said to have played a role in the development of Bahil-Zemenawi, a traditional modern genre that used previously abandoned local musical material and combined it with Western material. Oromo nationalism and music 1974-present The conflict between the Oromo people, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group, and the federal government has a complicated history. Oromos have been able to maintain their sense of autonomy partly due to cultural practices. For a long time, Oromos had to remember and interpret their cultural history orally until they developed a writing system in the 1960s. Oromos have therefore traditionally relied on music, poetry, and dance to express their culture, preserve identity, and resist Amharic cultural hegemony. Oromo music often relates stories of how the northern ethnic group resembled white colonizers who forcibly established political systems and exploited the Oromo people. Government efforts to ban Oromo people failed because Oromos did not rely on written records to preserve their heritage. Threatened by the power of Oromo music, Emperor Haile Selassie persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, or even killed musicians on suspicion that they were sympathetic to Oromo nationalist sentiments. Oromo language oppression began during the government of the Derg following Selassie's death. Teachers were prohibited from teaching Oromo, and individuals who spoke it were ridiculed for not speaking the national Amharic language. Many Oromo professionals have fled the country, including musicians who have relocated to Norway. The Biftu Oromia, a government-sponsored performance troupe that performed during the administration of Meles Zenawi, performed in traditional clothing and sang traditional songs, but this was the only group at the time allowed to perform such activities. Oromos viewed these acts as government propaganda for the Oromo People's Democratic Organization, which was largely seen as a puppet during Zenawi's regime. When the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front first came to power in 1988, one of their primary goals was to unify the country's various ethnicities as they worked towards a more democratic government. The new constitution divided the country along ethnic lines. The government gave the right for ethnic groups to secede, but they also implemented tactics to appeal to Ethiopia's diversity and promote peace, such as tapping into different cultures' traditional music. This is not the first time such an approach was taken by the government to promote national cultural unity. During the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, Selassie used Amhara and Tigray cultures to oppress other ethnic groups and ban