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Encyclopedia > Music of Ethiopia

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Ethiopian music is extremely diverse, with each of the country's 80 tribes being associated with unique sounds. Some forms of tribal music are strongly influenced by Muslim and folk music from elsewhere in the Horn of Africa, especially Somalia. However, Ethiopian religious music also has an ancient Christian element, traced to Yared, who lived during the reign of Gabra Masqal. In northeastern Ethiopia, in Wollo, a Muslim musical form called manzuma developed. Sung in Amharic, manzuma has spread to Harar and Jimma, where it is now sung in the Oromo language. One of the most popular musicians from Ethiopia is the Los Angeles–area expatriate Aster Aweke. Someone who performs, composes, or conducts music is a musician. ... A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم) (sometimes also spelled Moslem) is an adherent of Islam. ... It has been suggested that Folkies be merged into this article or section. ... Nations of the Horn of Africa. ... As a noun, Christian is an appellation and moniker deriving from the appellation Christ, which many people associate exclusively with Jesus of Nazareth. ... Jared (יֶרֶד / יָרֶד, Standard Hebrew Yéred / Yáred, Tiberian Hebrew Yéreḏ / Yāreḏ) is derived from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament of the Bible), where it appears in the Book of Genesis (Gen. ... Wollo was a province in the north-eastern part of Ethiopia, with its capital city at Dessye. ... Islamic music is Muslim religious music, as sung or played in public services or private devotions. ... Amharic (አማርኛ ’amarñña) is a Semitic language spoken in North Central Ethiopia. ... Harar, sometimes spelled Harrar or Harer, is a city in Ethiopia situated in the eastern extension of the Ethiopian highlands, about five hundred kilometers from Addis Ababa. ... Jimma is the largest city in western Ethiopia; as of 1994 it had a population of 88,867 people. ... The Oromo language, also known as Afaan Oromo or Oromifaa, is an Afro-Asiatic language, and the most widely spoken of the Cushitic sub-phylum. ... The City of Los Angeles (from Spanish; Los Ángeles) is the second-largest city in the United States in terms of population, as well as one of the worlds most important economic, cultural, and entertainment centers. ... Aster Aweke is an Ethiopean singer who lives in the U.S. She has made at least three albums: Aster, Kabu and Ebo. ... The last three decades of the 20th century saw Ethiopia wracked by famine and drought, and war. Since the end of the 1990s, however, the country has made steps towards recovery, and among other improvements, music has become more omnipresent and more easily accessible outside of Addis Ababa. Ethiopian music uses a unique modal system that is pentatonic, with characteristically long intervals between some notes. This creates a somewhat "unfinished" and anticipatory atmosphere to the music. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... A famine is a phenomenon in which a large percentage of the population of a region or country are so undernourished that death by starvation becomes increasingly common. ... A drought or an extreme dry periodic climate is an extended period where water availability falls below the statistical requirements for a region. ... War is a state of widespread conflict between states, organisations, or relatively large groups of people, which is characterised by the use of lethal violence between combatants or upon civilians. ... The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive, the last decade of the 20th Century. ... Addis Ababa as seen from space. ... In music, a pentatonic scale is a scale with five notes per octave. ... Traditional music is played by itinerant musicians called azmari, who are regarded with both suspicion and respect by Ethiopian society. Folk instruments include masenqo (fiddle), washint (flute), kebero (percussion) and krar (lyre). A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ... As with the krar, this is the instrument of the Ethiopian minstrels, the Azmaris (singer in Amharic). ... The violin is a stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a fifth apart. ... A washint is an Ethiopian end-blown flute with four finger holes. ... The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. ... Percussion instruments are music instruments played by being struck, shaken, rubbed or scraped, hence the percussive name. ... The krar is a five- or six-stringed lyre from Ethiopia and Eritrea, tuned to a pentatonic scale. ... A lyre is a stringed musical instrument well known for its use in Classical Antiquity. ... Ethiopia is a musically traditional country. Of course, popular music is played, recorded and listened to, but most musicians also sing traditional songs, and most audiences choose to listen to both popular and traditional styles. A longstanding popular musical tradition in Ethiopia was that of brass bands, imported from Europe during the reign of Haile Selassie. By the end of World War 2, large orchestras accompanied singers; the most prominent orchestras were the Army Band, Police Band and Imperial Bodyguard Band. Most of these bands were trained by Europeans or Armenians. Popular music is music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and mostly distributed commercially. ... The Lochgelly Band, a Scottish colliery band, circa 1890 A brass band is a musical group consisting mostly of brass instruments, often with a percussion section. ... Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiogeographic one. ... Haile Selassie Haile Selassie (Power of Trinity) (July 23, 1892 – August 27, 1975) was the last Emperor (1930–1936; 1941–1974) of Ethiopia, and is a religious symbol in the Rastafarian movement. ... Combatants Allied Powers Axis Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties 17 million military deaths 7 million military deaths World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a mid-20th century conflict that engulfed much of the globe and is accepted as the largest and deadliest... From the 1950s to the 1970s, Ethiopian popular musicians included Bezunesh Bekele, Mahmoud Ahmed, Alemayehu Eshete, Hirut Bekele, Ali Birra, Ayalew Mesfin, Muluken Mellesse and Tilahun Gessesse, while popular folk musicians included Alemu Aga, Kassa Tessema, Ketema Makonnen, Asnaketch Worku and Mary Armede. Perhaps the most influential musician of the period, however, was Ethio-jazz innovator Mulatu Astatke. Amha Records, Kaifa Records, and Philips-Ethiopia were prominent Ethiopian record labels during this era. Since 1997, Buda Musique's Ethiopiques series has compiled many of these singles and albums on compact disc. // Events and trends This map shows two essential global spheres during the Cold War in 1959. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... Tilahun Gessesse is an Ethiopian singer. ... Asnaketch Worku is a famous Ethiopian vocalist. ... Mulatu Astatke is an Ethiopian musician and arranger. ... Amha Records was an Ethiopian record label founded by Amha Ashèté. The company released 103 singles and 12 albums between 1969 and 1975. ... Kaifa Records was an Ethiopian record label which released 53 records between 1973 and 1977. ... Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Royal Philips Electronics N.V.), usually known as Philips, (Euronext: PHIA, NYSE: PHG) is one of the largest electronics companies in the world. ... A record label is a brand created by companies that specialize in manufacturing, distributing and promoting audio and video recordings, on various formats including compact discs, LPs, DVD-Audio, SACDs, and cassettes. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ethiopiques is a series of compact discs featuring Ethiopian (and some Eritrean) singers and musicians. ... A compilation album is a musical album featuring songs or tunes with some common characteristics. ... In music, a single is a short (usually ten minutes or less*) record, usually featuring one or two tracks as A-side, often accompanied by several B-sides, usually remixes or other songs. ... An album is a collection of related audio tracks, released together commercially in an audio format to the public. ... Interference colors. ... During the 1980s, the Derg controlled Ethiopia, and emigration became almost impossible. Musicians during this period included Ethio Stars, Wallias Band and Roha Band, though the singer Neway Debebe was most popular. He helped to popularize seminna-worq (wax and gold), a poetic form of double entendre that often enabled singers to criticize the government without upsetting the censors. The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Emigration is the act and the phenomenon of leaving ones native country to settle abroad. ... Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I create) is traditionally a written art form (although there is also an ancient and modern poetry which relies mainly upon oral or pictorial representations) in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. ... A double entendre or innuendo is a figure of speech similar to the pun, in which a spoken phrase can be understood in either of two ways. ... The examples and perspective in this article do not represent a worldwide view. ... More recently, music from Tigray and Eritrea has become popular in Ethopia and among exiles, especially in Italy. The biggest new trend, however, was the rise of bolel, a sort of blues-like music, played by sarcastic azmari playing in parts of Addis Ababa, especially Yohannès Sefer and Kazentchis. Bolel musicians include Tigist Assefa, Tedje and Admassou Abate. Map of Ethiopia highlighting the Tigray region. ... Bolel is a style of Ethiopian music that evolved out of the Azmari musical tradition in Addis Ababa and elements of modern urban culture. ... The blues is a sexual and instrumental form of music based on a pentatonic scale and a characteristic twelve-bar chord progression. ... Currently the most prominent Ethiopian singer internationally is Gigi. Through her performing with top jazz musicians like Bill Laswell and Herbie Hancock, Gigi has brought Ethiopian music to popular attention, especially in the United States, where she now lives. Ejigayehu Shibabaw, or Gigi as she is popularly known, is one of the most successful contemporary Ethiopian singers worldwide. ... Jazz master Louis Armstrong remains one of the most loved and best known of all jazz musicians. ... Bill Laswell (born February 12, 1955 in Salem, Illinois and raised in Detroit) is a prolific bassist, producer, and record label owner who has collaborated with hundreds of musicians all over the world. ... Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is a jazz pianist and composer from Chicago, Illinois, USA. Hancock is one of jazz musics most important and influential pianists and composers. ... East African music Burundi - Djibouti - Eritrea - Ethiopia - Kenya - Rwanda - Seychelles - Somalia - Sudan - Tanzania - Uganda East Africa includes three countries Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania. ... References Falceto, Francis. "Land of Wax and Gold". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 480-487. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0 External links ADDIS LIVE! Ethiopian Music Internet Radio Buda Musique's Ethiopiques series the Ethiopiques Yahoogroups e-mail discussion list Category: Ethiopian music

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