Tamagne Beyene (

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

: ታማኝ በየነ) is an Ethiopian human rights activist, former actor, comedian and media personality. Born in

Gondar Gondar, also spelled Gonder (Amharic: ጎንደር, ''Gonder'' or ''Gondär''; formerly , ''Gʷandar'' or ''Gʷender''), is a city and woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Lake Tana on ...

, Tamagne was recruited to the Gondar Traditional Group in 1981. He soon joined the

Ethiopian National Theatre The Ethiopian National Theatre (Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ብሄራዊ ቲያትር) is a national theatre in central Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Formerly known as Haile Selassie I Theater, it was initially built by Italians during its occupation o ...

in 1983, performing as comedian, actor, singer, drummer and saxophonist. During the

Tigray People's Liberation Front The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF; ), also known as the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing Ethnic nationalism, ethnic nationalist, paramilitary group, and the former ruling party of Ethiopia. It was classified as a ter ...

regime, Tamagne exiled to the United States in 1996 and worked as activist against the authoritarian government. Tamagne finally returned to Ethiopia by the call of Prime Minister

Abiy Ahmed Abiy Ahmed Ali (; ; born 15 August 1976) is an Ethiopian politician who is the current Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 2018 and the leader of the Prosperity Party since 2019. He rose through the ranks of government via the Information Networ ...

in September 2018.

Life and career

Tamagne Beyene was born

Chilga Chilga (Amharic language, Amharic: ጭልጋ ''č̣ilgā'') also Chelga, Ch'ilga is a Districts of Ethiopia, woreda in Amhara Region, Ethiopia. It is named after its chief town Chilga (also known as Ayikel), an important stopping point on the hist ...

, a small town in

. At his young age, he established a Children's Musical Group, and was later recruited to the Gondar Traditional Group in 1981. As his enthusiasm at arts and theatre influenced gradually, he was recruited by the National Theatre in 1983. Since then, he served in the National Theatre in various aspects. Tamagne played a mult-facet professions in the theater: comedian, singer, drummer and saxophonist. After the

(TPLF) came to power in 1991, he chose exile in Washington D.C. in 1996. He opposed the authoritarian TPLF regime and its ethnocentric policies and he was under political persecution, which made him a political activist. When

came to power in April 2018, he called the opposition groups of the former ruling party, the

Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF; ) was an ethnic federalist political coalition in Ethiopia that existed from 1989 to 2019. It consisted of four political parties: Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), Amhara ...

(EPRDF), including Tamagne, to return in Ethiopia. On 1 September 2018, Tamagne returned to

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

after spending 27 years in the United States. He was welcomed by government officials of Ministry of Industry

Ambachew Mekonnen Ambachew Mekonnen (; – 22 June 2019) was an Ethiopian politician and economist who served as the president of the Amhara Region of Ethiopia from March 2019 until his assassination in a coup attempt on June 22, 2019. Life Ambachew Mekonnen ...

and Mayor of Addis Ababa

Takele Uma Banti Takele Uma Banti ( Oromo: ''Takala Umaa Bantii'') is an Ethiopian politician who is the CEO of Ethio-Djibouti Railways since 2024. He was the Minister of Mines and Petroleum from 2020 to 2023. He was Mayor of Addis Ababa from 2018 to 2020. Ea ...

References

{{Reflist Ethiopian human rights activists 20th-century Ethiopian actors 20th-century Ethiopian male actors Ethiopian comedians People from Gondar Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Chilga Ethiopian male actors Ethiopian actors