Ethiopia’s
diversity can be heard in the diversity of its music. Different regions have their own prominent styles of musical
forms based on historical influence – whether it be Christian influences or
Muslim influences or simply folk music. Much of Ethiopian music is based on a
pentatonic modal system, similar to and influencing the music in other
neighboring countries as well. When
playing these pieces on traditional instruments, it’s not tempered (meaning
that each pitch has an unequal distance between the one above it and below it –
it’s tuned differently than modern instruments). Music of the highlands is typically monophonic (having one
melody line) or heterophonic (having more than one voice, but playing similar
lines). Some southern music
produces polyphonic singing (having more than one voice playing/singing
individual lines – some in these areas employ four or five parts at the same
time).
This
diversity in musical style and ethnic groups understandably leads to different
dance styles throughout the country.
Many of these dances utilize the upper body: the head, the shoulders,
and the chest. It seems that
generally, the steps aren’t as vigorous as the upper body parts, but there are
some regions that move the whole body more than others. In some dances, the women will spread
their skirts out as part of the dance, and others will use rattles and fringe
on their body to accentuate the music.
Some
of the common instruments heard in Ethiopian music include masenqo
(one-stringed bow lute), krar (six-string lyre), begena (large ten-string
lyre), washint (bamboo flute), malakat (trumpet-like instrument), fanta (pan
flutes), senasel (a type of sistrum), quachel (a small gong), toom (somewhat
like an mbira), kebero (hand drum), nagarit (hand drum played with a curved
stick), and other variations of these instruments.
There
are several contemporary musicians from Ethiopia that I’ve listened to in the
past week or so. I liked Teddy
Afro’s sound. It has that “world music” feel to it, with distinct African
drumming rhythms underneath melody lines. The first track was in 6/8 (or some
other kind of triplet meter), and other songs from the album Tikur Sew often used triplet
rhythms. The use of harmonies is a
unifying practice. Another
musician, Aster Aweke, fell into the same style of music as Teddy Afro in my
opinion, although with a little more “soft rock” feel to her music -- minus the
harmonies and African drumming of Teddy Afro.
The
musician Gigi has several songs from the album Peace, Love and Respect that sounds like indie rock. (I really wished they would’ve used the
Oxford comma in the title – it drives me crazy.) I liked this album because I’m
a fan of the indie rock sound -- it’s very much Western-influenced. I did find
that this album is available on iTunes for $9.90. (Yes, I’m trying to figure out a way to convince my husband
I should buy this.)
And
listening to some slightly older music, I found a Tilahun Gessesse compilation.
He’s considered one of the greats.
It has a sound that reminds me a little of early reggae music. One unifying theme in instrumentation from
Gessesse to Teddy Afro is the use of bass and guitars along with horn line. In
some songs, the horn lines answer the guitars, and in other songs (like many of
Gessesse’s), the guitars lay the groundwork for the harmonies while the horns
have the melody lines.
During
the 1960s and 1970s, a style of jazz emerged called Ethiopian jazz, or Ethio-jazz. And many musicians consider the father
of Ethio-jazz is Mulatu Astatke. I absolutely love this style of jazz; I was
immediately drawn to it. One of
the signature sounds is the congo drums and the vibraphone that he played while
conducting the band. This music blended traditional jazz sounds with Ethiopian
music and Latin jazz. I added the albums Sketches
of Ethiopia and New York to Addis to
London: The Story of Ethio Jazz 1965-1975 to my Spotify playlist and would
listen for hours. The second album is a must have if you’re a vibraphone fan
like me.
Up
next: the food
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