Addis Abeba – The Hachalu Hundessa Foundation in a press release given today to the media, stated that the Hachalu Hundessa Award would be launched on June 29, 2022, in remembrance of the day he was killed.
The widow and board member of the foundation, Fantu Damiso, said, they established the foundation on June 17, 2021, in memory of Hachalu Hundessa’s vision, and one of the strategies included in such an endeavor was preparing an award ceremony tributing Hachalu and as such the foundation had been working towards this end.
The first-ever award will be centric on Afan Oromo songs for now, but it has been stated that in the future, it would expand to include other Ethiopian and African languages. In accordance with this condition, the award will feature Afan Oromo songs that were released between June 29, 2020, to March 31, 2022. The songs have been selected by experts and made available to a public vote via the website and SMS messaging.
Experts will account for 70 percent of the voting while the people will have a 30% share. This award has identified ten categories, including songs with strongly-worded messages, selected music clips, lyrics and melody, cinematography, and formidable male and female artists, old and new alike.
It was disclosed that the Hachalu Hundessa Award will be held annually on the 29th of June. The Foundation also expressed that it was employing efforts towards arranging a tournament and establishing an Arts Center named Hachalu. AS
