“Victory to the Masses” is a phrase that the EPLF can truly say it invented. So I argued, at least, with an Ethiopian on Twitter, for reasons I thought were nationalistic then–wasted time, now. No matter how catchy, it is, after all, the blueprint for tyranny. It’s like any other “Power To The People” movement: ultimately, disappointing. Or, as a line in Wedi Tquabo’s new song (Awetn Hafashn) has it: “Did thought ever meet deed?” Wedi Tquabo has re-interpreted the slogan (with a poet’s license, of course): both parts, victory and masses, are personified. “Victory” is the turned-on-its-keeper predator: let’s just call him Victor. Crowely if you are into horror movies. And “The Masses” are the huddled masses, the prey. Personification runs through most of his poems: he sang of a revolution taking a holiday (Geysha Alla’mber Gedli*…), and a hill crowned sacredness (Tarikh alewo ‘ti gobo). And, no, this is NOT going to be a review of the song: I have done that many times now: read this homily if that is your thing. This is an attempt at a translation, to inspire those who translate for a living, to improve it, to condense it, compile it and introduce it to the world. As for the melody, well, you know: we are not going to get played in Afrobeat with that. Ah, I did the Habesha compliment: A compliment, followed by a put-down, followed by a compliment. I take it back. When your poetry is as good as his, who cares about melody: you can just do the Spoken Word jam.
* Kids, we call the Eritrean Revolution “The Struggle” (capital s), short for “The Armed Struggle” or Ghedli, but rarely Sewra. So while I have taken licenses to avoid redundancies and build rhymes, some words, well, some words feel wrong to change. Anyway, you can sing along now to someone who is a contender for one of Eritrea’s greatest poets who, I wish, would take full control of how we should spell his name. Herewith, English translation of the lyrics.
ቅድሚ ዓወት: ቃልሲ
ቅድሚ ቃልሲ: ሓፋሽ
ዓወት ጌሩ: ቃልሲ
ቃልሲ ዘርኢ: ሓፋሽ
ሓፋሽ እዚ ንሪኦ: ንዓወት ዘብቆለ
ዓወት እዚ ንሪኦ: ‘ዚሓፋሽ ዘቑሰለ
ንገረኒ ሎሚ ከም ሞትን ሂወትን
ተራኺቦም ዶ’ባ ሓፋሽን ዓወትን
ውሉድን ወላድን: ‘ቶም ደቂ ህያብን
ተራኺቦም ዶ’ባ: ኣብ ግብርን ሓሳብን
ዓወትን ሓፋሽን: ከም ሕቶን ምላሽን
ዓወትን ሓፋሽን: ከም ሕቶን ምላሽን
ዓወት እዚ ደንዳኒ: ቀታል ቀላጽሙ
መሓውር ዝበትኽ: ህዋሱ ዘቖሙ
ዓወት ዚ ረጋጺ: ቀጥቃጥ ዝለኣኾ
ነገር ከይመዘነ ዘዝተሰበኾ
ሓፋሽ ደኣ ክንደይ : ነዊሕ ተዓጊሱ
ፍረ ኣይረኸበን: ካብቶም ፍረ ኸርሱ
ፍረ ኸርሱ
ከርተት ስደት: መሊሱ ብኢሱ
ዝወፈረ ኹሉስ: መዓስ ተመሊሱ
ድጏናታት መሊኡ ፈሲሱ
ርእዮ ከይጸገቦም: ደቁ ተወሪሱ
ዓወት’ዩ ትብለኒ: ‘ዚ ሓፋሽ ዝረኸቦ
ሓቂ እንዶ ተዛረብ: ግደፍ ብሒል ጎቦ
ግደፍ ጎቦ ጎቦ
ርኣኹባ ደኣ: ብጊሓት ዝወፈሩ
ዓወት ምስ ዓተሩ
ብርኮም ከይሰበሩ: ጉድጏድ ዝቕየሩ
ዓወት ‘ዚ ሃዳኒ: ከም ተኹላ ንበጊዕ
ነኺሱ ኸሲሱ: ፈሪዱ ዝረትዕ
ዓወት’ዚ ረሳዒ: ትማል ከምዘይፈልጣ
ተሓቢኡ ብሎሚ: ንጽባሕ ክዘብጣ
ህዝቢ ከም ተኻሊ: ዓወት ከም በቛሊ
ዘርኡ እናቐንጠሰ: ከም ገረብ ብሓኸሊ
ከምዛ ሓኸሊ
ሓፋሽ ባዕሉ: እምባ ዝሰቐሎ
ተሓዚሉ እንከሎሰ : ይድከር’ዩ ዘሎ
ዝባን ሓፋሸ ይኣኸሎ ‘ዚ ሀዝቢ
ከም ኢዱ ኣይረኸበን: ትኪ’ዶ ንንህቢ
ዓወት’ዩ ትብለኒ: ‘ዚ ሓፋሽ ዝረኸቦ
ከንደይ ጉድ’ዩ ዘሎ: ታሪኸ ዝጎልበᎄ
ጊዘ ዝጎልበᎄ
ርኣኹባ ደኣ: ብጊሓት ዝወፈሩ
ዓወት ምስ ዓተሩ
ብርኮም ከይሰበሩ: ጉድጏድ ዝቕየሩ
‘ቲ ዝነበረ ዓበይቲ ልቢ ዝሃነጽዎ ሕቶ ሓርነት መታን ከቕጽል
ሕልና’ሎ: ሕግና’ሎ
ቅልጽምና!
‘ቲ ዝነበረ ዓበይቲ ልቢ ዝሃነጽዎ ጉዕዞ ሓርነት መታን ከቕጽል
ሕልና’ሎ: ሕግና’ሎ
ቅልጽምና!
ውዒሉ ሓዲሩ: ዘይተርፍ ሓቅነት
መዓልቦ ሓፋሸ: ምንዳይ ሓርነት
ዓወት ግዙእ ሓፋሸ: ክኸውን ኔሩዎ
በንጻሩ ገዚኡ: ሰላም ኸሊኡዎ
ዓወትን ሓፋሽን:
ከም ሕቶን ምላሽን
‘ቲ ዝነበረ ዓበይቲ ልቢ ዝሃነጽዎ ጉዕዞ ሓርነት መታን ከቕጽል
ሕልና’ሎ: ሕግና’ሎ
ቅልጽምና!
‘ቲ ዝነበረ ዓበይቲ ልቢ ዝሃነጽዎ ሕቶ ሓርነት መታን ከቕጽል
ሕልና’ሎ: ሕግና’ሎ
ቅልጽምና!
ተሓየሩ ጓሶት: ፍትሒ ዝሓተቱ
ሓታት ዘይፍቀዶም: ጉድጓድ ምስተኸቱ
ዝባን ሓፋሸ ደኣ: እናተደከረ
ኣበይ ኣሎ ‘ቲ ዘርኢ: እዚ ድዮ ‘ቲ ፍረ
ዓወትን ሓፋሽን: ከም ሕቶን ምላሽን
ሓፋሽን ዓወትን: ጎየተትን ባሮትን
The Struggle, before the Victory
Before The Struggle, the Masses
The Struggle achieved Victory
The Struggle, Seed of the Masses.
These same Masses
who raised Victory
This same Victory
wounding the Masses.
Today is for telling:
Just like the dead and the animated,
Did they ever get acquainted:
The folk and their winnings?
Parents, Children and The Gifted
Have they, after all, connected?
In acts and reflects?
Victory and the Masses
Like inquiries and responses
Victory and the Masses
Inquiries and responses
Victory, this bully:
Mutilator of his muscles,
Slicer of his limbs,
Which sustain his senses.
Victory, this oppressor:
who abuses his forerunner,
Weighs not issues on merit,
But sermons on his docket.
As for the masses’s want
They have been patient for long
Of fruit, they found naught
From the fruits of their loins
Fruit of their loins
Tread of the exiled has worsened,
Not all who ventured have returned.
Overflowing prisons (hold the separated),
And before parents’ longings are satiated,
Their children are appropriated.
“This is Victory”, you claim,
To what the masses can lay claim?
Try being direct
Stop your side-step
Try not to deflect
But I found:
Those who set out in the morn,
After capturing victory
Before living to infirmity
Were thrown to pits: underground
Victory hunts:
Life a wolf after sheep
It bites, accuses, and judges,
Its winnings for keeps
Victory is forgetful:
Is stranger to yesterday
It obscures today
To strike in a day
People are like growers
and Victory what grows
To fruits they are a plucker
Like a tree by a cleaver
Like a cleaver.
Even the Mount
the Masses themselves hanged
But while piggybacked
They are getting socked
For the sake of the masses,
The people need reprieve
Their favor not recompensed
Like spraying smoke on bees
It is, you say, Victory
That the masses have found?
How many things tawdry
Has history veiled?
And Time shrouded?
But I found:
Those who set out in the morn,
After capturing victory
Before living to infirmity
Were thrown to pits underground
*******
To continue the search for liberty,
Built by our elders’ magnanimity
We have our conscience, our laws,
Our brawn!
To resume the journey of liberty,
Initiated by our elders’ magnanimity
Our conscience, our laws
Our brawn!
When all is said and done
It will all be undone:
The mass’s destination
is the search for liberation
Victory ought to
be governed by the masses
Yet victory rules through
denying peace chances
Victory and the Masses
Like inquiries and responses
To continue on the journey of liberty,
Initiated by our elders’ magnanimity
We have our conscience, our laws
Our brawn!
To build on the search for liberty,
Constructed by our elders’ magnanimity
Our conscience, our laws
Our brawn!
Detained are the shepherds
Justice! they demanded
Denied are beloved’s searches
In holes! they were stuffed
“For the sake of the masses”?
Their backs are still being bashed.
Where is the seed?
Is this what resulted?
Victory and the Masses
Like inquiry and responses
Masses and Victory
Masters and Slaves
