About Tewodros Kasahun

Teddy Afro (Amharic: ቴዲ አፍሮ?; real name: Tewodros Kassahun, Amharic: ቴዎድሮስ ካሳሁን?, born 14 July 1976) is an Ethiopian singer and one of the most popular artists in Ethiopia. In 2001, Teddy Afro released his second album, Abugida, named after the Abugida syllabary of the Ge'ez language. Several tracks quickly caught the ear of many listeners in Ethiopia - "Halieselassie", a tribute to the late Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie I; "Haile, Haile", a single in honor of the Olympic long distance champion Haile Gebrselassie; and "Mona Lisa", a song about the measure of human beauty. His third album, Yasteseryal, was released in 2005. The release of this album coincided with elevated political tension in Ethiopia surrounding the Ethiopian general election, 2005. His politically and socially inspired songs acted as a call for unity and peace and made the 17 years of TPLF-led government in power concerned. Consequently the government banned four songs including "Yasteseryal" from playing on radios and TV. The most popular song of the album "Yasetseryal" claims that there is no real change in Ethiopia but a new government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) fight against the Derg was nothing but an infamous military junta. The album sold more than a million copies within a few months after its release, becoming the biggest selling Ethiopian music album to date. His fourth and most recent studio album, Tikur Sew, was released in 2012. Its lead single Tikur Sew, which is the namesake of the album, hailed Ethiopia's Emperor Menelik II as a champion for all African people, citing his feat of leading the Ethiopian people to victory at the Battle of Adwa. Tewodros tried to appeal to an audience among the Oromo people by mentioning and acclaiming Oromo generals who participated in the war. He also wrote some of the lyrics for the song in Afaan Oromoo. Nevertheless, the song was made part of the controversy surrounding the celebration of the 100th year anniversary of Menelik's death in December 2013. As a result, Heineken's sponsorship of Afro's concert tour prompted a boycott of Heineken products among Oromo people. Heineken dropped Teddy's tour sponsorship.