Ethiopia’s prime minister has warned that a new version of Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? could do more harm than good – after Ed Sheeran and other critics laid into the charity single.
Abiy Ahmed has intervened in the controversy over the 40th anniversary rerelease of the track which its co-writer Bob Geldof has been forced to defend.
The song, which first topped the charts in 1984, has been accused of fuelling ‘pity rather than partnership’ while promoting harmful stereotypes about Africa.
Sheeran revealed last week his unhappiness about his vocals being used in a new rerecording which is being officially released this week.
He said he would have ‘respectfully declined’ permission for re-use of his contribution to the 30th anniversary production from 2014 – while other critics have included Lily Allen and Damon Albarn.
And now his stance appears to have been backed by Mr Ahmed, who was elected as Ethiopia’s PM in 2018 and won the Nobel Peace Prize the following year.
It was the devastating famine in Ethiopia which inspired Geldof to launch Band Aid in 1984, writing Do They Know It’s Christmas? alongside Ultravox frontman Midge Ure and then organising the fundraising Live Aid concerts staged in July 1985.
But the country’s leader has condemned the anniversary rerelease for focusing memories again on Ethiopia’s dark days when more than 1million people starved.
Mr Ahmed told the Times: ‘It is frustrating to see our nation’s ancient history, culture, diversity and beauty reduced to doom and gloom.’
He accepted that the original 1984 single was ‘well meaning at the time’ but blamed it for perpetuating what he called ‘reductionist and dehumanising narratives’.
Mr Ahmed added: ‘I would say that their humanitarian commitment is admirable and to be appreciated but a good cause that has not evolved with the times might end up doing more harm than good.’
He called for Ethiopia to be celebrated instead as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, a popular traveller destination for its ancient sites and home to Africa’s largest hydropower project.
He said: ‘The song is not a great soundtrack for the investment we need. Famine does not define who we are as a nation or a continent.
‘Even England has experienced a period of famine in its history.’
Sheeran revealed how his concerns about the song followed points made by his friend Fuse ODG, a London-born Ghanaian-English rapper.
Fuse ODG – real name Nana Richard Abiona – spoke out last week, as he released a response called We Know It’s Christmas and urged the BBC not to promote the song.
He told ITV‘s Good Morning Britain that treating the 1984 famine in Ethiopia – which originally inspired Band Aid – as an Africa-wide issue would be similar to labelling all of Europe ‘war-stricken’ due to the conflict in Ukraine.
It comes after Sheeran revealed he would have ‘respectfully declined’ permission for use of his vocals on the charity hit, while other critics have included Lily Allen and Damon Albarn.
Sheeran, 33, originally featured on the 2014 version of the track alongside the likes of Sting and Harry Styles which aimed to raise money for the Ebola relief efforts.
Yet before today’s unveiling of the 2024 Ultimate Mix of the song, he told how he would have denied permission for his voice in the new version had he been asked.
Taking to his Instagram stories on Sunday last week, Sheeran posted: ‘My approval wasn’t sought on this new Band Aid 40 release and had I had the choice I would have respectfully declined the use of my vocals.
‘A decade on and my understanding of the narrative associated with this has changed, eloquently explained by @fuseodg. This is just my personal stance, I’m hoping it’s a forward-looking one. Love to all x.’
Fuse ODG himself rejected an offer to take part in the 2014 version of Do They Know It’s Christmas? on which Sheeran featured.
The rapper wrote on his Facebook page last week: ‘Ten years ago today, I said NO to Bob Geldof’s Band Aid – Do They Know It’s Christmas project due to the fact it’s a campaign that dehumanises Africans and destroys our pride and identity in the name of ‘charity’.
‘He has decided to release another version, which demonstrates how much he still has not learned from the points I made clear to him on the negative impact of his project on Africa and its diaspora.
‘The white saviour complex is an incredibly dangerous thing which is now playing out on an individual and corporate level.
‘African problems should be solved by Africans. We welcome anyone genuinely trying to support the continent but it needs to be a spirit of collaboration not patronisation.
‘In 2024, there is no way we’d stay quiet and allow other people to continue to tell our story.’
He also told his Facebook followers: ‘Tag @BBC to stop the release of their documentary celebrating Band Aid…’
And Fuse ODG, 35, took his arguments on to the corporation’s airwaves this morning, telling BBC Breakfast he was worried about a ‘dangerous’ identity crisis being imposed on Africa.
After footage of the original 1984 project was shown, he said: ‘It’s been touching seeing the efforts put into it initially, the British public and different celebrities coming together to support a good cause.
‘There was a crisis that needed to be attended to – I’ve no problem with that and even just watching it back, I’m getting emotional.
‘But in that act of kindness, in that process of trying to help a crisis, we created another identity crisis.
‘As a child who’s now grown up in this era of images that Band Aid and initiatives like it have put up that Africa’s a place of famine, a place of poverty, disease-filled – it took away our collective sense of pride and identity.
‘In the middle of trying to solve a temporary crisis, we’ve caused another dangerous crisis which is an identity crisis for a whole continent.
‘There’s such an imbalance in the kind of images being shown. Yes, it’s great that we’re raising money to help a crisis, it’s fantastic, but we need to be very wary about how we execute it.
‘It’s a crisis that happened in one place, but it’s being used to paint the whole continent.’
Geldof last week hit back following a critical article about Do They Know It’s Christmas? on the website The Conversation.
That piece said the lyrics of the original release ‘did not paint a full picture of the famine’ in Ethiopia in the 1980s, adding: ‘They recycled many of the old colonial tropes of Africa as a barren land requiring western salvation.
‘In this case the famine was primarily the result of mass migration and destitution caused by a war involving Ethiopia and Tigre and a near total disregard for human life by the combatants.’
The article condemned Band Aid’s influence, saying: ‘Instances of so-called ‘poverty porn’ have also become commonplace across the charity sector as organisations compete with each other for public attention.
‘This describes videos wherein the recipients of charity – against the backdrop of sad violin or piano music – are reduced to mere “victims” rather than full humans looking for agency.’
Geldof responded by writing: ‘It’s a pop song ffs.
‘There IS endemic hunger due to the unforgiving soil conditions. Water IS scarce save for a scattering of unreliable wells. Rain IS increasingly unreliable.
‘These are not ‘colonial tropes’ they are empirical facts… Climate change affects the poorest first and worst.
‘War exacerbates these conditions. Xmas IS celebrated throughout Ethiopia according to their own calendar i.e. two weeks after our holiday.
‘This little pop song has kept hundreds of thousands if not millions of people alive.
‘In fact just today Band Aid has given hundreds of thousands of pounds to help those running from the mass slaughter in Sudan and enough cash to feed a further 8,000 children in the same affected areas of Ethiopia as 1984.’
Do They Know It’s Christmas? has been recorded on three separate occasions – Band Aid (1984), Band Aid 20 (2004) and Band Aid 30 (2014).
The single originally released in 1984 topped the charts for five weeks and was that year’s Christmas number one.
It became the fastest selling single of all time in the UK, selling 1million copies in the first week alone and ultimately more than 3million overall.
It was followed by huge Live Aid star-studded concerts at Wembley Stadium in London and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadephia in July 1985.
