Here's a Gurage folk song to ponder while I gather together a few more essentials:

Chaha, Gurage Country, Ethiopia
Chant transcribed by Dr. Wolf Leslau, 1950
Re-edited by Charlie Ipcar


Raise your eyes and look to the mountains of Daquna!
Brave boys there were, and they were well made,
Like Odja and Agbe and Shorato,
Shafir Fuga and Tidjato,
Like Imam Sidi and Debrato,
Like Oga Abana and Qurato,
All these brave boys -- where have they gone?
They were made an end of and have died.
What hand of theirs has one dared to give to the hyenas?
O death! Let what you have killed be enough!
O hyenas! Let what you have eaten be enough!
What have the mountains of Daquna not seen?
All day the drums, the war cries, and the rife-fire was heard.
What courageous men have been seen on the mountains of Daquna!

Notes from William Shack, 1966:

After the armies of Menelik II conquered the Gurage country, there was no peace for the military colonies established in that country. The heroic fighting of the Chaha Gurage at Daquna is still recounted in folk songs chanted during festivals

See, this thread really does belong above the line. One of the photos on my website shows the hills of Daquna rising above the lower plateau.

Besalam,
Charley Noble