@travelwithmelaku: 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐈 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐈𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚 I still remember the first time I heard Dawit Mekonen It wasn’t on a phone. It wasn’t on YouTube. It wasn’t through headphones. It was on a radio. I remember my father buying a radio and bringing it home. That evening, as we sat at home, the radio came alive… And then I heard “An Dhufeen Jira” by Dawit Mekonen. I was just a child. I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t know what that song would mean to me. I didn’t know that one day, decades later, I would still remember that exact moment. But something about his voice touched me. I wanted to hear more. And then I became addicted to his songs. His music slowly became part of my childhood. His voice became one of those sounds that you don’t simply hear, but somehow grow up with. Years passed. I grew older. Life changed. The little radio became a memory. But Dawit Mekonen’s voice remained. And then something happened that I could never have imagined when I was that little boy listening to him on my father’s radio. I finally saw him live. On the eve of Irreecha, I stood among the people and watched Dawit Mekonen perform in front of us. The man whose voice I had first discovered as a child through an old radio was now standing right there, in front of my eyes. And there was something even more special about that moment. After 27 years away from Ethiopia, Dawit Mekonen had returned home. And somehow, I was there to witness his return through music. But there was another first hidden inside that night. It was also my first time attending Irreecha. So my first Irreecha became connected forever with the return of the voice that had accompanied my childhood. Think about that… A little boy once sat at home listening to “An Dhufeen Jira” from his father’s radio. Years later, that same boy became a grown man, stood among thousands of people, celebrated Irreecha for the first time, and watched the very same singer perform live after 27 years away from home. Life sometimes writes stories for us that we could never write ourselves. That night wasn’t just a concert for me. It wasn’t just my first Irreecha. It was a meeting between my childhood and my present. The radio was gone. The little boy was gone. But the song was still there. And so was the voice. Dawit Mekonen, you may never know what your music meant to that little boy listening to you on his father’s radio. But I know. You became part of my childhood. And decades later, I finally got to see the voice behind those memories with my own eyes. From my father’s radio… To my first Irreecha… To seeing you live after 27 years back home. What a beautiful full circle. Some singers make music. Some singers make memories. And some singers become part of your life story. Dawit Mekonen will always be one of the voices of my childhood. And whenever I hear “An Dhufeen Jira,” I don’t just hear a song. I hear my father’s radio. I hear my childhood. I hear home. ❤️ #DawitMekonen #Irreecha #OromoMusic #EthiopianMusic #AnDhufeenJira