Joyful boys singing Hoya Hoye: biblical, social, cultural connotations and symbolism of the Buhe celebration in Ethiopia

Timkehet Teffera

Authors

Timkehet Teffera Humboldt Universität Berlin https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2228-4281

Keywords:

Buhe, Hoya Hoye, Ethiopia

Abstract

Buhe belongs to the major religious holidays of Christian Orthodox Tewahido community of Ethiopian. It commemorates the Transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ on Mount Tabor. This article will review all imaginable aspects of buhe. Only a handful of written accounts referring to buhe are at our disposal. Selected materials, private conversations and interviews with community members have been used in this study. Besides the description, the traditional boy’s song hoya hoye, has been thoroughly discussed. The reason why boys perform this functional song is to epitomize shepherds, who played at the foot of Mount Tabor, marking the day of Jesus’ Transfiguration. Audio materials derived from recordings made during fieldworks in Ethiopia in 2005, 2006, 2015 and 2016.

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Author Biography

Timkehet Teffera, Humboldt Universität Berlin

Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Timkehet Teffera is an Ethiopian scholar who has been studying Ethnomusicology in the past 20 years at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Martin”Luther University in Halle and at the University of Vienna. She has achieved her degrees of masters (1994) and Ph.D. (1999), as well as her post doctoral studies at these universities. She has conducted academic researches in Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, Ethiopia and Uganda, with special interest in african music history in connection with the early period of the expansion of Islam (7th Century), the slave trade and current urban music styles and their context.