AREGAHEGN WERASH
Ethiopia is a musically traditional country. Of course, popular music is
played, recorded and listened to, but most musicians also sing traditional
songs, and most audiences choose to listen to both popular and traditional
styles. A long-standing popular musical tradition in Ethiopia was that of brass
bands, imported from Jerusalem in the form of forty Armenian orphans (Arba
Lijoch) during the reign of Haile Selassie. This band, which arrived in Addis
Ababa on September 6, 1924, became the first official orchestra of Ethiopia. By
the end of World War II, large orchestras accompanied singers; the most
prominent orchestras were the Army Band, Police Band, and Imperial Bodyguard
Band. Most of these bands were trained by Europeans or Armenians.From the 1950s to the 1970s, Ethiopian popular musicians included Bizunesh
Bekele, Mahmoud Ahmed, Alemayehu Eshete, Hirut Bekele, Ali Birra, Ayalew Mesfin,
Kiros Alemayehu, Muluken Melesse and Tilahun Gessesse, while popular folk
musicians included Alemu Aga, Kassa Tessema, Ketema Makonnen, Asnaketch Worku,
and Mary Armede. Perhaps the most influential musician of the period, however,
was Ethio-jazz innovator Mulatu Astatke. Amha Records, Kaifa Records, and Philips-Ethiopia
were prominent Ethiopian record labels during this era. Since 1997, Buda
Musique's Ethiopiques series has compiled many of these singles and albums
on compact disc.
