Tizita/Tezeta/tazata( Amharic : ትዝታ; English: memory, "nostalgia" or "longing") [1] is one of the Pentatonic scales or Qañat of the Amhara ethnic group. [2]
The term tizita is distinctly Amharic, there's no Geez equivalent, contrarily to the term nafkot which belong to both languages with the same meaning (regret, emotion linked to a remembrance). [3] Tizita folk songs developed in the countryside by the Amhara peasantry and the village musicians called the Azmaris. [4]
Tizita songs are a popular music genre in Ethiopia and Eritrea. It's named after the Tizita Qañat mode/scale used in such songs. [1] Tizita is known for strongly moving listener's feelings not only among the Amhara, but a large number of Ethiopians, in general. [5]
Western sources often compare tizita to the blues. [6] [7] Other musical equivalent are the Portuguese Saudade , Assouf for the Tuareg people, or Dor in Romania. In Slovakia, the closest word is clivota or cnenie, Sehnsucht in German, and "կարոտ" [8] (phonetically karōt) in Armenian. [8]
Modern Ethiopian artists who have performed tizita songs include Aster Aweke, Hailu Mergia, Bezawork Asfaw, Teddy Afro, Mulatu Astatke, Meklit Hadero, Seyfu Yohannes and Mahmoud Ahmed.
Ethiopian Jazz or Ethio-Jazz genre was developed in the 1960's by infusing Tizita Qañat with elements of Ethiopian Orthodox Christian music, and the use of Western instruments. The pioneer of this genre is Mulatu Astatke. [9]
Krar is a five-or-six stringed bowl-shaped lyre from Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is tuned to a pentatonic scale. A modern Krar may be amplified, much in the same way as an electric guitar or violin. The Krar, along with Masenqo and the Washint, is one of the most widespread musical instruments of the Amhara ethnic group.
Ethiopian music is a term that can mean any music of Ethiopian origin, however, often it is applied to a genre, a distinct modal system that is pentatonic, with characteristically long intervals between some notes.
Amharas are a Semitic-speaking ethnic group which is indigenous to Ethiopia, traditionally inhabiting parts of the northwest Highlands of Ethiopia, particularly inhabiting the Amhara Region. According to the 2007 national census, Amharas numbered 19,867,817 individuals, comprising 26.9% of Ethiopia's population, and they are mostly Oriental Orthodox Christian.
Tilahun Gessesse was an Ethiopian singer regarded as one of the most popular Ethiopian artist of the 20th century. Noted by his tenor voice, he was nicknamed "The Voice" during his country's "Golden Age" in the 1960s. Tilahun was an eminent singer whose works are attributed legacy to Ethiopian music. Besides his popularity, he raised money for aid during the famines of the 1970s and 1980s and earned the affection of the nation, being awarded a doctorate degree by the Addis Ababa University and also winning a lifetime achievement award from the Ethiopian Fine Art and Mass Media Prize Trust.
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Éthiopiques is a series of compact discs featuring Ethiopian singers and musicians. Many of the CDs compile songs from various singles and albums that Amha Records, Kaifa Records and Philips-Ethiopia released during the 1960s and 1970s in Ethiopia. Prominent singers and musicians from this era appearing on Éthiopiques releases include Alemayehu Eshete, Asnaketch Worku, Mahmoud Ahmed, Mulatu Astatke and Tilahun Gessesse. However, some other releases contain new recordings.
The culture of Ethiopia is diverse and generally structured along ethnolinguistic lines. The country's Afro-Asiatic-speaking majority adhere to an amalgamation of traditions that were developed independently and through interaction with neighboring and far away civilizations, including other parts of Northeast Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, India, and Italy. By contrast, the nation's Nilotic communities and other ethnolinguistic minorities tend to practice customs more closely linked with South Sudan and/or the African Great Lakes region.
Mulatu Astatke is an Ethiopian musician and arranger considered as the father of Ethio-jazz.
Washint is an end-blown wooden flute originally used in Ethiopia. Traditionally, Amharic musicians would pass on their oral history through song accompanied by the washint as well as the krar, a six stringed lyre, and the masenqo, a one string fiddle.
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The Either/Orchestra (E/O) is a jazz group formed by Russ Gershon in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, in 1985. E/O is configured as a "small big band", with three saxes, two trumpets and one or two trombones. E/O's is characterized by a heavier and more orchestrated sound than that of a smaller jazz combo, but remains more streamlined and improvisation-oriented than most big bands.
Getatchew Mekurya was an Ethiopian jazz saxophonist.
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Qañat/Qeñet sometimes written Kignit, Keniet, Gegnet, Gignit are secular musical scales developed by the Amhara ethnic group of Ethiopia. Qañat consists in a set of intervals defining the mode of a musical piece or the tuning scale of the instrument playing the piece. There are four main qañat scales that are used, all of which are pentatonic: tizita (ትዝታ), bati (ባቲ), ambassel (ዐምባሰል), and anchihoye (አንቺሆዬ). Three additional modes are variations on the above: tezeta minor, bati major, and bati minor. Some songs take the name of their qañat, such as tizita, a song of reminiscence.
The Ethiopian National Defence Force Band (ENDFB) is a military band of the Ethiopian National Defense Force. It is located in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa for ceremonial use by the state. It is composed of a marching band, a big band, a Corps of Drums, and a youth division. It has received assistance from the British Royal Corps of Army Music, most recently between 2007-2012. The band has itself trained the Tigray and Somali marching bands.
Shonke is a village located some 23 km away from Kemise town, in Jirota kebele, in the current administrative district of Dawa Chefe, Oromia Zone of Amhara Region, Ethiopia. The village was part of former Chefe Golana Dewerahmedo Wereda of the same Zone and was also part of southeast Wollo Province, in the Pre-1992's administrative division.
Tezeta is a music genre in Ethiopia and Eritrea in ballad form.