Compassion in Modernity

The organisers were confident that by inviting some of the best-known musicians in Ethiopia to collaborate for this song, they were guaranteed to produce a song that would reach a large audience given the fan base that each artist has acquired in his/her career. The song, which is called Compassion in Modernity, was composed by Ethiopian poet, Nebiy Mekonnen, who was also responsible for the music video. Produced by Assafa Gosaye of Admass Advertising, the musicians involved included Gosaye Tesfye, Tadele Roba, Michael Belayneh, Haile Tadesse, Tsednya Gebre Markos, Abdu Kiyar, Birhanu Tezera, and Abinet Agonfir. The song is currently being broadcast on television and radio across Ethiopia.

According to the organisers, since “people love these singers and respect them and the message is not so direct or aggressive… the song will mobilise.” The song does not explicitly mention HIV/AIDS in the lyrics, however, there is an emphasis on the importance of mutual care and respect. “The tone is very passionate and people will sing along with it naturally and then react accordingly…It works because it doesn’t say let's fight AIDS but rather sends the message in a poetic way.”

HIV/AIDS, Youth

The song is part of FHI’s campaign, thematised as “Let’s talk about what we do and do what we talk about” (Amharic translation). It is focused on Ethiopia’s highest risk-groups for transmission of HIV/AIDS, namely out-of-school youth, sex workers and taxi drivers. Thus, organisers believed that the best communication strategy for reaching these target groups was to use music, supplemented by a music video, which are forms of audio/visual media that are likely to play a substantial role in the daily lives of such target groups.