Ethiopian music can refer to any style of music from Ethiopia, but it is most commonly associated with a genre defined by a pentatonic modal structure and exceptionally big note gaps.
The qenet modal system, which includes four fundamental modes: tezeta, bati, ambassel, and anchihoy, is the foundation of Ethiopian Highlands music. Three further variations on the previous modes are tezeta minor, bati major, and bati minor. Some songs, such as tizita, a memory song, are named after their qenet. These modes are frequently not tempered when played on traditional instruments (i.e., the pitches may deviate significantly from the Western-tempered tuning system), but they are tempered when played on Western instruments like pianos and guitars. Ethiopian highland music is predominantly monophonic or heterophonic. In a number of southern cities, polyphonic music can be heard. Although Majangir has only four parts, Dorze polyphonic singing (edho) can have up to five. Ethiopia is a traditional musical country. Even while popular music is played, recorded, and listened to, most musicians also sing traditional tunes, which the majority of listeners prefer. Brass bands were imported from Jerusalem in the shape of forty Armenian orphans (Arba Lijoch) during Haile Selassie’s reign, and were a long-standing popular musical tradition in Ethiopia. This band became Ethiopia’s first official orchestra when it landed in Addis Ababa on September 6, 1924. Large orchestras accompanied concerts in the final months of WWII; the Army Band, Police Band, and Imperial Bodyguard Band were the most well-known orchestras. Mahmoud Ahmed, Alemayehu Eshete, Hirut Bekele, Ali Birra, Ayalew Mesfin, Kiros Alemayehu, Muluken Melesse, and Tilahun Gessesse were among the most popular Ethiopian musicians from the 1950s to the 1970s, while popular folk musicians included Alemu Aga, Kassa Tessema, Ketema Makonnen, Asnaketch Worku, and Mary Armede Mulatu Astatke, a pioneer of Ethio-jazz, was one of the most prominent artists of his period. The three most important Ethiopian record labels at the time were Amha Records, Kaifa Records, and Philips-Ethiopia. Several of these songs and albums have been reissued on compact disc by Buda Musique’s Éthiopiques series since 1997.
