Ali Shabbo’s Search for his Beloved

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Written by: Mohammed Ahmed (Mohammed Qophee)

Perforomed by: Ali Shabbo

Date: 1986

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Ali Shaboo lost the whereabouts of his beloved accidentally. He started to seek her through the entire Hararghe region. And finally he found her in my hometown, Galamso. Here is how he expressed the story of the search for his beloved in a beautiful song (the poem is in Afaan Oromoo. The words in parenthesis are the approximate English translations).

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Diimtuu too bareedduu tannin yaadu halkuu (My beautiful beloved the one I miss all nights)

Obsu waa hindandayuu bikka isin jirtuu (I can’t be patient of thinking her whereabouts)

Hamman deemee arku (Until I go and get her)

Teeyso isidhaa hinbeyne bikka itti argamtu (I don’t know the address where she can be found)

Mee nin iyyaafadha oliifi gadittuu (Let me move in the ups and downs to look for her)

Barbaadu waa hindhabu Hararguma haataatu (If she is in Hararge, it is likely that I can get her)

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Dirree Dhawaas bu’ee mana gaggaafadhe (I went to Dire Dawa and asked her residence)

Tanin shakke cufa suuta akheekadhe (I watched carefully the ones I suspected of her)

Dhiiroo barbaada isii oow’i waan nagodhe (But I gained nothing except the heat of the desert)  

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 Jijjiga Hindabartu kharaa Gursum khana (She might not pass Jijjiga and the way up to Gursum)

  Xuuxxisaa dhagayeetin itti-fufe amna (On that proposition I continued my journey)

Way garaa jalalaa laalaa laala gowwomina (Really love has misled me by taking me there)  

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Kharaa baddaa Khanaa hindhabamtu Laata (She might be found up in the highlands)

Je’e numan dhaqe ani Gaara Mul’ataa (Saying that I went to Gara Mul’ata and the hills)

Arkuu waa hindandeenyee waan isii fakkaataa (But never did I see the like of her)

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Oborraa fi Ciroo hunda kehysa dhaqe (I really traveled in Oborra and Ciroo)

Miilaa fi makinaan barbaadeetin dhabe (But I couldn’t get her after a search on foot and by trucks)

Argu koo waa hin oolu je’etin of sobe (I wasn’t frustrated, and I said to myself rather “I will get her”)

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Sa eedaan qalbiin tuni wahayyuma beyti (Indeed my heart knew what was going to happen)

Baddeeysa ol kunnaan khate gammachutti (When I passed Baddeessa, it (my hart) was full of delights)

Jaalalleen tiyya tun intala Habrootii (For my beloved was found to be a native of Habro)

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Jaalallen gar meeqaan barbaadaan of rakkee (My beloved whose search had caused me these troubles)

Tanin deemee dhabe baakkan itti shakkee (The one whom I couldn’t get from the places I suspected)

 Walkkaa magaalaa Galamsottiin arke (I found her in the center of Galamso town)

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Arkadhe qal’o too diimtuu too bareedduu (I got my beloved, the beautiful and the tall)

Isii barnootarra kharaa gala deemtu (When she is returning to home from school)

 Gamdeen bahaa mee ree dheebuu tootuu (Let me be happy now, let me quench my thirst in her)

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Regards to Ali Shabbo for immortalizing my hometown in his beautiful speech.

Afendi Muteki

September 14/2013

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Afendi’s Facebook page አፈንዲ ሙተቂ/Afendi Muteki- Ethnographic Researcher and Author

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