Getatchew Mekurya, who played in the Haile Selassie Theatre Band and Police Band, developed his unique style by playing shillela, a furious war cry soldiers shout before battle.Īfter the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974 and the introduction of socialist ideology, the popular music that was just budding and seemed about to go through its heyday started to weaken.
Other instruments such as the violin, saxophone, horn, accordion and guitar were also adopted. Brass sections made an entrance into Ethiopian music, making the blend complete. Musicians increasingly began using Western instruments and trying innovative sounds. Major artists such as Mahmoud Ahmed, Tilahun Gessese, Alemayehu Eshete, Girma Beyene and Bizunesh Bekele came up with songs laden with various musical themes and made recordings, mainly realised by the Amha Records recording studio. In the 1960s and 1970s, Ethio-jazz became more and more popular in Ethiopia.
#ETHIOPIAN OLD MUSIC WITH MODERN SINGER PROFESSIONAL#
Under his tutelage many successful professional emerged. He brought his own recognizable, signature touch, which later deservedly earned him the title of “The Godfather of Ethio-Jazz”. In doing so he helped set the tone for the evolution of Ethio-Jazz, a hybrid of the pentatonic scale-based melodies of traditional Ethiopian music, with the 12-note harmonies and instrumentation of Western music.Īrranger and composer Mulatu Astatke, trained in the UK and the USA, returned to Ethiopia in 1970 to contribute to this already budding style. The person who took a prominent role in the theatrical and musical movement at the theatre was the Armenian national Narses Nalbandian, a naturalized Ethiopian. Nalbandian was credited with launching the task of harmonising the local sounds with western pop, without destroying the authenticity of the music. Of these, the first one was the municipality theatre, which came to be known by the name National Theatre. The emergence of these bands resulted in the dissemination of elements of western music among Ethiopians. New Ethiopian big bands, connected to the Imperial bodyguard, the army, and the police force started to spring up and modern urban music begun to take shape. The ancient folk music, as represented by the wandering minstrels referred to as Azmaris, started blending with western elements, especially after the arrival of the first European military band, sent to the country by Tsar Nicholas II in 1897. Predominantly filled with asymmetric rhythms set to melodic contours and pentatonic (five-note) scale, Ethiopia’s popular music has been going through a steady evolution from its early days.
0 kommentar(er)
