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While still attending high school, he performed with a local act known as the Playboys later re-named Ray and the Gladiators , the mellifluousness of his voice bringing the nickname "Sparrow". Like many of his peers, Dillon moved to Kingston towards the end of his teen years in search of work, staying first in a tiny shack in the west Kingston slum of Back-O-Wall. He travelled to Fellsmere, Florida in on a seasonal farm work contract, and after returning to Kingston in , he settled in Trench Town , lodging at the home of the aunt of popular sound system deejay King Sporty , who he knew from his days in Port Antonio.
An audition was swiftly arranged at Studio One , where the Wailers were recording some of the biggest hits of the day, which led to Dillon voicing his first material. Three songs were backed by the Wailers, including a sound system favourite called "Ice Water", based on lyrics of double entendre , while "Suffering On The Land" and "Beggars Have No Choice" were more concerned with the harshness of life in the ghetto; a fourth song, "Woman, Wine And Money", featured Delroy Wilson on harmony.
Shortly after the release of these singles, through the efforts of the Ethiopian Reorganization Centre in Waterhouse established by elders Nasser King and Daddy King , Dillon entered the Rastafari faith, which he remained committed to thereafter. Sales of the Jack Sparrow material were not particularly high, and the Wailers were focussing on their own careers. Noting that harmony groups were all the rage in Jamaica, Dillon subsequently made an exit from the Studio One stable to form a harmony group of his own with Taylor, Morrison, and a youth known as Foresight, who he encountered on the street in Waterhouse; the Ethiopian Reorganization Centre became their main rehearsal space.
Foresight dropped out early, so by the time Dillon brought the group back to Studio One, they were a trio, debating whether to call themselves the Heartaches or the Ethiopians, until Studio One founder Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd decisively stated that the latter was more distinctive, and more fitting for a group that was spiritually minded. The uncertain nature of the music business caused Morrison to then quit the group, since he had a young family to support. Undaunted by his departure, Dillon and Taylor went back to Studio One to record another half-dozen tracks, including the boastful "I'm Gonna Take Over Now", and a late-ska number called "I Am Free," which castigated an unfaithful lover.
Despite the popularity of the material, their earnings were still not sufficient for the group to concentrate on music full-time. Continuing with the masonry led Dillon to the Ethiopians' next phase, once he found a financial backer for the group in the form of real estate speculator, Leebert Robinson, who financed the self-produced single "Train to Skaville", issued in Jamaica on WIRL West Indies Records Limited.
In fact, "Train to Skaville" made such an impact overseas that it brought the Ethiopians to the UK for their very first tour in , since the song had briefly appeared in the UK Top The tour lasted 3 months in , and another 2 months in , and was arranged by Commercial Entertainment, a company established by former rock musicians Bruce White and Tony Cousins aka Anthony Bautista , who would later be involved in record production and artist management.
Back in Jamaica, Melvin Reid became a temporary member of the group for some recordings made at Federal recording studio, but the group soon reverted to a duo again. Robinson's Carib Disco company, including "Reggae Hit The Town", celebrating the electrifying new beat that was taking Jamaica by storm, and the massively successful "Engine 54" recorded at a time when Trinidadian immigrant Garnet Hargreaves was acting as manager of the group , which celebrated a defunct railway engine that used to transport city folk on countryside excursions in Jamaica.
The popularity of this track and earlier hit singles led to a debut album, Engine 54 , being issued by Doctor Bird in the UK. Cross-border trade by pastoralists is often informal and beyond state control and regulation. This trade helps lower food prices, increase food security, relieve border tensions, and promote regional integration. Furthermore, the government of Ethiopia is purportedly unhappy with lost tax revenue and foreign exchange revenues. With the private sector growing slowly, designer leather products like bags are becoming a big export business, with Taytu becoming the first luxury designer label in the country.
With the construction of various new dams and growing hydroelectric power projects around the country, Ethiopia also plans to export electric power to its neighbors. Most regard Ethiopia's large water resources and potential as its "white oil" and its coffee resources as "black gold". The country also has large mineral resources and oil potential in some of the less inhabited regions. Political instability in those regions, however, has inhibited development. Ethiopian geologists were implicated in a major gold swindle in Four chemists and geologists from the Ethiopian Geological Survey were arrested in connection with a fake gold scandal, following complaints from buyers in South Africa.
The latter polity had come into existence in when Muhammed Jasa moved his capital from Harar to Aussa Asaita with the split of the Adal Sultanate into the Sultanate of Aussa and the Sultanate of Harar. He is survived by seven children, seven grandchildren, two brothers and a sister. A member of the country's Oromo ethnic group, Ms. Together, these four groups make up about three-quarters of Ethiopia's population. Releases by The Ethiopians include: Cultural Heritage and the Church Perched in the rugged highlands on the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia retains a unique position as an ancient Christian civilization. Views Read Edit View history.
In , the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project was commenced. When completed, it will provide surplus energy in Ethiopia which will be available for export to neighboring countries. It is not clear, when this section will be built and opened. As the first part of a ten-year Road Sector Development Program, between and the Ethiopian government began a sustained effort to improve its infrastructure of roads.
Ethiopia had 58 airports as of [update] , [8] and 61 as of [update]. Ethiopian Airlines is the country's flag carrier , and is wholly owned by the Government of Ethiopia. Ethiopia's population has grown from Currently, the population growth rate is among the top ten countries in the world. The population is forecast to grow to over million by , which would be an increase from estimates by a factor of about 2. The country's population is highly diverse, containing over 80 different ethnic groups.
According to the Ethiopian national census of , the Oromo are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, at The Amhara represent Other prominent ethnic groups are as follows: Afroasiatic-speaking communities make up the majority of the population. Among these, Semitic speakers often collectively refer to themselves as the Habesha people. The largest ethnic groups among these include the Nuer and Anuak. In , Ethiopia hosted a population of refugees and asylum seekers numbering approximately , The majority of this population came from Somalia approximately 64, persons , Eritrea 41, and Sudan 25, The Ethiopian government required nearly all refugees to live in refugee camps.
Languages of Ethiopia as of [update] Census [4]. According to Ethnologue , there are 90 individual languages spoken in Ethiopia. The former includes Oromiffa , spoken by the Oromo , and Somali , spoken by the Somalis ; the latter includes Amharic , spoken by the Amhara , and Tigrinya , spoken by the Tigrayans. Together, these four groups make up about three-quarters of Ethiopia's population. Other Afroasiatic languages with a significant number of speakers include the Cushitic Sidamo , Afar , Hadiyya and Agaw languages , as well as the Semitic Gurage languages , Harari , Silt'e , and Argobba languages.
Additionally, Omotic languages are spoken by Omotic ethnic minority groups inhabiting the southern regions. Languages from the Nilo-Saharan family are also spoken by ethnic minorities concentrated in the southwestern parts of the country. English is the most widely spoken foreign language, and is the medium of instruction in secondary schools. Amharic was the language of primary school instruction, but has been replaced in many areas by regional languages such as Oromiffa, Somali or Tigrinya. In terms of writing systems , Ethiopia's principal orthography is the Ge'ez script.
Employed as an abugida for several of the country's languages, it first came into usage in the 6th and 5th centuries BC as an abjad to transcribe the Semitic Ge'ez language. During the s, the Ethiopic character set was computerized. Other writing systems have also been used over the years by different Ethiopian communities. The latter include Bakri Sapalo 's script for Oromiffa.
Religion in Ethiopia Ethiopia has close historical ties with all three of the world's major Abrahamic religions. In the 4th century, the Ethiopian empire was one of the first in the world to officially adopt Christianity as the state religion. As a result of the resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon, in the miaphysites , [] which included the vast majority of Christians in Egypt and Ethiopia, were accused of monophysitism and designated as heretics under the common name of Coptic Christianity see Oriental Orthodoxy. While no longer distinguished as a state religion, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church remains the majority Christian denomination.
There is also a substantial Muslim demographic, representing around a third of the population. Additionally, Ethiopia is the site of the First Hegira , a major emigration in Islamic history. According to the National Census, Christians make up Sunnis are largely Shafi'is or Salafis , and there are also many Sufi Muslims there. It is by far the largest Christian denomination, although a number of P'ent'ay Protestant churches have recently gained ground.
Islam in Ethiopia dates back to the founding of the religion in when a group of Muslims were counseled by Muhammad to escape persecution in Mecca. The disciples subsequently migrated to Abyssinia via modern-day Eritrea, which was at the time ruled by Ashama ibn-Abjar , a pious Christian emperor. A small ancient group of Jews , the Beta Israel , live in northwestern Ethiopia, though most immigrated to Israel in the last decades of the 20th century as part of the Israeli government's relocation missions: Operation Moses and Operation Solomon.
According to the Population and Housing Census, around 1,, people in Ethiopia are adherents of traditional religions. An additional , residents practice other creeds. Christians predominantly live in the northern Amhara and Tigray regions, and are largely members of the non-Chalcedonian Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
Muslims in Ethiopia predominantly adhere to Sunni Islam and generally inhabit eastern and northeastern areas; particularly the Somali, Afar, Dire Dawa and Harari regions. Practitioners of traditional religions mainly reside in the nation's far southwestern and western rural borderlands, in the SNNP, Benishangul-Gumuz and Gambela regions. Human rights groups have regularly accused the government of arresting activists, journalists and bloggers to stamp out dissent among some religious communities.
Lengthy prison terms were handed to 17 Muslim activists on 3 August ranging from seven to 22 years. They were charged with trying to create an Islamic state in the majority Christian country. All the defendants denied the charges and claimed that they were merely protesting in defence of their rights. Population growth, migration, and urbanization are all straining both governments' and ecosystems' capacity to provide people with basic services. First, in — during the Italian occupation of Mussolini's fascist regime, and from to when the populations of urban centers tripled.
In , Italy annexed Ethiopia, building infrastructure to connect major cities, and a dam providing power and water. The second period of growth was from to when rural populations migrated to urban centers seeking work and better living conditions. This pattern slowed due to the Land Reform program instituted by the government, which provided incentives for people to stay in rural areas.
As people moved from rural areas to the cities, there were fewer people to grow food for the population. The Land Reform Act was meant to increase agriculture since food production was not keeping up with population growth over the period of — This program proliferated the formation of peasant associations, large villages based on agriculture.
The act did lead to an increase in food production, although there is debate over the cause; it may be related to weather conditions more than the reform act. Migration to urban areas is usually motivated by the hope of better lives. In peasant associations daily life is a struggle to survive. The peasant associations face a cycle of poverty.
Since the landholdings are so small, farmers cannot allow the land to lie fallow, which reduces soil fertility. These unhealthy farmers have difficulty working the land and the productivity drops further. Although conditions are drastically better in cities, all of Ethiopia suffers from poverty and poor sanitation.
Notably, government-built condominium housing complexes have sprung up throughout the city, benefiting close to , individuals. This contributes to the spread of illness through unhealthy water. Despite the living conditions in the cities, the people of Addis Ababa are much better off than people living in the peasant associations owing to their educational opportunities. Many NGOs Non-Governmental Organizations are working to solve this problem; however, most are far apart, uncoordinated, and working in isolation.
The World Health Organization 's World Health Report gives a figure of 1, physicians for , [] which comes to about 2. Globalization is said to affect the country, with many educated professionals leaving Ethiopia for better economic opportunities in the West.
Ethiopia's main health problems are said to be communicable contagious diseases worsened by poor sanitation and malnutrition. Over 44 million people more than half the population do not have access to clean water. The state of public health is considerably better in the cities. Birth rates , infant mortality rates , and death rates are lower in cities than in rural areas due to better access to education, medicines, and hospitals.
There are hospitals 12 in Addis Ababa alone and health centers in Ethiopia. The government of Ethiopia and many private organizations like World Health Organization WHO , and the United Nations, are launching campaigns and are working aggressively to improve Ethiopia's health conditions and promote health awareness on AIDS and other communicable diseases Dugassa, Ethiopia has a relatively high infant and maternal mortality rate.
Although, Ethiopia did not meet the MDG target of reducing maternal mortality rate by two thirds in , there are improvements nonetheless. For instance, the contraception prevalence rate increased from 8. Currently, the maternal mortality rate stands at per , live births.
Those who are expected to give birth at home have elderly women serve as midwives who assist with the delivery Kater, The "WHO estimates that a majority of maternal fatalities and disabilities could be prevented if deliveries were to take place at well-equipped health centers, with adequately trained staff" Dorman et al. The low availability of health-care professionals with modern medical training, together with lack of funds for medical services, leads to the preponderance of less-reliable traditional healers that use home-based therapies to heal common ailments.
One common cultural practice, irrespective of religion or economic status, is female genital mutilation FGM , also known as female genital cutting FGC , a procedure that involves partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The country has a high prevalence of FGM, but prevalence is lower among young girls. The Government of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia is signatory to various international conventions and treaties that protect the rights of women and children.
Its constitution provides for the fundamental rights and freedoms for women. There is an attempt being made to raise the social and economic status of women through eliminating all legal and customary practices, which hinder women's equal participation in society and undermine their social status.
Education in Ethiopia was dominated by the Tewahedo Church for many centuries until secular education was adopted in the early s. The current system follows school expansion schemes which are very similar to the system in the rural areas during the s, with an addition of deeper regionalization, providing rural education in students' own languages starting at the elementary level, and with more budget finances allocated to the education sector. The sequence of general education in Ethiopia is six years of primary school, four years of lower secondary school and two years of higher secondary school.
Access to education in Ethiopia has improved significantly. The literacy rate has increased in recent years: The same report also indicated that the female literacy rate has increased from 27 to 39 percent from to , and the male literacy rate has increased from 49 to 59 percent over the same period for persons 10 years and older. Ethiopians have a different naming system to the family name -based Western system. Children add the given names of their father and paternal grandfather consecutively to their own given name.
For compatibility purposes, as is done in passports, the grandfather's given name is taken as a family surname , and a person's given name and their father's given name form the first name. Everyone is addressed by their given name. Ethiopia has several local calendars. The most widely known is the Ethiopian calendar , also known as the Ge'ez calendar.
It is based on the older Alexandrian or Coptic calendar , which in turn derives from the Egyptian calendar. Like the Coptic calendar, the Ethiopian calendar has twelve months of exactly 30 days each plus five or six epagomenal days, which comprise a thirteenth month. The Ethiopian months begin on the same days as those of the Coptic calendar, but their names are in Ge'ez. Like the Julian calendar , the sixth epagomenal day—which in essence is a leap day —is added every four years without exception on 29 August of the Julian calendar, six months before the Julian leap day. Also, a seven- to eight-year gap between the Ethiopian and Gregorian calendars results from an alternate calculation in determining the date of the Annunciation of Jesus.
Another prominent calendrical system was developed around BC by the Oromo. A lunar-stellar calendar, this Oromo calendar relies on astronomical observations of the moon in conjunction with seven particular stars or constellations. Time in Ethiopia is counted differently from in many Western countries. The Ethiopian day is reckoned as beginning at 6 AM as opposed to 12 AM, concurrently with sunrise throughout the year. To convert between the Ethiopian clock and Western clocks, one must add or subtract 6 hours to the Western time. The best-known Ethiopian cuisine consists of various types of thick meat stews , known as wat in Ethiopian culture, and vegetable side dishes served atop injera , a large sourdough flatbread made of teff flour.
Almost universally in Ethiopia, it is common to eat from the same dish in the center of the table with a group of people. It is also a common custom to feed others in your group with your own hands—a tradition referred to as " gursha ". Chechebsa , marqa , chukko , michirra and dhanga are the most popular dishes from the Oromo. Kitfo , which originated among the Gurage , is one of the country's most popular delicacies. In addition, Doro wot is another popular food, originated from the Amhara people of northwestern Ethiopia.
It originated in the Tigray Region , and is now very popular in Amhara and spreading further south. Other television stations in the country include Kana TV. The sole internet service provider is the national telecommunications firm Ethio Telecom. A large portion of users in the country access the internet through mobile devices.
In August , following protest and demonstration in the Oromia Region, all access to the internet was shut down for a period of two days. Although the reason for the restriction was not confirm by the government, [] the move was similar to a measure taken during the same period in , after a leak of test questions. The music of Ethiopia is extremely diverse, with each of the country's 80 ethnic groups being associated with unique sounds. Ethiopian music uses a distinct modal system that is pentatonic , with characteristically long intervals between some notes.
As with many other aspects of Ethiopian culture and tradition, tastes in music and lyrics are strongly linked with those in neighboring Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, and Sudan. Traditionally, lyricism in Ethiopian song writing is strongly associated with views of patriotism or national pride, romance, friendship, and a most unique type of memoire known as 'Tizita'.
The main sports in Ethiopia are track and field particularly long distance running and football. Ethiopian athletes have won many Olympic gold medals in track and field, most of them in long distance running. Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba are also dominant runners, particularly in the 5, and 10, meters in which they hold the world records.
As of [update] going into , the current national Ethiopian football team Walayia Antelopes has made itself history by qualifying for the African Cup of Nations CAF and more recently by reaching the last 10 African football teams in the last stage of qualification for the FIFA World Cup. Noted players include captain Adane Girma and top scorer Saladin Said. Ethiopia has Sub-Saharan Africa's longest basketball tradition as it established a national basketball team in From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the country and "Ethiopian" redirects here. For other uses, see Ethiopia disambiguation and Ethiopian disambiguation. This article contains several patronymic names rather than family names. These persons are addressed by their given name , and not by their inherited name. Migration to Abyssinia , List of expeditions of Muhammad , and Hegira. Zagwe dynasty and Ethiopian Empire.
Sultanate of Aussa and Mudaito Dynasty. Eritrean independence referendum, Human rights in Ethiopia. Environmental issues in Ethiopia. Foreign aid to Ethiopia. Energy in Ethiopia and List of power stations in Ethiopia. Coffee production in Ethiopia. People of Ethiopia and List of ethnic groups in Ethiopia. Ethnic groups in Ethiopia Ethnic group Population Oromo.
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