Jirra: Oromo protest songs as weapons of resistance against domination in Ethiopia

Abstract

Beginning from the 1960s, the Oromo struggle for emancipation from authoritarianism in Ethiopia took dimensions of peasant uprisings, liberation movements, and everyday forms of resistance through which discourses and institutions of domination have been resisted and defied. As part of their resistance strategies, the Oromo use art in defying political oppression, economic inequalities, and socio-cultural marginalization. From legendary musicians to amateur singers, Oromo artists have been speaking to power and inspiring the people in the struggle for freedom. Haacaalu Hundessa, a young Oromo artist and resistance singer who has garnered a reputation as an icon within a short period of time–murdered on 29 June 2020–is one of those whose works revolutionized modern Oromo resistance music. Three of Haacaalu’s latest songs, namely, Maalan Jiraa (What existence is mine), Jirra! (We are still alive), and Jirtuu? (Are you still there?), were released between 2015 and 2017 during a critical juncture in Oromo Protests and thus deserve critical analysis to unpack spatially and temporally grounded state violence against the Oromo. These lyrics reveal a postcolonial or post-imperial land dispossession, on the one hand, and decolonial struggles the Oromo launched against the violent Ethiopian state, on the other hand.