Ethiopia, a country never colonized, boasts a unique folk music and culture with roots stretching back thousands of years. It can be said that it is one of the most unique folk music and also culture in the world. The music of Ethiopia is a reflection of all the historical and social episodes, such as the military campaigns that various warlords or chiefs had to launch.
The music and culture of Ethiopia has been influenced by Christianity, Islam, Judaism and also Afros. The music and culture of Ethiopia has been influenced by christian-ism, Islam, jewism and also Afros.
Ethiopian Orthodox priest playing a drum
Traditional Ethiopian Music
Ethiopia has diverse number of ethnic groups ( more thank 75 ethnic groups ). Each ethnic group has it's own traditional music and sounds. These folk musics have tighten with other cultured aspect of each ethnic group like dances, clothes, spirituality, wars and ... .
Unique character and sound of Ethiopian folk music comes from a pentatonic modal system, with strange and long interval between the notes. For the modern ears nowadays, this will be more strange and tasty when this music played with western instruments.
Read also: A Look at Ethiopian Protestant Music
Qenet: The Modal System
The music from highlands of Ethiopia has a modal system called qenet which consist of four main modes: tezeta, bati, ambassel, and anchihoy. It also contain three additional modes: tezeta minor, bati major, and bati minor. Some songs has the same name with it's qenet. For example tizita or tezeta. The meaning of the tizita is nostalgia.
This type of folk songs usually compared with the blues in western music.
Early Recordings and Influences
The first recordings of folk music of Ethiopia and popularizing it, happened during the time of Emperor Haile Selassie. In 1924 he had a diplomatic tour to Europe but he started his travel with Jerusalem. Because every respected Ethiopian should visit and be pilgrim to Jerusalem.
In Jerusalem he met a marching band of young Armenian orphans. He was impressed by this band and made a deal to send them to Ethiopia and to form a military music band. This was the seed of early recording for other early Ethiopian musicians like Tilahoun Gessesse, Neway Debebe, and Ethiopia’s most famous musical artist, Mahmoud Ahmed.
The same as many other African countries ( or even Asian countries ), military was a place to grow and develop folk music into popular music or receiving of western modern instruments and combine it with folk music instruments and harmony.
Read also: A Unique Ethiopian Christmas
A variety of traditional Ethiopian musical instruments
Traditional Instruments
The traditional music instruments of Ethiopia are diverse and as it is mentioned they have thousands years old, some of them which can be mentioned here are masinko, the krar, the washint, the begena, the kebero, and the tom-tom.
- Masinko: A single-stringed instrument used in many parts of the country specially in the highlands. It is kind of fiddle style instrument which is made by tail of horse. It is widely play by young and old people from amateur to professionals and used in restaurants and bars.
- Krar: Another famous traditional instrument in Ethiopia. It is kind of lyre with five instruments. It usually decorated with woods, cloths and beads.
- Begena: Another folk instrument is begena which is Ethiopian harp. It is used for spiritual purposes.
- Washint: The washint is wind instrument (bamboo flute) which mostly used in highlands and by shepherds. Originally it is used by Amhara and Tigray people.
There is a special kind of drum referred to as tom-tom that is used in the southwestern part of the country, in Gambella Region.
Music in the Ethiopian highlands is generally monophonic or heterophonic.[1] In certain southern areas, some music is polyphonic.
Trumpet-like instruments include the ceremonial malakat used in some regions, and the holdudwa (animal horn; compare shofar) found mainly in the south.[5] Embilta flutes have no finger holes, and produce only two tones, the fundamental and a fourth or fifth interval. The Konso and other people in the south play fanta, or pan flutes.
Read also: Ethiopian Cuisine: Philadelphia Guide
Eskista dance, a traditional Ethiopian dance known for its shoulder movements
Dance
The various tribes and ethnic groups of Ethiopia have their distinct music, cultures, and traditions. According to some analysts, Ethiopian dances are not divided according to their function but rather according to their uniqueness and individuality. Therefore, there are over 150 unique dance movements across Ethiopia. Oromia region is the largest and their dance styles are different depending on place.
Some of the famous dances are “Shewa Oromo” and “Harar Oromo”. Especially, Shewa Oromo dance has unique costumes as well as steps. Women wear leather-made wild two-piece costumes decorated with shells. Men wear fur skin like a lion’s mane on the head and use sticks for dance. What is most surprising is women’s very fast and sharp neck motion.
For example, the Tigrayans to the north have a smooth, circular dance routine characterized by shoulder and neck movements. The Amharas at the center of the country have a dance style dominated by upper body and neck movements. The Oromos at the center and south have a jumping style and full-bodied dance routine. The Gurages have an acrobatic dance that requires high levels of arm, leg, and body coordination. The Welayita, Kenbata, Sidama, Dawro, and others among the peoples of the South Region have very attractive belly dances that are hugely popular throughout the nation. The beats are quite rhythmic and fast.
Eskista is a traditional Ethiopian cultural dance from the Amhara ethnic group performed by men, women, and children. It's known for its unique emphasis on intense shoulder movement which it shares with the shim-shim dance of the Tigrinya people in neighboring Eritrea. The dance is characterized by rolling and bouncing the shoulders, jilting the chest, and thrusting the neck in various directions. Motives and characteristics of the dance often vary according to the performers and the context, for example, war songs, hunting songs, shepherd songs, love songs, and work songs.
The best dancer is typically appointed as the leader of the group and/or the best singer. Eskista dance brings the dancer into a role as a storyteller, who then expresses with his or her body the cultural traditions and life of the community.
Religious Music
Religious music is very important and plays significant role to Ethiopian Orthodox society. The term mezmur is instinctively denotes an Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo music. There are also wide range of Islamic music.
Some Ethiopian religious music has an ancient Christian element, traced to Yared, who lived during the reign of Emperor Gebre Meskel (Son of Kaleb of Aksumite Empire) in the 6th century. Yared was considered the father of Ethiopian-Eritrean traditional music as well as he composed chant or Zema and the use in liturgical music.
The Golden Age of Ethiopian Music
The Ethiopian Golden Age of Music was an era of Ethiopian music that began around the 1960s to 1970s, until the Derg regime progressively diminished its presence through politically motivated persecutions and retributions against musicians and companies, which left many to self-imposed exile to North America and Europe.
The earliest known introduction of Western music in Ethiopia dates back to 1923 when Kevork Nalbandian was hired by the Ethiopian government to organize the first Ethiopian military marching band, later known as the Ethiopian National Defence Force Band. The band quickly became popular across the country, prompting more bands to form, further expediting the combination of Western-style music with traditional Ethiopian instruments.
With Ethiopia becoming increasingly modern under the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie from 1930 to 1974, media such as radio, television, and records were crucial in communicating Western music to the country.
Jazz, blues, and funk records from America were popular due to their wide distribution and radio broadcasting stations limited listeners to only foreign or Ethiopian-Western hybrid music. By 1948, all music production was restricted to being recorded at one government agency-Hager Fikir Theatre.
Amha Esthete, a pioneer in the Ethiopian music industry
Amha Eshètè: A Pioneer
Once up on a time there was a young man with deep love for music. He was always fascinated by the foreign Western music he hears on the radio. He asked himself “Why aren’t these records available to buy in Ethiopia?” He then took it upon himself to import these records. His name was Amha Eshètè.
Hárámbee came to life soon after and was the first music shop in Ethiopia- and later the first record label ‘Amhá Records’. The rest is history; this man pioneered an Ethiopian musical era starting from the 1950’s (Ethiopian Calendar) which is the 1960’s in Gregorian calendar.
Although the endeavor had its ups and down, we are now able to listen to legendary Ethiopian artists and their legendary works. Amha Eshètè passed away on April 30, 2021 at the age of 74.
In the late 60’s the Ethiopian night life was colorful, people went out all days of the week. Artists such as Mahmoud Ahmed, Alemáyehu Eshètè, Girmá Bèyènè, Getáchew Kássá and many more came to the public eyes and ears around this time.
The Rise of Ethio-Jazz
Ethiopian jazz is a fusion of traditional Ethiopian rhythms and harmonies with the techniques and instruments of Western jazz. One of the key figures in the development of Ethiopian Jazz was Mulatu Astatke.
As a teenager, Mulatu was able to leave Addis Ababa in 1959 to study music at the Trinity College of Music in London. There he received training on how to use Western instruments such as the piano and clarinet. After London, he moved to New York to pursue his passion of jazz and Latin pop.
However, Mulatu soon returned to his home country in 1969 to discover the upswing of Addis Ababa's Golden Age of Music. Using the five-note pentatonic scale and asymmetrical rhythm from Tizita Qenet and his technical skills from New York, allowed him to create a unique sound he called "Ethio-Jazz".
Mulatu Astatke, the father of Ethio-Jazz
Although Western music was not new to the country, Mulatu met some set-back against his creation as there was still a strong traditional mindset in Ethiopia. Beginning in 1960, a growing number of people began to feel as though Western traditions were contaminating the national identity of Ethiopians.
These groups opposed Mulatu's radical style of music that used his 'signature vibraphone' and conga's which contrasted the traditional Masenqo and Washint of Ethiopia. In the span of 6 years, Amha Records recorded over 103 singles from Ethio-Jazz artists with Mulatu as lead producer.
These records are known as Éthiopiques-a collection of discs later discovered and re-released by French producer Francis Falceto in the 1990s. Ethiopiques used such styles which borne numerous prominent artists of the time including Tilahun Gessesse, Alemayehu Eshete, Hailu Mergia, and among others. Ethio-jazz clubs and bands became very popular across the country.
Mulatu Astatke later expanded upon these developments by combining the unusual pentatonic scale-based melodies of traditional Ethiopian music with the 12-note harmonies and instrumentation of Western music.
Mulatu Astatke gave birth to Ethio-Jazz or Ethiojazz, a fascinating combination of modal melodies and diminished harmonies with a funk six-beat groove.
The Walias Band was formed in 1960 and was led by Hailu Mergia. Mulatu's first Ethio-Jazz album Afro-Latin Soul 1 & 2 was released in 1966 with his Ethiopian Quartet. His Ethiopian Quartet were actually predominately Puerto Ricans under the small New York Label Worthy. By 1972, he released another album Mulatu of Ethiopia, further establishing the connection between the States and Ethiopia.
In the early 1970s, Ethiopia experienced a golden age of popular music with the rise of Ethio-jazz At the center of the scene was vocalist Mahmoud Ahmed.
Key Figures of Ethiopian Music
Mahmoud Ahmed
Mahmoud Ahmed knew from a young age that he wanted to be an artist/vocalist, therefore he deemed it futile to attend school. As a result, he dropped out and was engaged in numerous labor jobs. He became a handy-man at a club, while the desire to sing was still burning inside him.
One day he managed to convince the house band to let him sing on their gig night. The rest is history as he became the member of the official band for the Emperor at that time (Haileselassie). After that Mahmoud became Ethiopia’s favorite soul singer.
Mahmoud Ahmed, a legendary Ethiopian soul singer
While making music with passion, one of his songs ended up thrilling the ears of the French producer Francis Falceto, who took it upon himself to find out where this funky music is from and whose beautiful vocals it was. This one song by Mahmoud laid the foundation for the Ethiopiques (series of compact discs featuring many artists) curated by Francis Falceto.
His 1975 album Erè Mèla Mèla is a classic album from the golden age of Ethiopian music, and was the first East African release from that era to be embraced by a wide-ranging Western audience.
Mahmoud Ahmed is one of the few Ethiopian artists that managed to transcend through generations. In 2007, Mahmoud Ahmed was the winner of BBC’s World Music Award.
Mahmoud is still active in the music scene at present time. He will be 80 soon.
Girma Bèyènè
Personally I would say this man is one of the most underrated artists in the Ethiopian music industry. Not only is he a vocalist, song writer, and pianist; he is also a composer with over 60 works (completed from the 70’s up until his departure to the United States in the early 80’s).
