A biographic documentary of Negadras Tessema Eshete by EBS TV
Tessema Eshete (27 July 1876 to 13 October 1964) was born in Minjar, Ethiopia, to his mother Woleteyes Habtu and his father Eshete Gube.
In the year 1908, Emperor Menelik selected Tessema and sent to Germany with German concessionaire Arnold Holtz to be trained as the first Ethiopian Automobile driver/auto mechanic. This was to be a life-changing mission for him. He accomplished his training, and also recorded Ethiopia’s music on double-sided shellack disks. A not so wealthy young man when he departed, Eshete became one of the richest Ethiopians on his return to the country. Beka Records Berlin paid 17,000 Gold Marks Tessema and also earned continuous income from the sale of his disks reproduced by HMV Germany in 1912, Odeon Germany in 1931 and Odeon Milan during the brief Italian occupation of Ethiopia 1935-1941.
Tessema was a jack of all trades. He was a poet, a wit, a painter, a sculptor, political appointee, explorer, developer, and an accomplished photographer.
His son Ato Yidnekachew Tessema (1921-1987) became the father of sport in Africa and wrote a biography of his father.
