Ethiopian Music

This article discusses the practice of singing in private among the Amhara peasants of Goğğam, in Ethiopia. It investigates what happens in the interstices of social life, when parties and commemorations are over and individuals find themselves alone: what do they sing, why and what is the enunciative status of these performances without audience? The analysis of discourses and sung poems is combined with an ethnography of privacy to uncover what position these songs occupy in the musical world of the Amhara. As imagined as constantly reinterpreted dialogues, they only exist with reference to a social world solitude cannot help escape.

Qenet (ቅኝት) is the name for the pentatonic scales and modes utilised in Ethiopian music. The following document outlines some of the more common qenet and variations. Typically these scales are placed into four main categories, Anchi Hoye (አንቺ ሆዬ), Bati (ባቲ), Ambessel (አምባሰል) and Tezita (ትዝታ). The qenet here are notated off a C tonic and the notation is accompanied with scale degree numbers.

This is an unpublished thesis written in 2016 to complete the requirements for a Bachelor of Music (Honours) at Southern Cross University, Lismore, Australia. This thesis received the mark of First Class Honours.

Abstract:

All musical styles are hybrids. They can be seen as a product of the confluence of cultural groups and historical events. Recently, there has been a rise in the popularity of Ethiopian music in the Western world, particularly of the contemporary style known as  Ethio-jazz. Ethio-jazz emerged in in Addis Ababa in the 1960s and ‘70s and is a hybrid of traditional Ethiopian musical elements fused with African American jazz, soul and funk. One of the important works of Ethio-jazz is Mulatu Astatke’s 1974 LP entitled  Yekatit Ethio Jazz. As Ethio-jazz is a hybrid style, this thesis aims to identify the cultural origins of individual musical elements that are found on the record Yekatit Ethio Jazz. In addition to this it will discuss how specific historical and cultural aspects made an impact on the music composition process and the subsequent commercial success of this particular album release. This research will be conducted by employing specific methodologies across the chapters of this thesis. The first method employed is the reviewing of literature and musical sources that are currently available on this topic and related subject matter. This is followed by a historical and cultural study and an analysis of Yekatit Ethio Jazz through transcription of the recorded material and analysing musical elements found within the music. Finally an interview with Mulatu Astatke is conducted and analysed in order to address, confirm and elaborate on previous finding in the thesis.

Key words:  Ethnomusicology, musical analysis, hybridity, music theory, Ethio-jazz, Mulatu Astatke.

Meskel is an annual celebration with spiritual grounds held in the 17thof September of each year by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and its followers. For centuries the day has been celebrated and has come to be one of the
fundamental holidays of the nation’s calendar.

The gigantic and sumptuous Holy Trinity cathedral is Ethiopia's second-most important place of worship. It's also the burial place of the great Emperor Haile Selassie and his wife. Their huge granite tombs complete with lions' feet has much to do with the old Axumite construction styles. Such a place is, in fact, worth-seeing.

Since the 1960's, a kind of musicological gospel claims that Amhara secular music is based,
supposedly from time immemorial, on a so-called closed system of four pentatonic modes or
q!ñ!t called ambasäl (አምባሰል), anči hoye (አንቺ ሆዬ), bati (ባቲ) and t!z!ta (ትዝታ), usually
presented as a set of tempered or quasi-tempered intervals such as major and minor seconds
and thirds. It is presented as an established, accepted and reliable norm, in scholarly as well
as in general publications. Today urbanized azmaris (the wandering minstrels of the Amhara
and Christian highlands) present it as the basic of traditional music – whereas azmaris of the
deep countryside have simply no knowledge about it. This study aimed to re-explore in detail
the Amhara secular scales, and to tackle in depth q!ñ!t historicity and its musicological
relevance. To this end, a corpus of recordings dating back to 1939 have been analyzed and
confronted with written sources. A control methodology was developed, in order to verify
incoherent results due to age and quality of some of the recordings. A comparison with the
intervals measured in songs recorded in 1976 (by Cynthia Tse Kimberlin) and 2005 (by
Stéphanie Weisser) was completed, covering therefore a period of about 70 years.
Keywords: Ethiopia, q!ñ!t, tuning, scale, intervals, historicity, music

Songs that evoke memories and nostalgia hold a significant place in the music culture of the Amhara of central and northern Ethiopia. Their styles, forms and lyrics, vary greatly. This paper will exclusively deal with a song entitled təzətā meaning ‘nostalgia’, a song known for strongly moving listener’s feelings. Even though the root of təzətā is the Amhara music culture and region, a large group of Ethiopians identify themselves with this song . Named after and set in one of the widely used Amhara traditional qəñətoč (modes/scales), təzətā is a highly popular folk song. Ever since təžətā’s creation, it has been sung by a number of Ethiopian artists in different versions and musical arrangements.
My examination attempts to draw a particular attention to the təzətā song, to introduce and discuss it from various perspectives, in a bid to create a deeper understanding. The study is, primarily based on personal or “lived” experiences. My observations on the Amhara musical culture were made in my capacity as an ethnomusicologist, as well as a native of this society. The fact that I was born and raised in the country and society, undoubtedly, has enabled me to share similar mentality towards the topic in discussion.  Therefore, like many of my fellow Ethiopians, təzətā (both vocal and instrumental) is among my favourite songs. I possess a large collection of this song in order to be able to listen to the different versions and new arrangements in both traditional and modern renditions

In 1993 the author stumbled on the story of the Bodyguard Band - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Ethiopia. Their story is about how 40 teenage orphans of the 1915 Armenian Genocide; trained to use brass instruments in Jerusalem thanks in part to Italian priests; on being relocated in 1924 to Addis Ababa by Haile Selassie; ignited the birth of Jazz
in Ethiopia.

In 1993 in the Sydney, Australia suburb of Willoughby the author met Antranik Markarian, an elderly gentleman who had been a band member until 1926. His story inspired this article
published in Ararat, an American-Armenian quarterly literary journal. It was published in the Summer 1993 edition, pp. 56-60.

The World Museum Vienna, formerly Museum of Ethnology (Ger. Völkerkundemuseum), is one of the world's historical museums housing a huge number of ethnographic collections including traditional music instruments from many parts of the world, both European and predominantly non-European. The establishment of this museum dates back to the end of the nineteenth century. In 2004 I received a research fellowship by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG). The major aim of this scientific project gave particular attention to all types of blowing instrument found among the abundant ethnic communities of the East African region. The investigations included a six month lasting fieldwork and data collection in thoughtfully selected five countries of this geographic region, i.e. Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenia, Tanzania and the Sudan, which took place between the months of February and July 2005. However, prior to leaving for field research, I was able to undertake pre-studies in several institutions in Berlin and Vienna. This referred to the historical Phonogram Archives (Phonogrammarchiv Berlin and Wien) including the museums, particularly the collections of African musical instruments in both institutions (Völkerkundemuseum Berlin and Wien, today's World Museum of Viena). At the Phonogram Archives I was able to access collections of mainly audio recordings that were collected in the field by scholars, researchers as well as by travellers at different times and places. The focal point of my investigations were, of course, limited to collections referring to the East African regions in particular and the African continent at learge (predominantly for the purpose of comparison). The other part of my pre-studies were dedicated to the investigation and analysis of musical instruments preserved at both institutions. In this presentations, I will give attention to the music instrument collection I was able to access at the World Museum Vienna 1 , the Africa department. Mention must be made hat this report does not represent the entire collection of Ethiopian musical instruments the museum holds, but only selected ones. Particularly in the case of instruments such as wooden or metal bells I did not represent all of them, but just samples. Each music instrument has been properly mearued (i.e. l = length; d = diameter; w = width; all measures are indicated in centimeters/cm). Subsequently photos have been made from various angles (all photos are courtesy of Timkehet Teffera, May/June 2006). A catalogue card, comprising all information about the shelf number, collector's name, year and/or place/region/country of collection and/or ethnic communitiy etc as far as availabe. This is unfortunately not the case for the predominant number of instruments. Therefore, I have attempted to provide compact information (see notes) about the instrument, the purpose of its (in history and at present if any) as well as its meaning, function, and role in society. The instruments shown as follows are categorized according to the Hornbostel-Sachs' table of classification of musical instruments. Subsequently, the code number that corresponds to the instrument's type are written down right at the beginning, e.g. end-blown flutes (421.111.12) or bowl lyre (321.22). 1 At this stage I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Africa Department of the World Museum Vienna for the kind cooperations enabling me to have unlimited access to the music instrument collection.

Pattern discovery is an essential computational music analysis method for revealing intra-opus repetition and inter-opus recurrence. This chapter applies pattern discovery to a corpus of songs for the bagana, a large lyre played in Ethiopia. An important and unique aspect of this repertoire is that frequent and rare motifs have been explicitly identified and used by a master bagana teacher in Ethiopia. A new theorem for pruning of statistically under-represented patterns from the search space is used within an efficient pattern discovery algorithm. The results of the chapter show that over- and under-represented patterns can be discovered in a corpus of bagana songs, and that the method can reveal with high significance the known bagana motifs of interest.

"The Kebra Nagast" i.e. the"glory of kings of Ethiopia." The work has been held in peculiar honor in Abyssinia for several countries, and throughout that country, it has been, and still is, venerated by the people ass containing the final proof of their descent from the Hebrew patriarchs, and of kingship of their kings of Solomonic line with Christ, the son of God. (Sir E.A. Wallis Budge, 2000)

The purpose of this article is to show that cassette and CD recordings of Harari pop songs are signifi cant in that they foster local knowledge of cultural traditions and may be useful in promoting public policies in the education and culture sectors. The method employed for this study is both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The study is based on Harari songs released on seventeen cassettes or CDs, and is supplemented by an investigation of objectives set forth in Ethiopia’s Culture Policy, and Education and Training Policy. Purposive sampling was considered and categories were delineated for the songs as well as the objectives of the policies. Then the core messages of the songs were compared with the objectives of the policies. The fi ndings of the study indicate that thirty-nine songs refl ected the objectives of the Education and Training Policy while eleven songs refl ected the Cultural Policy. The core message of these and similar songs may best be evaluated in terms of...

2015 ICTM-Ireland annual conference, Dundalk - ABSTRACT: If the power of the past lies in its capacity to foster narratives and symbols, the question “who is entitled to talk about the past?” is not a secondary one. Gabriella Ghermandi, an Ethiopian-born storyteller and vocalist based in Bologna (Italy) who wrotes in Italian and sings in Amharic, articulates her works around the (removed) memory of the colonial experience of Italians in Ethiopia. Her book, ‘Regina di Fiori e di Perle’ (Queen of Flowers and Pearls, 2007) encountered a remarkable success. Ghermandi then founded the Atse Tewodros Project, a band composed by both Ethiopian and Italian musicians, whose CD was released in 2013. Together with the band, she mainly performs what she describes as “songs that Ethiopian partisans used to sing while preparing the battle against the fascist army.”
Drawing from a fieldwork of their last tour in Italy, the paper aims to show the complex strategy deployed by Ghermandi. While navigating two national identities, and through an elaborate – and yet problematic – performance of authenticity, she positions herself in the role of somebody who is not just entitled to talk about the colonial past, but also to embody it, with her voice, dance, and presence on stage.

Musical instruments were used in the Christian realm of Ethiopia during the early modern period for proclamations, major religious celebrations, court ceremonies, and the movement of the king and his troops inside and outside of royal cities, as well as for signaling the start of battles. Only the powerful had the prerogative of having certain instruments played. The nägarit (kettledrums) were also insignia of power. Owning or displaying them was an expression of power as much as having them played. The nǝsǝr qana were double-reed instruments associated with the king. Originally insignia of Oromo military might, the mäläkäts, long trumpets, were gradually adopted in the Christian realm as the Oromo came to share in exercising power. On the basis of evidence drawn from a study of images, horns, though still present on the battlefield, seem to have lost prestige to the benefit of trumpets.

Musical instruments were used in the Christian realm of Ethiopia during the early modern period for proclamations, major religious celebrations, court ceremonies, and the movement of the king and his troops inside and outside of royal cities, as well as for signaling the start of battles. Only the powerful had the prerogative of having certain instruments played. The nägarit (kettledrums) were also insignia of power. Owning or displaying them was an expression of power as much as having them played. The nǝsǝr qana were doubel-reed instruments associated with the king. Originally insignia of Oromo military might, the mäläkäts, long trumpets, were gradually adopted in the Christian realm as the Oromo came to share in exercising power. On the basis of evidence drawn from a study of images, horns, though still present on the battlefield, seem to have lost prestige to the benefit of trumpets.

The “Berliner Phonogram Archiv” which was established in 1900 possesses one of the earliest sound documents on wax cylinders collected with a phonograph from the end of the 19th until the mid of the 20th Centuries. These historical sound documents were recorded during expeditions carried out at different times and in various countries of the world. One of these collections refers to sound materials from Ethiopia like for instance  the collection of the German Diplomat Friedrich Rosen recorded in 1905 comprising 46 recordings, the collection of Dr. Erich Kaschke recorded in 1906 consisting of 37 recordings, the collection of Weiss recorded between 1921 and 1924 consisting of ca. 35 recorded materials, the collection of Grühl recorded in 1926 consisting of 6 sound documents as well as the collection of Dr. Erich Kaschke consisting of about 37 songs and instrumental pieces from Axum, the capital of the North Ethiopian region, Tigray in 1906. In this paper this collection will be discussed. Dr. Erich Kaschke was neither a musician nor an ethnomusicologist. However, on the Axum expedition, lead by Professor Enno Littman, Kaschke was one of the active participants, namely a staff physician and a collector of ethnographic, zoological and phonographic items simultaneously (Littmann 1913). With regard to Kaschke’s activities during the Axsum expedition, it is predictable that he might already have taken general guide lines about the collecting methods and field research in Germany before leaving for Axum.
see also the English Version of this article under: https://www.academia.edu/7250631/Timkehet_Teffera_2006_._A_Comprehensive_Analysis_of_Sound_Recordings_from_Axum_Ethiopia._Proceedings_of_the_15th_International_Conference_of_Ethiopian_Studies_Siegbert_Uhlig_editor_Harrassowitz_Publisher_Wiesbaden

Musical instruments were used in the Christian realm of Ethiopia during the early modern period for proclamations, major religious celebrations, court ceremonies, and the movement of the king and his troops inside and outside of royal cities, as well as for signaling the start of battles. Only the powerful had the prerogative of having certain instruments played. The nägarit (kettledrums) were also insignia of power. Owning or displaying them was an expression of power as much as having them played. The nǝsǝr qana were doubel-reed instruments associated with the king. Originally insignia of Oromo military might, the mäläkäts, long trumpets, were gradually adopted in the Christian realm as the Oromo came to share in exercising power. On the basis of evidence drawn from a study of images, horns, though still present on the battlefield, seem to have lost prestige to the benefit of trumpets.

Ce carnet de voyage nous emmène dans les Haut-plateaux Amhara d’Éthiopie, et plus précisément sur les bords du Nil Bleu, dans la région du Godgam, au cœur de l’ancien royaume chrétien d’Abyssinie. En forêt ou dans les fêtes de villages, la poésie chantée, à la fois intime et conflictuelle, y est un art risqué des émotions.

My contribution looks at the artistic production of the Italo-Ethiopian writer, singer, and performer Gabriella Ghermandi. Mostly known for her literary production, Gabriella Ghermandi has addressed the history of Ethiopian resistance against European invasions via the Atse Tewodros Project, a musical performance which blends Italian and Ethiopian influences. The analysis of Ghermandi’s multifaceted activity will foster a reflection on how different forms of anticolonial and antifascist resistance can be appraised in a common, transnational framework. Furthermore, the blurred boundaries between different artistic practices and languages will allow us to reflect on the cultural legacies of colonialism still present in Italian society today.

Cette semaine, "Carnet de voyage" (France Culture) poursuit son exploration de l’Éthiopie à travers la découverte d’un des instruments sacrés les plus mystérieux et envoutants de la planète : le bagana, une lyre à 10 cordes. Pour nous dévoiler cet art, nous recevons l’ethnomusicologue Stephanie Weisser.