After months of intense diplomatic maneuvering, the leaders of Africa’s newly independent nations agreed to convene their first continental summit in Addis Ababa in May 1963—a gathering that would give birth to the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the forerunner of today’s African Union (AU). Once the decision was made, Ethiopia moved swiftly, organizing extensive arrangements for security, transportation, and accommodations to welcome the continent’s heads of state.

In keeping with the significance of the occasion, a musical celebration was staged by the Haile Selassie First Theatre. The responsibility for crafting the musical program fell to the renowned Armenian composer and bandleader Nerses Nalbandian—the nephew of Kevork Nalbandian, leader of Ethiopia’s first official orchestra—who composed the song “Africa, Africa” specifically for the historic convening.

Nerses began the preparations by bringing in the Armenian church choir, training and rehearsing them for the occasion. However, criticism soon appeared in the newspapers, claiming that the Armenians had not mastered Amharic well enough to sing the anthem. This posed no obstacle for him, and he soon started working with the Haile Selassie Theatre music troupe instead, as the late veteran stage personality, producer, and lyricist Getachew Debalke recounted on Ethiopian Television several years ago.

Yet the criticisms continued. “How could a foreigner lead the band on stage to present the new anthem of Africa?” some protested. As a compromise, organizers decided that Nalbandian would remain backstage, behind a curtain, while an Ethiopian conductor, Tefera Abunewold, appeared onstage to lead the band. From his hidden position, Nerses directed an offstage orchestra to guide the visible conductor. As Getachew Debalke observed, this episode remains a regrettable moment—far from the more celebrated chapters of our history—though one hopes that Nalbandian’s contributions to Ethiopian music are not remembered solely through this incident.

Many historians and scholars of modern Ethiopian music have documented Nerses Nalbandian’s influence. Tesfaye Lemma—director of Orchestra Ethiopia in the 1970s and 80s, and later founder of the Center for Ethiopian Arts and Culture during his exile—acknowledged Nalbandian’s vital role in directing, composing, and teaching at the Haile Selassie I Theatre, the Addis Ababa University Cultural Center Glee Club, the Yared Music School, and other institutions in his book The History of Ethiopian Music from 1889–1983. Francis Falceto, in Abyssinie Swing: A Pictorial History of Modern Ethiopian Music, and Kay Kaufman Shelemay, in Sing and Sing On, likewise highlight Nalbandian’s contributions. They recount how the young musician, originally from Aintab in the Ottoman Empire, arrived in Ethiopia in 1937, composed more than fifty Ethiopian songs, and wrote the music-driven play Gebre-Maryam the Gondare (1933–1934). Their work collectively underscores how Nalbandian went on to play a pivotal role in the development of Ethiopian theatre and modern Ethiopian music. Boris Adjemian, in his seminal book La fanfare du Négus, also details how Nerses Nalbandian became head of the municipal orchestra in 1946, laying the groundwork for the Haile Selassie I Theatre under the Austrian director Franz Zelwecker from 1955 onward. Adjemian notes that Nalbandian went on to contribute to the creation of nearly every major institutional band in Ethiopia, including the Municipality Police Orchestra, the Imperial Bodyguard Band, the Army Band, and the Yared Music School. It was with the Haile Selassie Theatre—today the National Theatre—that Nalbandian most fully demonstrated his artistic range and leadership, a legacy he continued to develop until his death in 1977.

A new Éthiopiques volume, expected on December 5, 2025, is devoted to this Armenian-born composer. Since 1998, the Éthiopiques compilation—a series from the Buda Musique label—has brought international recognition to major Ethiopian artists, with curator Francis Falceto producing thirty-one volumes to date. The latest installment, Nalbandian the Ethiopian (Either/Orchestra), revives Nerses Nalbandian’s legacy, recorded live by Either/Orchestra. The project began in 2004, when the band performed in Ethiopia. Impressed by their interpretation, Nalbandian’s children joined forces with Falceto to pursue a revival of Nerses’s music. Bandleader Russ Gershon meticulously reconstructed and rearranged the compositions from original scores and recordings, and the group returned to Addis Ababa in 2011 to perform the works alongside Ethiopian guest musicians.

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