THE FRINGE

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The early risers

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is an early-rising village of close to one million people.

I say village because it has no bylaws forbidding the keeping of poultry or livestock. Cows graze contentedly on the boulevard in front of the former palace of Haile Selassie. I say early rising because at dawn the city’s Muslims issue the first of their five daily calls to prayer.

The muezzin booms out from the mosque minaret: “God alone is great. I testify that there are no gods but God and Mohammed his Prophet. Come to prayer, come to prayer. God alone is great: there is no god but God.” Then off a mile away another muezzin takes up the chant at another mosque.

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The faithful struggle out of bed and head down to prostrate themselves in the mosque.

Some visitors get quite irritated at being disturbed this early but I found it intriguing. It wasn’t until some years later that I learned the content of the muezzin’s chant.

In Addis there was also a large group of Coptic Christians that trace their ancestry back to Ham, son of Noah. Hamitic is one of the area’s languages. In the Orthodox Christian church, paintings honor Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, to whom Ethiopians traced their kings.

In Addis you hear the muezzin, followed by the roosters crowing and the goats bleating. Then come the people getting their wares ready for what is called the biggest outdoor market in Africa.

Someone should write a symphony based on the sights and sounds of Addis Ababa.