa – kf). At the time, he used to cover known folk songs. So much so that he was labelled as Firash Adash (literally mattress renewer) to mean someone who doesn’t come up with original recordings.

5. His songs are largely consecrated to love, sometimes the pain of unrequited love and nostalgia of bygone eras.

6. When he appeared in front of the public, Mahmoud gained wider admiration for his talents as a showman, as he had no equal in letting loose the eskista dance style, with the speedy shaking of the chests and shoulders, of which Ethiopians are so fond.

7. The turning point in Mahmoud’s international career was his first reissue of his LP Ere Mela Mela by the Belgian Crammed Discs in 1986. It led to his appearances on many international stages.

8. Though unknown to many people, Mahmoud is a visual artist who creates art in drawings and illustrations. He illustrates various themes with a pencil, depending on the mood of the period. He was once approached by the Alliance Ethio-Française in Addis Ababa to exhibit his works but he declined.

9. He doesn’t have an email. He communicates by telephone or paper for his needs. Otherwise, he relies on his wife, Almaz (one of his hits carries her name) to get him online to read.

10. Mahmoud does not support poor imitations of his songs. In most cases, when there are copycats, he would quietly leave the hall but at one point, he was so annoyed that he got physical with the imitator, forcing those around to intervene.

(Photo of Mahmoud Ahmed with dancer Melaku Belay and Akale Wube band taken by Mario Di Bari at a concert in Paris on April 13)

Previous posts about Mahmoud Ahmed from the Ethiopia Observer

Mahmoud Ahmed to Receive Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters Honour

Mahmoud Ahmed awarded insignia of Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters