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Tradition and Modernism: Emergence and Development of

Popular Music in Addis Ababa: The Golden Years

Timkehet Teffera

This article was presented at the annual conference of the German Committee of the International

Council of Traditional Music, Berlin 15th – 16th February, 2008

Modern Music Roots in Ethiopia

Pertaining to legends of music history, Ethiopia is known as the birthplace of Saint Yared in

the 6th century who was a great sacred scholar and inventor of Zema (music) and poetry. The

pioneering work of this genius musician in developing the sacred music has inevitably

served as a base for the gradual emergence of secular music in this country.

There is a lot to be discussed about the record of sacred and traditional worldly music in

Ethiopia. However, in this paper special emphasis has been given to the origin and

development of popular music, particularly during the period between 1955 and 1974, a

period considered as “The Golden Years” of Ethiopian modern music per se.

Even though the origin of popular music in Ethiopia can be traced back to the end of the 19th

century1, its factual evolution started around the 1920s when Ras Teferi (later Emperor Haile

Silassie I 2) adopted and brought 40 young Armenian orphans to Ethiopia whom he watched

marching in a band in Jerusalem3. Upon their arrival in Ethiopia, these young Armenians

were accompanied by their band leader and music teacher Kevork Nalbandian4(Kebede 1971:

1 After Ethiopia defeated Italy in 1986 known as the victory of Adwa under the reign of Emperor

Menelik II (1844-1913), many countries started to build a diplomatic relationship by sending their

ambassadors. Falceto (2005) explains how foreign music gained access to Ethiopia at this period as

follows: “the Tsar of Russia sent an ambassador to meet Menelik II and as a gift, he sent 40 brass

instruments and a music teacher. Menelik decided to use them as his royal music. The teacher was probably a

Polish guy; his name was Milewski. And this guy tried to teach the Ethiopians to perform marching music. In

this sense, the same thing happened in Ethiopia, a non-colonized country, as was happening in the rest of

colonized Africa. The Adwa victory was also a kind of starting point for the development of modern music in

Ethiopia. The repertoire of the musicians at the time was limited to the marching music, national anthems of

various embassies: France, Russia, America, England, etc.” (Falceto 2005; Mocria/Messele/ Gebre Hiwot

2003; Burrell: 2009). 2 Ras Teferi was his birth name. When he ascended the Throne as Emperor of Ethiopia on 2nd

November 1930 at the age of about 38 he was consequently proclaimed as Emperor Haile Selassie I.,

the spiritual name he had been given at his baptism in 1892 according to the Ethiopian Orthodox

custom. Emperor Haile Silassie altogether ruled Ethiopia for more than five decades (see also

Haggai 1986: 137). 3 “In 1924, Ras Teferi, before he became Emperor Haile Selassie, went on a diplomatic tour in Europe. His first

stop was Jerusalem…before he went to France, England, Sweden, Italy, and Greece, just to go to the tomb of

Christ. And he was welcome there by a marching band of young Armenian orphans. This was a few years

after the genocide of the Armenian people in Turkey who were spread all over the region …. some landed in

Jerusalem.” (Eyre/Falceto interview 2005) 4 Kevork Nalbandian is also known as the composer of Ethiopia’s National Anthem that was in use

during the entire Haile Selassie’s reign from 1930 until his abolishment in 1974. Although Nalbandian

composed this musical piece in 1926, it was first performed after the coronation of His Imperial

Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I on 2nd November 1930.

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291). With the aim of building a new royal music group they continued to be given music

training along with fellow Ethiopians.

Although this new change in music was discontinued from 1935 to 1941, due to the nominal

Italian rule during the Mussolini era, it revived again after the return of Emperor Haile

Silassie from exile in Britain in 1941 (Haggai 1986: 153). Consequently state owned military

bands, especially the Imperial Bodyguard Band, Kibur Zebegna, the Police Orchestra and the

Army band were founded at this time following the orders of the Emperor. Furthermore,

already existing numerous military ensembles got the chance to be reorganized as well. This

condition gave rise to invite supplementary music teachers from various European countries

like Sweden and Poland to train more young Ethiopians who joined these military bands.

During the entire development Kevork Nalbandian and his successors have played a vital role

in introducing modern music to this country and cultivating it for more than six decades

from about 1924-1974.

“Golden Years” of Ethiopian Modern Music (1955 – 1974)

The “Golden Years” comprise a 20 years lasting musical development from 1955 until the

outburst of the Ethiopian revolution in 1974 that brought the old empire to an end. As

already mentioned above, even though the military bands were operational since the 1940s

to perform purely military music, evident changes in popular music started in the 1950s,

when singers from these institutions gradually came up with new composed songs

accompanied by big military brass bands. Following these military bands, the two state

owned theatre orchestras, namely the Haile Silassie (named after the emperor) and the Hager

Fikir theatres were additionally established around 1955. These institutions contributed a lot

to the rapid grow of Ethiopian popular singers, instrument players, lyric writers and music

arrangers.

From the 1960s onwards, private music bands started to flourish. Among foreign music

teachers who taught music fellow Ethiopians during the Haile Silassie’s era, the music

composer and arranger Nerses Nalbandian (the nephew of Kevork Nalbandian) is still

memorized among veteran Ethiopian musicians. As the band leader of one of the earliest and

famous modern bands, the Ras Band founded in the 1960s, Nalbandian played a vital role in

intensifying the development of modern music. The Ras Band members Girma Beyene (singer

composer and music arranger), Wodajeneh Felfelu (saxophone), Assefa Bayisa (trumpet), Teffera

Mekonnen (piano player and music composer) Tilahun Yimer (bass) and Bahru Tedla (drums)

predominantly came from the Haile Silassie Theatre Orchestra whereas the last three

members had previously also served the Imperial Bodyguard Orchestra until ca. 1955.

The creative trend of music that generally marked this specific period was reflected in the

fusion of Ethiopian folk tunes with Western music. Therefore, songs with such arrangements

gradually started to boom during the 1960s and early 1970s. Afro American pop music

styles, R&B (rhythm and blues), Rock’n Roll, soul and jazz became an inspiration for

Ethiopian music composers and arrangers as well as their foreign teachers. Falceto (2005a)

describes this period as follows: “It wasn’t any longer military and instrumental music; it

becomes Ethiopian songs, arranged by all music teachers from abroad, teaching themselves Ethiopian

arrangements. So, little by little, the Ethiopian influence in this music was increasingly stronger. We

also have to keep in mind that after the Second World War, in Ethiopia, like everywhere in the world,

the strong influence was the American big band. Everywhere, you could see the development of these

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big bands, playing more or less American or local music with influences of jazz big bands. And

because there’s this tradition of marching bands with big horn sections, the Ethiopian big bands

appeared immediately. You had large civil bands with 10, 15, 20 players, incredible horn sections. This

gave the real blend of modern Ethiopian pop music. Until the fall of Haile Silassie in 1974, you could

feel this influence of the horn section, coming from the jazz band influence from America post the

Second World War.”

So the musical development from 1955 until 1974, that represented the crossroad between

tradition and modernism, may - from today’s point of view - be considered as the most

progressive time marking the years of modern music innovation with very unique Ethiopian

styled popular songs.

Status of Musicians

The demonstration of royal power through music has been practiced in many African

kingdoms of the past. For instance in the kingdom of Buganda in Uganda a number of

traditional musical instruments served as symbols of authority. The rulers themselves like

for instance Kabaka Mutessa II. (1924-1969), were great music admirers who not only fostered

musical activities within their courts, but who were directly involved in music making as

well. Thus, many of them played music instruments in private and enjoyed the plentiful

music performances in their courts. The patronage of these rulers enabled court musicians of

Buganda to develop their artistic skills towards perfection without restraints. Therefore, being

a musician, especially a court musician was a very much respected profession among

Ugandan communities (Cooke 1988: 601; Kubik 1982: 14-18).

In Ethiopia court music instruments like for example the kettle drum Negarit and the end

blown flute Embilta have similarly reflected the power of the royal kingdoms and their

nobilities for centuries being used on state or royal occasions. However, these instruments

were exclusively played by darker skinned people considered as ‘slaves’ who were usually

brought from south and west Ethiopia just for this purpose. It was a disgrace for ‘ordinary

Ethiopians5’ to play music instruments or be a musician at all (Kebede 1971: 161-164).

Therefore, there was generally a bad sentiment towards musicians, a situation also observed

during the Haile Silassie era. Haile Silassie actually played a vital role in introducing modern

music (marching bands) to Ethiopia, reorganizing old and establishing new military bands

(especially after 1941) that were assigned to serve the purposes of the empire. The additional

establishment of the two theatre houses enabled the emperor to further promote western

oriented light (instrumental) and classical music as well. Despite of all these initiatives, the

popular songs that started to emerge from musical experiences gained in all these

institutions at a later time were not necessarily aimed or expected by the emperor. The flow

of a large number of Ethiopian modern songs and the new musical trend of music

composition and arrangement was nevertheless, tolerated by the government, since it was a

harmless process. And yet the profession was considered as evil and musicians were

deprived of moral and financial support facing socio-cultural suppression and segregation.

So musicians always fought against their bad image in the community. Yet, through their

relentless effort towards the growth of Ethiopian modern music, they have left us a large

5 Usually the Amhara and the Tigreans from the Central highland of Ethiopia were better positioned

and also possessed a higher status in the community.

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music repertoire. Commending those professionals who have passed away and the few who

are still alive we appreciate them for a well done great job.

Western Music Influence

The role of mass media, particularly radio has immensely contributed to the development of

modern music during the Golden Years in Ethiopia, starting from the late 1960s. It is thus

absolutely doubtless that the broadcasting of foreign (American) music via radio has been an

inspiration for Ethiopian musicians at the time to create new tunes with accordingly new

musical styles. The arrival of several thousand Peace Corps Volunteers to Ethiopia along

with American GIs enabled access to new music and up-to-date foreign music every day. In

this military base in Asmara (today’s Eritrean capital) the GIs were provided with

entertainment facilities such as clubs, bars, TV and radio broadcasting stations. So, not only

new music was introduced to Ethiopia through the military radio, but through presence of

these foreigners’ new modes of dressing and hairstyles became trend as well. In terms of

music these young Americans also contributed a lot through their direct involvement in the

musical landscape by performing music “either in the military base, or downtown in the

nightclubs of Asmara” (Falceto 2005a). So night life also played an additional a role in the

process of absorbing and imitating American pop songs. We must however note that the

new created music resulting from foreign music influence turned out to be very unique in its

sublime beauty embodying a deeply rooted Ethiopian spirit. This musical reformation was

primarily conducted by young musicians, although their new songs at first felt very strange

for the mainstream Ethiopian listeners. Steadily music arrangers and composers improved

their arrangement styles corresponding to the demands of the listeners. It was however, not

easy to achieve a breakthrough against the somewhat “backward” and conservative

Ethiopian community and its royal regime.

In the course of time popular music in Ethiopia became prolific. This productive

development particularly began bearing fruits in the Imperial Bodyguard and Police

Orchestras, institutions that were undeniably the incubators of the new music styles in this

country. Thus, during the 1960s, today’s famous singers like Tilahun Gessesse6, Mahmoud

Ahmed, Essatu Tessema, Hirut Bekele, Alemayehu Eshete and Bizunesh Bekele used the

opportunity to entertain their audiences with their songs and their plentiful stage

performances.

The late 1960s and the beginning of the 70s marked the appearance of numerous private

bands performing music in big hotels and night clubs of Addis Ababa. This period revealed

further memorable Ethiopian singers such as Menelik Wossenachew, Seifu Yohannes, Getachewu

Kassa, Daniel Yohannes, Muluken Melese, Tewolde Reda, Ayalewu Mesfin, and Bahta Gebrehiwot,

as well as talented instrument players, composers and arrangers like Girma Beyene, Teshome

Mitiku, Hailu Mergia, Mulatu Astatke and Tesfamariam Kidane just to mention a few. These

musicians in addition enriched the musical landscape of Addis Ababa (see also bernos.org

2006).

6 Tilahun Gessesse was considered as the legendary Ethiopia singers perhaps the greatest singer of all

time whose artistic career lasted for more than five decades. At the age of 68 he died on 19th April

2009 in Addis Ababa after a sudden heart attack. The Ethiopia government hosted a state funeral for

this great vocalist that was attended by millions of fans from all social strata. This funeral is

considered to be the first of its kind in the Ethiopian history.

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“… it was not national radio that initiated the development of western influence. It was mostly this

new generation who wanted to leave the institutional bands, and create their own orchestra of 4, 5, 6,

7 pieces. Never mind this huge big band of twenty musicians and more. They wanted to have a set up

just like the Rolling Stones or an American soul band. They wanted to imitate this. And they were

closer to that than anything else. They were real artists in the sense they wanted to develop, to create

something and to present to the general public this new thing.”(Falceto 2005a)

Isolated Development of Ethiopian Modern Music

According to so far made accounts Ethiopian modern music of the Golden Years had

although been subordinated to new musical reformations, but it was merely limited to the

western – and in this case American - music influence. In the entire music repertoire of this

period we do not find a touch of any other African music as we may to some extent ascertain

today’s modern Ethiopian music. About the attitude of Ethiopian musicians and the unique

background of Ethiopian modern music practice of the 1950s and 1960s, Falceto (2005a)

argues that they “…are so proud of their culture, so nationalist, so chauvinistic, generally about

their own culture, their own country. They were completely closed to the influence of the neighbouring

African countries and they were very reluctant to adopt other cultures. They felt much closer to

American or European music. Until very recently there were no African influences in Ethiopia. You

could never listen to music from e.g. Zaire rumba, or highlife from Ghana and Nigeria, music from

South Africa, Senegal and Mali. This is also one of the very important reasons why Ethiopian music

is so unique, so closed to itself.”

Should this argument be taken seriously? Could this nationalist attitude of Ethiopians have

probably evoked “ignorance” towards music from neighbouring African countries? Had

Ethiopia generally kept its distance from other African countries, due to the political

background (colonization) of the other African nations? Could Ethiopian nationalism be

indirectly related with the countries long lasting independence? Could this sentiment also

have influenced the musical behaviour of Ethiopian musicians at that time? If so, are

Ethiopia and Ethiopians paying the price for the late 19th century victories? These questions

require a thorough study and might shed more light into the past period of Ethiopian

modern music.

Music Production and Commercialization

Modern Ethiopian music reached its climax at the end of the 1960s when record companies

started to release music. It is very unfortunate that no commercial recordings of modern

music have been made until this time. This refers especially to numerous songs performed

by singers of the two famous military ensembles. The only collections existing from this time

were reel-to-reel recordings made by the Armenian merchant Garbis Hayzagian and the

Ethiopian Radio. So it was a great step forward for the promotion of music both locally and

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internationally, when the first independent Ethiopian record label known as Amha Records7

was founded by the music admirer Amha Eshete in 1969. Music was controlled by the

government and therefore, it was not easy for Eshete to convince the emperor about his

intention. Following Eshete’s company, the two Ethiopians Kassahun Eshete and Ali Tango

established Philips and Kaifa Records8 (Solomon: 2007; Kassaye 2002: 100; see figures 1-3). All

these record companies altogether released more than 450 singles (45s) and 30 LPs from

1969-1978. The music repertoire included songs of the singers from the Imperial Bodyguard

and the Police Orchestra as well as those of private bands established at a later time.

A relatively easy production and commercialization of music of the “Golden Years” was

particularly possible after the invention of the audio music cassette in the 1970s. This

worldwide imported technology replaced the so far existing sound formats, 45s, LPs and

reel-to-reel tapes. According to Kassaye (2002: 100) the first Ethiopian produced commercial

audiocassette is probably an instrumental album of the famous saxophone player Getachewu

Mekurya from the Police Orchestra, printed in Greece in 1972 and released by Philips

Company. Since then several local recording firms and/or music shops have released a large

number of cassette albums (both traditional and modern) principally in Amharic language9.

Figure 1: Menelik Wossinachewu 10 Figure 2: Mahmoud Ahmed11 Figure 3: Hirut Bekele12

7 Amha Records was an Ethiopian record label founded by the music admirer Amaha Eshete, the first

Ethiopian music producer, a company that altogether released about 103 singles and 12 albums

between 1969 and 1975. 8 Mention must be made that in earlier times Ethiopian traditional music had been released by foreign

record companies such as Odeon and Columbia. The first Ethiopian (and most probably the first

Sub-Saharan) musician whose songs were released on records is Tessema Eshete, a musician,

politician, poet, sculptor, farmer and a businessman. The release of plemty of his songs

accompanied by the one-stringed fiddle Masinqo (played by himself) is supposed to have been

recorded by Odeon in Germany where Tessema Eshete stayed for of education purpose from 1908-

1910 (Kassaye 2002: 100). 9 In a study made by Kassaye (2002: 100) in 1995 “except the dubbed cassettes (dubbed either from reel-to-

reel- or LP) which accounted 13 percent, 96 out of 475 albums were recorded and distributed in Ethiopia by

33 “companies”. This does not mean that the number of the music shops in the country is limited to this

amount.” 10 Singer: Menelik Wossinachewu; accompanying band unknown; song titles: side a) Mekabirene Liyew

“Show me my grave”; side b) Chereka “Moon”; Arranger: Girma Beyene; released by Amha Records;

AE 810; IES-Collection, Addis Ababa University. At the age of 69 Menelik Wossinachewu died in

December 2008 in Addis Ababa after having served as one of the prominent and outspoken

Ethiopian singers for more than four decades. He spent much of his artistic career in exile. 11 Singer: Mahmoud Ahmed accompanied by the Imperial Body Guard Orchestra; Song titles: side a)

Yeshi Haregitu “Yeshi my Ivy (my love)”. Yeshi is a typical female Amharic name; side b) Ineman

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Unfortunately, due to lack of technological know-how, appropriate recording and

duplicating studio equipments, cassette production in Ethiopia has mostly been of very poor

quality. Another major problem has been and it still today is piracy and/or the violation of

copyright that has been very destructive in the process of marketing. The result has always

been a low quality album production (Kassaye 2002: 103).

End of the “Golden Years”

Ethiopian foreign politics that was primarily directed to the West during the Haile Silassie

reign has inevitably initiated change in the course of the Ethiopian music and influenced it.

The result of this development was the so far described musical innovation achieved during

the “Golden Years” (Shelemay 2006a). However, the deep rooted musical spirit and the

experience made in this area (1955-1974) was shattered by the eve of the 1974 revolution that

marked the end of the long lasting regime of Haile Silassie. Ethiopia was subjected to

enormous political, social and cultural crises from the initial time onwards and when the

dictatorial military Derg overtook the political power. With regard to music making, all kind

of modern, traditional and religious music/songs were immediately banned from

broadcasting. Musicians were strained to serve the government by performing, arranging

and composing new tunes consisting of merely revolutionary messages. A large portion of

already existing popular and traditional songs was misused to serve the same purpose.

Melodies were rearranged and their lyrics were changed to fit the new political ideals. Easily

grasped marching songs and instrumentals became prevalent especially in urban centres

being also broadcasted night and day via radio and TV. Music started to be mis(used) as a

tool for propaganda. Despite of this new and challenging political experience, there was no

time to create new potentials overnight. Therefore, musicians were strained to get

accustomed to the new political situation, create matching works and ignore the issue of

musical form and style. Eshete (1982: 27) describes this critical period as follows: “… in music,

the radical transformation was to be seen most vividly in the content of the songs. As far as tunes or

musical compositions were concerned, the revolution had not yet developed sufficiently to penetrate

the creative spirit of our composers, and with very few exceptions, revolutionary songs, frequently

sung by vocalists from the last regime, were adapted to tunes and dances prevalent in pre-

revolutionary days, and even earlier, and the contradiction was vivid in a number of cases”.

Musicians who either refused to compose pro-government songs or those who produced

“reactionary” songs suspected to create dangerous tunes became targets and consequently

faced imprisonment, torture and execution. Starting from about the end of the 1970s13

numerous Ethiopians including musicians of the Golden Years started to flee the country

towards exile. Predominantly USA and Canada have been favourite places for the great part

Neberu “Who was there?”; Arrangers: Fikru Woldesilassie and Seifu Hailemariam; recorded by Philips

Ethiopia; PH 113; IES-Collection, Addis Ababa University. 12 Singer: Hirut Bekele accompanied by the Police Orchestra; Song titles: side a) Iwunetegna Fikir “True

love”; side b) Des Yemiyasegn “Something Joyful”; Lyric: Tesfaye Abebe and Dires Anteneh; Arranger:

Nigussie Dagne; recorded by Kaifa Records; KF 48; IES-Collection, Addis Ababa University. 13 Most of them never came back to Ethiopia even after the revolution. As to Falceto (2005b) most of

them still live today in Washington DC area, Los Angeles, Texas, Colorado, Philadelphia and

Chicago as well as in Toronto, Canada. These are also areas where large Ethiopian communities

reside today.

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of Ethiopian immigrants in the past several decades. Those musicians who remained back in

Ethiopia were in one way or another paralyzed of the worst socio-political influence that had

a great impact on music making above all during the initial years of the revolution.

Even though the local music market still existed after 1974, production, marketing and

distributing of music albums lacked of quality apart from that fact that it was not very much

operative as it had been prior to the revolution. Hence, music albums were prohibited from

publication and distribution, if they did not include at least one song propagating the

revolution. The other problem was related to censorship that was conducted by government

instructed propaganda organs. Due to this and various other factors music making greatly

lacked of quality.

So, generally speaking the 17 years of dark period during the Ethiopian revolution did not

only hamper the development of the country as such, but it also interrupted and greatly

destroyed the musical innovation of the Golden Years.

Availability and Accessibility of Sound Materials

The availability of modern Ethiopian music of the 1960s and 70s is today limited to some

state owned institutions in Ethiopia (radio and television) and most probably to a few

number of committed private collectors.

The first institution I would like to mention is the Ethiopian Radio Enterprise, one of the

oldest broadcasting companies in the country. It was founded after Ethiopia became a

member in the League of Nations in 1923. Its audio-visual section possesses among other

things a large number of record albums of different formats including earlier recordings with

songs accompanied by the Bodyguard Band and the Police Orchestra on reel-to-reels. The

major part of its entire collection consists of sound carriers from the 1950s to 1970s14 that also

includes the 45s and LPs (singles and albums) with a vast compilation of both international

and local (Ethiopian) song albums released between the 1960s and 70s (fig. 4a-b). According

to my information, the records were used for radio broadcasting programs in former times.

However, the respective playback units are no more marketable today and the technical

equipment available in the archives are inoperative15. Consequently this sound collection

lacks of space, inadequate storage, humidity and dust.

14 The sound documentation section holds 24.000 recordings on reel-to-reel tapes lasting for ca 12000

hours and it receives 2800 additional documents on the same format annually. Its Sound Library on

the other hand comprises altogether 7700 hours of 77000 songs on cassettes, reel-to-reels, and

records as well as on digital sound carriers. Additionally it receives songs of 100 hours per year. 15 Contrary to the record albums, reel-to-reel tapes are still used for recording and archiving purposes

along with digital carriers.

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Figures 4a-b: part of the record collection of Radio Ethiopia

The second municipal institution holding a similar music collection is the Institute of

Ethiopian Studies (IES) at the Addis Ababa University (see fig. 5a-b).

Figures 5a-b: Part of the record collection of Amha, Philips and Kaifa Records; IES-Collection16

Regarding the collection of modern Ethiopian songs, released during the Golden Years, I

received a digitized copy (compiled on CD) from the multimedia unit of the IES in 2003. This

reference material also included scanned sleeves of the respected record albums added to the

files. But, compared to the much larger collection that is missing in the CD, I doubt whether

all singles and albums have been digitized. Regarding the copied songs, I would say that

they can generally be listened, but nearly in all of them are too overloaded. This might either

be a result of an unprofessional sound adjustment in the digitization process or the bad

quality of the available equipment/s used for this purpose (Teffera 2007: 64-71).

Music shops of Addis Ababa are probably still additional sources of modern Ethiopian music

deriving of the Golden Years. Even though nowadays it is very likely to find records, the

earliest music shops; e.g. the Ali Tango Music Shop might still acquire some of these rare

sound carriers. Moreover, part of the songs released on these records had been offered for

sale on audiocassettes for many years until recent time, which might still be an additional

option to access these sound materials before they vanish forever.

16

Photos in figures 4 and 5: T. Teffera, 01.03.2005, Addis Ababa

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Furthermore, it is worth to mention online discographies of Ethiopian singles and albums

released by Amha, Philips and Kaifa Records. Among other things, Peter Piper’s website17 in

titled “Ethiopian 45s of the 1960s and 70s” may serve as useful source materials. Figures 6 a-

d for instance show a record with two singles of the famous singer Alemayehu Eshete released

in 1973. As far as information is available, the interested reader will discover the code

number of the album (here: Amha AE 650 A and B), singer’s name and song title, the name

of the song writer and arranger, the accompanying band, year of first release and last but not

least the place where the record was pressed. Piper presents the record albums of each of the

record company in separate lists so that it is very easy for the visitor of the site to search for

one of these labels specifically. The figures display both the front and back side the albums

cover (fig. 6a-b) as well as the records, sides A and B with all applicable information. This

discography is, however, not always complete.

Figures 6a-b: Alemayehu Eshete: Kochen Messassate/ Euruke Yaleshew

Side-A/Amha AE 650 A: Singer: Alemayehu Eshete; Song title: Kochen Messassate “I regret my mistake”; music

arranger: Girma Beyene, Reissued on 'éthiopiques-9: Alèmayèhu Eshèté 1969-1974', (Buda Musique, France) as

"Qotchègn mèssassaté"

Side B/Amha AE 650 B: Singer: Alemayehu Eshete; Song title: Euruke Yaleshew “The bride”; Song writer: Girma

Haile ; music arranger: Girma Beyene; Reissued on 'éthiopiques-9: Alèmayèhu Eshèté 1969-1974', (Buda Musique,

France) as "Eruq yalèshew",

Originaly released: 1973, Record pressed in Greece, Multi-colored vinyl, With picture sleeve

In Piper’s discography Amha Records is represented with 42, Kaifa Records with 20 and Philips

with 69 albums. This makes a total number of 131 compiled albums. We may thus discern

that all released labels of the given period (about 450-500) are not yet displayed on this site.

The effort of Peter Piper, to create this discography by inviting interested contributors to fill

in the gap and complement the list with absent scans, additional information, translation of

song titles, should be admired.

17 See discography Philips record labels under: http://www.funkfidelity.de/ethio/philips.htm and

http://www.funkfidelity.de/ethio/philips2.htm, Kaifa record labels under: http://www.funkfidelity.

de/ethio/Kaifa.htm and Amha record labels under: http://www.funkfidelity. de/ethio/Amha.htm.

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Research State

Today the unique asset of modern Ethiopian music and new styles of from the Golden Years

has seemingly become a long forgotten history. Its isolated development within the

territories of Ethiopia has made it unknown to the rest of the world. A small number of

memorable oldies – which lift the listener back to the time of their emergence - have in the

past been rearranged and performed either by veteran artists or by their successors.

However, the flood of new released albums on the local and international market since then

has strongly influenced their continued existence. Additionally, the socio-political and

cultural changes that took place in post-revolutionary Ethiopia, i.e. from 1974 until today,

including the change of generations have contributed a lot to their disappearance.

Furthermore, the rapid transformation of music production and consumption worldwide is

another reason for the gradual vanishing of the collection of Ethiopian oldies.

By the end of 1990 the French musician Francis Falceto brought this special collection of

Ethiopian oldies since 1997 to the world audience by releasing the so-called Ethiopiques

compact discs series on Buda Musique compiled in more than 20 volumes. This growing

collection predominantly features veteran Ethiopian singers such as Alemayehu Eshete (vol. 9,

22) Mahmoud Ahmed (vol. 6, 7, 8, 19) and as well as music arrangers and instrument players

like for instance Mulatu Astatke and Getachewu Mekurya (vol. 4, 14, 20) by providing an almost

complete picture of Ethiopian popular music produced during the highly productive years

(1950s - 1970s) in Addis Ababa. A small part of the Ethiopiques series has also been dedicated

to Ethiopian traditional and spiritual songs (vol. 11, 12, 16, 18, 21, 23) as well as to new songs

produced after the Derg era (1991). Nevertheless, its major attempt is the comprehensive

compilation and promotion of singles and albums that had been released in the above

mentioned period by the three Ethiopian based music companies, Amha, Kaifa and Philips.

Francis Falceto definitely deserves credit for his immense effort to make this unique

collection accessible to the music loving world audience. The revival of this rare music

repertoire several decades after their initial recording, thanks to the Ethiopiques series, is to be

considered as a great breakthrough for Ethiopia’s modern music. In doing so, Falceto has

simultaneously guaranteed their long lasting preservation on new sound formats of the

digital era (see discography of Ethiopiques Series at the end of the article).

In terms of academic and/or ethnomusicological investigations, very little has been done

regarding the modern music in Ethiopian in general until present day, except Francis

Falceto’s informative book in titled Abyssinie Swing: A Pictorial History of Modern Ethiopian

Music. Additionally some online accessible articles, newspaper columns, and interviews may

be mentioned that also focus on modern Ethiopian music of the period between 1955 and

1974. These publications give a general overview to musical creativity during this time. This

is however, not sufficient to achieve a detailed know-how on issues such as instrumentation,

technique of harmonization, variety of melodic and rhythmic arrangements, the use of

ornamentation, song styles and lyrics. And yet it is interesting to explore more about

instrumentalists, music composers and arrangers as well as the repercussion of the audience.

It would also be interesting to discover more about the dance styles that likewise reveal a

mixture of traditional and modern choreographic organisations which came into being along

with the creation of the modern music.

Music Analysis: Prior to representing some selected music examples, mention must be made

that the so far clarified Ethiopian modern music (primarily songs) predominantly refers to

12

songs performed in Amariña language, due to the fact that Amariña was the official language

of the country18. Therefore, compared to the very small number of songs in other languages

such as Tigriña and Oromiña during 1960s and 70s, songs released in Amariña possess the

dominant part, a trend that has remained until present day.

Modern Ethiopian music is a huge chapter for itself and it requires a thorough investigation.

Unfortunately this short and quite limited paper does not allow us to discuss the

development of modern Ethiopian music in detail. Therefore, let us take a look at some

selected music examples. In order to understand Ethiopian modern music (primarily songs)

of the Golden Years it is worth to take a closer consideration to the unique features of this

music repertoire. Some of the distinct characteristics are the following:

- The richness of the instrumentation; i.e. orchestras and bands consisted of musicians

playing various types of instruments such as saxophone, trumpet, guitars (lead and bass),

piano and organ, drums and percussion, whereas a few orchestras even possessed a string

section (music example 1).

- Music arrangements were given special attention. New rhythmic and foreign musical

styles were used for song arrangement. This refers among other things to the clear shifting

of the traditional five-pitched scales to the treatment of diatonic scales primarily in

instrumental parts, particularly instrumental improvisations. Furthermore, the use of

arpeggiated chords, succession of chords (major, minor triads and inverted chords) in

instruments (keyboard, piano, saxophone etc.) should be mentioned. Regarding the vocal

parts the utilization of two-part harmony could be added to the new trends in the music.

And yet the songs remained distinctively Ethiopian in their melodies and 'feeling'.

- The groove was the main unique feature of the Ethiopian modern music. This musical style

is especially noticeable in the bass parts played for instance by base guitars or saxophones.

Such grooves with their fantastic frameworks do not only magnetize the listener but they

also enable him to understand the rhythmic and metric pattern that underlines a given

song through its constantly recurring phrase/s including melodic and rhythmic variations

(music examples 2 and 3).

In figure 7 (music example 2) the rough melodic and metro-rhythmic structure of a typical

groove played by a base guitar as song introduction. The song in titled Hedech Alu “She’s

gone, I was told”, released in 1972 by Amha Records is performed by Muluken Melesse. After a

while the song performed in the traditional Anchi Hoye Lene mode with the intervallic m2,

M3, m2 and m3 referring to the pitch sequence a#- b - d# - e - g revealing the dominance of the

five-pitched traditional scale, begins. In doing so, the guitar continues playing the initial

groovy lines until the end of the first song part. In the second song part the guitar changes its

so far played base line into matching them to the basic song lines of and the endings (tonic,

subdominant, dominant etc.). In certain gaps the groove phrases shown in the notation (fig.

7) occurs again along with variations.

18 Amharic dominated all, political, judicial and socio-cultural sectors of the country until the 1990s

and it remain still important. However, today some few languages such as Tigriña and Oromiña are

serving as additional official languages as well.

13

Figure 7: base line of the bass guitar: Song Title: “Hedech Alu” performed by Muluken Melesse;

Ethiopiques No. 10: Ethiopian Blues & Ballads, Album no. 2; Series Editor: Francis Falceto

Buda Musique – Exclusive licence from Amha Eshete/Amha Records; originally released 02/1972; CRC

Edition 2007

Music example 3 (fig. 8a-b) represents the song in titled Tizita “nostalgia” performed in the

Tizita mode (Qiñit) revealing the five-pitched traditional scale in the basic melody. This mode

usually consists of two versions that are distinguished in major and minor Tizita modes. This

song is performed in the second mode comprising the intervallic M3, M2, M2 and m3. The

pitches concerned are therefore, c – d – eb – g - ab. The song, originally released by the Amha

Records, is performed by Mahmoud Ahmed, one of the famous Ethiopian singers.

In figure 8a only the groove part played by the base line is represented in order to

demonstrate a typical repetition of short melodic fragments that underline the basic rhythm

and give the song its distinctive feature. In addition to the use of slight variations this base

line is continuously played shortly after the first two stanzas of the song that is followed by

an instrumental improvisation. In doing so, the improvisation is played by a saxophone that

is accompanied by the groovy bass guitar line (figure 8b) and drums (not transcribed here).

Figure 8a: base line of the bass guitar: Song Title: “Tizita” performed by Mahmoud Ahmed;

Ethiopiques No. 10: Ethiopian Blues & Ballads, Album no. 8; Series Editor: Francis Falceto, Buda

Musique – Exclusive licence from Amha Eshete /Amha Records; originally released 10/1974; CRC

Edition 2007

14

Figure 8b: base line of the bass guitar with saxophone improvisation

15

Conclusion

The great effort of Emperor Haile Silassie I to introduce modernity to Ethiopia including

music is worth of admiration, although Ethiopian musicians (both traditional and modern)

were not given much credit for their artistic talent at that time. The above mentioned military

bands were mainly founded to serve the royal kingdom and its nobilities. They were used on

royal occasions with the main aim to symbolize power and status of the regime.

The emergence and development of Ethiopian popular music of the Golden Years (1955-

1974) that had its roots in the military bands was in fact not the main goal of Haile Silassie.

The musical innovations in these military bands that gave birth to the appearance of private

bands must although have been beyond his expectation, but his administration tolerated this

peaceful musical development.

Ethiopian musicians of the Golden Years had less chance to grow professionally or

financially. They lived with very little salary, did not have the chance to travel and perform

abroad, and their works were never documented properly. But these people were in love

with their profession, they worked with great passion and dedication.

Based on what artistic criteria can we compare the Ethiopian pop music and musicians of the

Golden Years with that of today? What do we miss in terms of modern music nowadays in

Ethiopia? How do we judge the current situation of Ethiopian musicians?

Today modern music has reached another dimension. Numerous arrangement styles

combined with all imaginable fashionable beats like Reggae, Hip-hop, rap, Samba and

Rock’n roll are increasingly being fused with traditional elements. Artistic expressions are

thus seemingly unlimited. Therefore, there is a general tendency to mix all types of music up

and down without really caring much for its aesthetic beauty as a final result. It is true that

musical tastes are subjective, but it would not be a mistake to say that in some specific cases

music is being tyrannized, abused and misused today by those who have neither musical

training and know-how nor talent. The respectful handling of music that was practised

during the Golden Years hat to a great extent vanished today due to various factors.

Today’s Ethiopian musicians are much more privileged than their predecessors for various

reasons: They came into the scene at a time were relatively more recognition and attention is

given to the profession, get a huge income from music album sales, travel abroad to stage

concerts, which is an additional income on top of the music album sales. Today’s artists work

towards contributing their respective share to the profession, with great emphasis to build

their personal reputation, property, fortune etc.

The Ethiopian popular music has not yet reached the stage it should have reached. Of course,

this has not much to do with lack of talented artists only, but also with the luck of the

necessary attention from concerned institutions or parties. No incentives or special tax

privileges are given to individuals, who have interest of promoting music at a much higher

level. The focus is greatly limited to the local market, so is the quality of the music

production. Therefore, we cannot talk of Ethiopian music having the chance of penetrating

the international market. Let alone Western popular music, compared even to the works of

other African countries, Ethiopian popular music has a long way to go to reach a higher

stage. For example, we can site the works of West African or South African music, songs,

arrangement and production quality. They are far ahead of than countries like Ethiopia.

Their music CDs are published and widely consumed in Europe, America and other parts of

the world; they perform live concerts at international level, their names and works are well

promoted/marketed, they participate well in international or regional forums. The annual All

16

African Music Awards (KORA) may be mentioned as an example, a forum where almost all

African countries sent candidates to. Ethiopia was first represented at the KORA Awards

ever by sending a candidate in the year 2003, nine years after this significant African event

started to take place.

Tradition has a constantly shifting nature evoked by social, cultural and political changes of

different dimensions. Modernity on the other hand would be ridiculous if it is detached from

its traditional roots, its base. This condition also refers to musical phenomena that reflect the

social and cultural domain of a community, being invented and re-invented understood and

consumed. Musicians of the Ethiopian Golden Years have used new instruments, musical

styles, which they integrated into the already existing traditionally learnt musical

behaviours. The result of this process was the birth of a totally new music that reveals

variously minted (fused) traditional and modern musical elements. And yet the

distinctiveness of the musical structures, rhythms and melodies are still distinctly Ethiopian

in their spirit.

Finally I would like to seize this opportunity to reiterate that music is one of the identities of

a society, a treasure. Thus I firmly believe that the government’s concerned body, private

investors and art enthusiasts should contribute towards speeding up the positive growth of

the Ethiopian Music Industry through professional trainings, better promotional and

marketing activities in order to create a favourable/conducive atmosphere for a much better

and promising future.

17

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http://addisconnexion.com/index.php/Music/Great_Artists_Of_My_Time.html

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2009, http://addisconnexion.com/index.php/Music/The_Father_of_Ethiopian_Jazz.html

David, Zenian: “A Journey Back in Time: A Look at the History of Armenians in Ethiopia”, In:

Ethiopia 6/1/1994, http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title

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Eshete, Aleme: « The Cultural Situation in Socialist Ethiopia », Imprimerie des Presses

Universitaires de France, Vendome, 1982.

Falceto, Francis: Un siècle de musique moderne en Éthiopie (précédé d’une hypothèse

baroque), Cahiers d'études africaines, 168, 2002,

http://etudesafricaines.revues.org/document163.html

______: “Empire and Revolution”, in Afropop’s Newsletter New York 12/18, 2005a; Banning

Eyre’s Interview with Francis Falceto/Part I,

http://www.afropop.org/multi/interview/ID/106/Francis% 20Falceto-

Ethiopia:%20Empire%20 and%20Revolution

______ “Diaspora and Return”, in Afropop’s Newsletter New York 12/18, 2005b, Banning

Eyre’s Interview with Francis Falceto/Part II,

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20on%20the%20Ethiopian%20Diaspora

_____: Alfanalech? Gigi between Past and Future, http://www.esai.org/myESAi/viewtopic-t-

1119.html

_____: Abyssinie Swing: A Pictorial History of Modern Ethiopian Music, Shama Books 2001,

Addis Ababa.

Kebede, Ashenafi: The Music of Ethiopia: Its Development and Cultural Setting, diss., Wesleyan

University, Ann Arbor, 1971.

______: Zemenawi Musica: Modern Trends in Traditional Secular Music of Ethiopia, in: The Black

Persperctive in Music, V. Eileen Southern (editor), New York, 1971: 289-301.

Mocria, Ellene/ Messele, Mesfin / Gebre Hiwot, Alemayehu: Ethiopia: Survey of Culture and

Media, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Department for Africa,

Elanders Novum AB. Stockholm 2003.

18

Pareles, Jon: World Music Review; The Sounds of Ethiopia, With a Hint of Mississippi, In: The

New York Times, published January 28, 2003, see

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A06E0D9 1239F93BA15752C0A9659C8B63

_________: Ethiopian Pop star Gosaye Tesfaye: For Émigré Fans, Soothing Words and Spirited

Rhythms From Home; NYT Music Review, in: The New York Times, published January 7, 2008

(see also http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/1713)

Piper Peter: “Ethiopian 45s of the 1960s and 70s”, Compilation of song albums of Ethiopian

modern music (online); source: http://www.funkfidelity.de/ethio/philips.htm

Shelemay, Kay Kaufman: “Empire and Revolution”, in Afropop’s Newsletter New York 9/15,

2006a; Banning Eyre’s Interview with Kay Kaufman Shelemay/Part I,

http://www.afropop.org/multi/ interview/ID/107/Kay+Kaufman+Shelemay-

Ethiopia%3A+Empire+and+Revolution)

______: “Diaspora and Return”, in Afro pop’s Newsletter New York 3/15, 2006a; Banning

Eyre’s Interview with Kay Kaufman Shelemay/Part II,

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Ethiopia%3A+Diaspora+and+Return

Solomon, Abiy: A tribute to Amha Eshete, In: Addis Tibeb: A Weblog of Arts and Culture,

January 15, 2007; http://abiy.wordpress.com/2007/01/15/a-tribute-to-amha-eshete/

Teffera, Timkehet: Musik zu Hochzeiten bei den Amara im Zentralen Hochland Äthiopiens,

Dissertation, Europäische Hochschulschriften, XXXVI Musikwissenschaft, vol. 209, Peter Lang,

Frankfurt am Main 2001.

______: Depicting Problems and Facing Reality: Archival awareness and developmental obstacles

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March 2009,

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Sunday, 25 May 2008,

http://addisconnexion.com/index.php/Music/A_Brief_Look_at_Ethiopias_Musical_

History.html

19

Music Examples

Music example 1 Song Title: Yezemed Yebaed “Relatives - Non-relatives”, singer: Seifu

Yohannes; Ethiopiques, vol. 1: The Golden Years of Modern Ethiopian Music,

Album no. 12; Series Editor: Francis Falceto; Buda Musique – Exclusive

licence from Amha Eshete /Amha Records; originally released 1969; CRC

Edition 1998

Music example 2 Song Title: Hedech Alu “She left”, singer: Muluken Melesse; Ethiopiques

vol. 10: Ethiopian Blues & Ballads, Album no. 2; Series Editor: Francis

Falceto

Buda Musique – Exclusive licence from Amha Eshete /Amha Records;

originally released 02/1972; CRC Edition 2007

Music example 3 Song Title: Tizita “Nostalgia”; singer: Mahmoud Ahmed; Ethiopiques,

vol. 10: Ethiopian Blues & Ballads, Album no. 8; Series Editor: Francis

Falceto,

Buda Musique – Exclusive licence from Amha Eshete /Amha Records;

originally released 10/1974; CRC Edition 2007

Discography: Ethiopiques Series 1-23, released between 1997 and 2003, France

Volume Year of

release

CD-Title: Content and additional information

1 1998 “The Golden Years of Modern Ethiopian Music”, various artists

2 1998 “Tètchawèt” Urban Azmaris of the 90s, various artists: traditional solo songs

from the central highland areas of Ethiopia accompanied by the one-stringed

fiddle called Masinqo

3 1998 “The Golden Years of Modern Ethiopian Music”, various artists

4 1998 “Ethio Jazz & Musique Instrumentale, 1969-1974“, Mulatu Astatke

5 1999 “Tigrigna Music“, various artists: traditional music of the Tigray people of

North Ethiopia

6 1999 “Almaz“, Mahmoud Ahmed: one of the famous veteran singers who initially

served for quite a long period of time in the Imperial Bodyguard Band

7 1999 “Ere Mela Mela“, Mahmoud Ahmed; see description in vol. 6

8 2000 “Swinging Addis“, various artists

9 2001 Alemayehu Eshete: one of the famous veteran singers who initially served for

quite a long period of time in the Police Orchestra

10 2002 “Tezeta: Ethiopian Blues & Ballads“, various artists: Tezeta [nostalgia] slow solo

Tezeta songs arranged and performed variously by different singers

11 2002 “The Harp of King David“, Alemu Aga: spiritual praise songs usually performed

during the long lasting fasting season prior to; the songs are performed solo

and accompanied by the 10-12 stringed box-lyre called Begena

20

12 2003 “Konso Music and Songs“, various artists: traditional music of the Konso people

of South Ethiopia

13 2003 “Ethiopian Groove”, various artists

14 2003 Negus of Ethiopian Sax, Getachewu Mekurya: Negus of Ethiopian Sax [King of

Ethiopia] = meant to denote the famous saxophonist Getachewu Mekurya who

among others served for a long period of time in the Police Orchesra as

instrumentalist

15 2003 ”Jump to Addis”, various artists

16 “The Lady With the Krar” Asnaketch Worku: belongs to one of the famous

female traditional singers and instrument players. Her fascinating songs (solo)

are accompanied by the six-stringed lyre called Krar (played by herself)

17 2004 Tilahun Gessesse: one of the famous singers who initially served for quite a

long period of time in the Imperial Bodyguard Band

18 2004 “Asguèbba!” various artists: various traditional songs performed by a

traditional music group

19 2005 “Alemye”, Mahmoud Ahmed: see description in volume 6

20 2005 “Live in Addis”, Either/Orchestra with Mulatu Astatke, Getachew Mekurya,

Tsedenia G. Markos, Bahta Hewet, Michael Belayneh

songs and instrumental pieces performed by various artists

21 2006 “Ethiopian Songs”, Emahoy Tsegue-Mariam Gebrou: Ethiopian melodies

played on the piano by the Ethiopian nun. She is famous for her piano pieces

and her remarkable composition

22 2007 Alemayehu Eshete featuring Girma Beyene

23 2007 “Orchestra Ethiopia”: One of the famous traditional music groups that features

various Ethiopian communities and entertained the Ethiopian audience for

many years, especially in the 1960s