By 
Haacaaluu Hundeessaa was at the peak of his musical prowess when he was assassinated on June 29, 2020. With his popularity soaring and a forthcoming third studio album – Maal Mallisaa – getting its finishing touches, he was preparing for the much-anticipated release. At home, he had recently welcomed his third child with his childhood sweetheart and wife, Fantu Demissew. Everything seemed well and good for the 36-year-old singer and rights advocate.
Alas, it all came crashing down for his family and millions of adoring fans when his lifeless body was discovered on the outskirts of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa. As news of his death spread, dominating the national airwaves within hours, the enormity of the tragedy became immediately apparent.
It would be to understate the consequences of his assassination to say that it caused seismic shifts in Ethiopia’s political landscape and social fabric. His tragic murder reopened old wounds, shifted alliances, ruptured friendships, and widened political differences on Ethiopia’s future. Hundreds lost their lives in the ensuing turmoil, and authorities arrested thousands of activists and opposition supporters.
A documentary titled ‘Spear through the Heart,’ directed by Filmmaker Bruno Sorrentino, has been released to honor the towering legacy that the late musician has left behind and to look back on the painful period of reckoning since his killing. The 50-minute film premiered last month in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on August 28, 2020, with screenings in Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon.
A larger-than-life cultural icon
The opening scenes of Spear through the Heart instantly grip the audience with a rerun of local and international media broadcasts in the aftermath of Haacaaluu’s killing. The profound sense of shock, disbelief, and anger felt at the time of his death remains fresh among the Oromo at home and in the diaspora. On the topic of Haacaaluu, emotions are still raw and palpable.
The first segment attempts to capture the magnitude of this loss and the gaping hole Haacaaluu’s demise has left in the hearts and minds of his family, friends, and the Oromo nation. The most poignant of all is the footage of his widow and childhood sweetheart, Fantu, in which she recounts the enormous heartache inflicted on her and their three young children. She tries to put her feelings into words but abruptly stops, overcome with unbearable grief. It’s a harrowing watch.
The film briefly transports the audience back in time to show a clip of Haacaaluu leading a large gathering of Irreecha goers, passionately belting out a rendition of folk music after him, in what is a powerful – yet haunting – reminder of the singer’s cultural significance to his people.
Indeed, Haacaaluu was unique in his ability to uplift spirits and electrify the annual thanksgiving celebration with his musical genius and larger-than-life presence. The segment then cuts back to the present and leaves four members of the Oromo diaspora with the unenviable task of describing what Haacaaluu meant to them in just three words.
Haacaaluu was a phenomenon. It would be impossible for anyone to precisely describe his legacy in merely three words; the overriding sentiment reflected is a deep appreciation for his selfless nature, relentless pursuit of justice, fearless character, and courageous conviction to advance causes that he held dear to his heart.
A ‘knowledge portal’
Haacaaluu burst onto the music scene in 2008 at the tender age of 22. His debut album, Sanyii Mootii (Royalty), became an instant hit across the State of Oromia, and the capital, Addis Ababa (also known as Finfinne). However, his path to fame was fraught with trials and tribulations that tested his resolve.
In 2003, security forces rounded up and threw Haacaaluu and his friends in prison on suspicion of holding anti-government views and sympathizing with the opposition. He was only 17 and was kept at the notorious Karchale Ambo for the following five years. In a remarkable show of resilience, Haacaaluu turned the challenge into an opportunity – devoting his time to perfecting his musical craft, reading books, and learning about the works of dissident figures and legendary singers.
There, still, only in his teenage years, Haacaaluu wrote the lyrics and melody of nine of the 12 songs on his first album. It’s evident from the depth of his poems that his interactions with Oromo political prisoners from all walks of life, including student activists, opposition supporters, and older people, had shaped his political outlook.
“In prison, one can acquire knowledge from reading books or spending time with the wise,” Haacaaluu said in an interview later, recounting how that early adversity helped him sharpen his lyrical tools.
In the documentary, Anthropologist Bonnie Holcomb (Ph.D.) describes how those early prison encounters enabled Haacaaluu to tap into an existing corpus of knowledge and serve as a portal for the present generation to access past wisdom.
“With all of his genius, his most important gift to his own generation was to make them see, understand and feel the legacy that they had been separated from,” says Holcomb. Indeed, the intergenerational appeal of Haacaaluu’s work is rooted in his ability to lyrically interrogate present-day societal injustices by contextualizing them through relevant historical events.
Holcomb’s remarks are followed by a montage of Haacaaluu performing ‘Maasaan Gamaa’ on stage – a timeless classic first sung by a musical legend from Salaale, Wasanu Dido. In the song, Wasanu – reportedly the first Oromo performing artist to have had his music recorded more than 50 years ago – decries, in his trademark melancholic tune, the displacement, and dispossession faced by the Oromo during the feudal period of Emperor Haile Selassie.
Haacaluu’s remake, with a slight lyrical tweak, and inclusion of Maasaan Gamaa in his sophomore album, ‘Waa’ee Keenya’ or Our Predicament, made his fans appreciate present-day struggles for equality, representation, and social justice as a continuation of past forms of resistance. Haacaaluu played an instrumental role in inspiring his generation to reclaim their identity and the older generation to connect with and appreciate contemporary music.
Haacaaluu’s father, Hundessa Bonsa, was initially not too pleased with his son’s penchant for music. He, too, had a change of heart upon hearing his son’s remake of ‘Maasaan Gamaa.’ He confessed to Haacaaluu’s mother, Guddattu Hora, “Ilmi kee reefu sirbe,” meaning “I have now realized that your boy can sing.” That was all Haacaaluu needed to hear to know that he had finally managed to get his dad’s seal of approval.
Man of exceptional courage
In her ‘Letter to My Daughter,’ Maya Angelou writes, “courage is the most important of all the virtues.” If there’s one attribute that eclipses Haacaaluu’s musical talent, it’s his extraordinary courage.
Haacaaluu detested oppression more than he loved life. In his late 20s, with his music banned from public airwaves, avenues for pursuing music at home essentially closed, and he became a target of constant state surveillance; many wondered why he did not go into exile.
His response was simple: ‘namaa gamuus hin dheessani, ni wareegamu malee’ – ‘No matter how difficult our ordeals, we’d rather face them head-on and die than run away.’ It was a principle he preached in his songs and steadfastly lived by until he took his last breath.
The singer-songwriter lived in epochal times, and his decision to remain in Ethiopia was consequential. In 2014, a year after Haacee, as his fans endearingly call him, released his second album, protests erupted in his hometown of Ambo against the Addis Ababa Integrated Master Plan, which would displace the Oromo people surrounding the city from their ancestral lands, and annex adjacent towns and villages.
In 2015, just when it seemed that the nonviolent movement was losing momentum, Haacaaluu dropped his first single, ‘Maalan Jira’ – ‘what existence is mine?’ – and instantly re-galvanized the movement, which subsequently spread to all of Oromia. In 2017, he released another single, ‘Jirra’ –‘We’re here!’ when he felt he needed to boost protest morale in the face of heavy government crackdowns. Maalan Jira laid out the enormity of what was at stake, and the sequel instilled a sense of resilience in the minds of the youth.
Haacaaluu is the quintessential people’s hero whose light was extinguished in a cowardly attack at such a young age. Sorrentino’s film superbly documents Haacaaluu’s central role in the grassroots resistance against land dispossession and as a champion of economic, political, and cultural emancipation. Haacaaluu valiantly lent his voice to the disadvantaged and the powerless for as long as he lived.
One of his most awe-inspiring acts of courage was when he spoke up against state violence at a benefit concert for victims of displacement in front of shell-shocked government officials in 2017. Haacaaluu was a force of nature with the mic in his hand, and the stage was his fortress.
“He was a gift from God,” says legendary artist Ali Birra in the film marveling at the courage he displayed on that stage.
Hacee’s murder was a dagger in the heart of the Oromo nation. It’s gut-wrenching that the circumstances of his killing are still shrouded in mystery and that his family is no closer to getting justice than they were two years ago. We will always remember Haacaaluu’s courage, fearless devotion, kind heart, and prolific catalog of musical works, including his posthumously released album, ‘Maal Mallisaa.’
I hope ‘Spear through the Heart’ is the first of many future productions to explore and reveal the monumental legacy Haacaaluu has left behind.
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