Teferra Mekonnen was a distinguished pianist; melody composer, arranger, music instructor and band leader. Teferra was the first of 4 sons born to Mekonnen Tekle and Atsede Woldeyes in a small locality called Lemmen Selassie in Ethiopia's Selale region. He attended the traditional church school, including singing for the church as a deacon, prior to moving to the capital Addis Ababa in pursuit of further education. He started evening classes at the American Institute, a school founded by African-American philanthropists under the patronage of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I. Simultaneously,he was hired by the Imperial Body Guard Musical Department(Kibur Zenegna), known to be home Ethiopia's prominent musicians, arrangers, composers and singers. This was the time young Teferra was further motivated to pursue his passion for music. The presence of foreign music instructors paved the way for young Ethiopians to get formal music education. Teferra was first tranined to play the contrabass (double bass) by Russian instructor Alexander Kontorowicz. This was followed by an intensive classical piano and music theory training by Austrian Professor Franz Zelwecker, which enabled him to became one of Ethiopia's prominent pianists.