Ethiopian music refers to any music from Ethiopia, but it is most commonly associated with a genre, a pentatonic modal system with extremely long intervals between notes.
The qenet modal system, which consists of four basic modes, is used in Ethiopian Highlands music. Three more 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 diverge significantly from the Western-tempered tuning system), but they are tempered when played on Western instruments like as pianos and guitars. The masenqo (also known as masinko), a one-string bowed lute; the krar (also known as kirar), a six-string lyre; and the begena, a big ten-string lyre are all traditional string instruments in the Highlands. The dita and musical bows are two chordophones found in the southern United States (which include an uncommon three-string variant). The washint is a bamboo flute used in the Highlands. Both the ceremonial malakat and the holdudwa (animal horn; compare shofar) are trumpet-like instruments found primarily in the south. The fundamental and a fourth or fifth interval are the only tones produced by Embilta flutes, which have no finger holes.
