Balahu

Balahu was born in Etheopia in 1910, and died in 1936, executed by an Italian fire peleton.

In 1932, Balahu was dragged in chains before the Etheopian Emperor Haile Sellassie. He was amongst a captured group of bandits who were plundering villages on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. The exceptional height of Balahu caused Haile Sellassie to free him and appoint him as the 'Imperial Umbrella Carrier of the Lion of Judah'. Balahu also held the most envied post of the entire Etheopian empire, that of Drum Major of the Imperial Fanfare, which was directed by the Swiss maestro Nicode, who was also director of the musical Lyceum 'Taffari Makonnen'.

When Sellassie fled to French Somaliland as the Italian army advanced on the capital, Balahu was left behind and jailed. Rumours have spread that Balahu was placed in front of a firing squad, but these rumours have always been denied by the prison wardens of the prison where Balahu was kept.