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History and ministry
Najo (Qubee: Najjoo) aka Nejo is located in West Wollega Zone.
Rev. Martin (1898-1976) and Ingeborg (1898-1985) Nordfeldt were working as SEM missionaries in Nekemte and Nejo (about 100 km west of Nekemte) from 1924 to 1936.
1935: revised edition of Onesimos’ hymn book (inluding part of the liturgy since many churchgoers didn’t understand enough Amharic that time.
Revival during the Italian occupation (1935 – 1941/42).
SEM ran two pastoral training courses at Najjoo: 1949-1952 and 1955-1958 (instructors: Lundgren, Arén, Stjärne, et al.); see Magarsaa G., p. 24f
Other missionaries stationed at Najo who might have been interested in church music:
- Rev. Eskil Forslund (SEM; until 1969)
- Rev. Michael Schultheiß (GHM; 1990s)
Information about remarkable choir(s) still missing.
Unpublished songs
» Open manuscript with 7 songs of Najo Mekane Yesus Choir
Pictures
For further study
Arén, Gustav (1999). Envoys of the Gospel in Ethiopia: In the Steps of the Evangelical Pioneers (Studia Missionalia Upsaliensia 75). Stockholm: EFS förlaget; Addis Ababa: [Ethiopian] Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus. (On the beginnings see p. 328-35).
Nordfeldt, Manfred (1934). Med vägröjare i Gallaland. Stockholm: EFS. [152 pp.; mostly about the pioneer time in 1927]
Nilsson, Marianne (forthcoming). “Spreading the Gospel in Vernacular: Hymn Translation, Composition and Circulation in Eritrea and Ethiopia”, in book on Ethiopian Gospel Music (working title).
Online resource on local history
“Nejo“, in: Local History of Ethiopia, compiled by Bernhard Lindahl, 2005 (published on the website of The Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala)