By Tibebeselassie Tigabu

Thewodros Mekonnen a.k.a Teddy Mak has been involved in Ethiopian music for the past three decades.

He has done timeless songs for renowned singers like Aster Aweke, Ephrem Tamiru, Kuku Sebisibe and Bezawork Asfaw. He has performed in countless concerts and still is doing music with passion.

When we talk about everlasting songs or singers there are always the persons behind who engineer the music. Teddy Mac has been the man behind those memorable songs which generations of Ethiopians cherish.

Having Composed and arranged songs for music legends such as Tilahun Gessesse and performed with international celebrities like Beyonce Knowles and Ja Rule, he is now at a stage where he feels obliged to give back to the community.

His contribution is evident in the music score he did for the popular ETV drama ‘Gemena’ which run for 52 episodes. He feels tired and blessed at the same time.

For a year, his life was caught up with Gemena drama. But now he is ready to perform again with new works from his coming album ‘time out’ and the newly released album of the renowned Fikeraddis Nekatibeb.

He arranged and composed Fikeraddis’s album, giving her a new style and flavor.
As people consider him unreachable Fikeraddis first assumed that he would not agree to do the arrangement of her music.

“People labeled her songs as being rural. When I heard her voice, I couldn’t believe it. Let me tell you something, this girl is a jewel to Ethiopia. She has a very powerful voice. So for the people who labeled her this and that, I wanted to show them how talented she is,” Teddy says.

When he did her music he made sure that it broke out of the “rural” mould and reached out to everyone.

According to Teddy, he usually arranges music in a distinct style which is in drum and base. He says he makes sure everything meshes nicely.

Fikeraddis is known for singing Gondar, Gojjam and Wollo beats. So aside to them he added house beats, funk and soul, giving her music an urban touch at the same time. The songs in the album are more of contemporary Ethiopian music.

Despite the coming of this album, and a new project for him, people are still interested very much in Gemena and he is on ETV every now and then talking about it.

Gemena was also a highlight of his career and tested his strength his strength. He says, when Gemena first came to him it was a mess as the directors used music from the archives.

“I was disappointed when I saw the drama using music from archives, so I did the music for two episodes and when I showed it to the producers, they were excited. So what I first did was create a theme. The theme was important because it captures people,” reveals Teddy.

As music is a very influential component in telling a story in a film, through his music Teddy depicted the happiness, sorrow and sad moods. Among the elements that made the drama popular for a year were his musical arrangements.

After doing the music score for a 25 episodes the producers offered to pay him a token amount of money. However, he declined the offer and decided to do it for free.

“As my father used to say you should do things for free. I did it for the people because I knew millions were watching it back then. If you are a real musician, you shouldn’t care about money all the time,” comments Teddy.

Music is a gift to Teddy and he respects, nourishes the blessings till it matures. Hence he does not perform at every occasion, nor does he do very frequent recordings.

Teddy started playing music at an early age. He was eight when he begun to play his father’s piano. His parents supported him while he was growing up and hired an Indian piano tutor to give him lessons.

He got deep into the music to the displeasure of friends of the family who considered music to be a demeaning career. So when he took up music as a serious career, make his parents, especially his father, not happy.

Teddy, however, was determined to pursue music mindful of the experiences of those countries which celebrated their musicians.

Fame came to Teddy early after he established a school band and started playing in places that many could not dream of. He started earning 700 birr for a gig while he was a teenager.

After that there was no stopping him. Teddy jammed with the legendary Bob Nesta Marley until he fled from Ethiopia at the time of the Derg regime.

He did not face the same hardship up in the US like many other Ethiopians who fled there did passing through asylum process. While hw as in the US he was granted a green card at a slight effort and started playing music officially.

Joining music school gave him a chance to explore different types of music other than the Ethiopian genere he was experienced with. It was a bit challenging to play the piano.

He did songs starting from Aster’s Sebebu, Segno and Ebo albums, to the lake king of Ethiopian music, Tilahun Gessesse.

Teddy mastered different types of music in a short while and his professor assured him that he was a performer. So he went out to perform. He also arranged his own music and started the journey to musical success.

The musician moved back to Addis Ababa five years ago up on an invitation to play at the Sheraton Addis and was able to show what he was made of. His performance was not only appreciated by his fans but also by his late father.

Teddy’s arrangement and song with Charlie Mack and Poppa Smith entitled ‘The Countdown to the Millennium’ introduced him to the people who did not have the chance to see him behind the stage.

The musician lives in the moment and when he does it he doesn’t waste a minutes, he just does what he believes is right.

One of the musical pieces he did while in the USA is a dedicated to the then President Bill Clinton.

Listening to Clinton’s saxophone performance over the radio, Teddy was inspired to make music. He then sent it to the White House addressed to President Bill Clinton. After he came back to Addis Ababa, he was honored to have Clinton’s acquaintance.

Teddy does not glorify the past. He is always in a constant motion doing his music, creating new tunes, performing everyday.

It is common to hear people glorifying Ethiopian music of the bygone era tgat oresebt dat nysuc kacjs stabdards,

“There are only five or six arrangers for millions of people and it is scary. There should be thousands of us. The other thing is, people who don’t have the talents shouldn’t do music. So when you have people who arrange standard songs, fans will look twice,” states Teddy.

Teddy has plans to set a standard for the music which is played on Radio, TV and he is working on a project with ETV to create that standard.

He also believes in the transfer of knowledge to the youth. He says this will help them steer on make use of the right equipment and move Ethiopians music forward.

“There are talents out there and we should explore those talents,” he explains.

With the time little time he has, the musicians is involved in the community where he did the soundtracks for a children cartoon film and has done an album featuring which shows the different nations and nationalities of Ethiopia. he is also organizing a workshop for the youth.
He says doing music always puts him in a calm state and that work and d not even have time for rest. For him mixing up Middle East, jazz funk and soul is an escape from busy life.