Hachalu Hundessa’s Kuullee Koo:In-depth Analysis
into the Lyrics and Wollo History
Hachalu Hundessa sits in the saddle on the back of
a horse wearing the traditional headgear of Oromo
warriors. Photo by Dagi Pictures.
Hachalu Hundessa sits in the saddle on the back of
a horse, wearing traditional headgear of Oromo
warriors. Photo by Dagi Pictures.
Hachalu Hundessa’s posthumous album, “Maal
Mallisaa”, is a versatile album that is full of
euphonious tracks for music lovers. From a
numbers and promotions standpoint, the album had
truly impressive weeks on the charts, topping many
Hollywood artists’ works that were released around
the same time. “Eessa Jirta” and “Goota Koo”
tracks from the album have become part of the
musical canon for his fans and Oromo people in
general. However, the third track in the album,
“Kuullee Koo”, is a ubiquitous song that seems to
stay relevant endlessly. Besides the musical
arrangement, structure, and stunning instrumentals
used, the song is novel in its story-telling format,
purpose, and meaning of the lyrics. The track
composition is electrifying in nature, and the lyrics
condenses stories from hundreds of years ago with
a superjacent message of love, making it
fascinating not only for music lovers, but also for
historophiles like myself.
In the song, Hachalu makes references to 19th
century stories of the Oromo people in the Wollo
region specifically. The Wollo region, located to the
eastern part of the Amhara regional state, today is
one of the culturally diverse places in Ethiopia, with
its capital city at Desse(Dessie). Yet, it is one of
the places that is historically claimed by different
ethnic groups such as the Amharas and the
Oromos. The references Hachalu makes in the
song, in return, trigger the history of the Wollo
Oromos and the political culture of Ethiopia from
hundreds of years ago. The song is generally
interesting, but it would be an even more
commendable one within the understanding of the
Wollo region and its histor

𝑾𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒊 𝒂𝒏𝒂 𝒅𝒉𝒊𝒃𝒂𝒂
𝑾𝒂𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒂
𝑾𝒂𝒂'𝒆𝒆 𝒊𝒍𝒎𝒂 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒋𝒂𝒂'𝒊𝒃𝒂𝒂

𝒀𝒐𝒐 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒂 𝒕𝒂'𝒆
𝑯𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒖𝒊 𝒃𝒂𝒓 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒂
𝑫𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂'𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒖𝒃𝒂𝒅𝒉𝒖𝒖
𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊 𝒈𝒐𝒍𝒈𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒂'𝒂𝒂.

𝑯𝒂𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒂 𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒂
𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊 𝒕𝒂'𝒆𝒆 𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒂
𝑰𝒍𝒎𝒂 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒂 𝒅𝒉𝒖𝒈𝒂𝒂
𝑴𝒆𝒆 𝒂𝒌𝒌𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒂𝒂?
𝑴𝒆𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒂𝒇 𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒌𝒂𝒂

𝑩𝒂𝒌𝒌𝒂 𝒋𝒊𝒓𝒖 𝒋𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒂
𝑩𝒂𝒓 𝒏𝒊 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒌𝒂𝒕𝒂𝒂
𝑰𝒍𝒎𝒂 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒂 𝒅𝒉𝒖𝒈𝒂𝒂
𝑴𝒆𝒆 𝒆𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊 𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒂?

𝑰𝒍𝒎𝒂 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒂 𝒕𝒂'𝒆𝒆𝒇
𝑯𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒖𝒖 𝒕𝒐𝒌𝒌𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒂'𝒖𝒖
𝑱𝒊𝒓𝒂 𝒊𝒍𝒎𝒊 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒂
𝑲𝒂𝒏 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒂𝒇 𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒖

𝑾𝒂𝒂 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒅𝒇𝒂𝒂 𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒊
𝑫𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒖𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒖𝒖
𝑭𝒖𝒖𝒍𝒂 𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒂 𝒍𝒂𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒆
𝑾𝒂𝒂 𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒖𝒃𝒃𝒊𝒇𝒕𝒖𝒖
𝑫𝒖𝒖𝒃𝒂 𝒊𝒍𝒎𝒂 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒂
𝑨𝒌𝒌𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒊𝒏𝒊 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒚𝒕𝒖𝒖?????

If you have no connections, build them.
If you have no money, work,save,invest.
If you have no friend,be better person.
If you have no talent, pratice more.
If you have no idea,walk more.
If you have no confidence,commit more
If you have no clarity,write more.

𝑰𝒇 𝑨𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒂𝒉 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆. 𝑺𝒐 𝒘𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒂 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆!!
𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒂 𝑨𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒉!!!!!!!!!!!

#IMIMMAAN....
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===========
Barreessaan Jawar Mohammed