Ambassel
Ambassel ( Amharic አምባሰል ), also ambasäl , is a pentatonic tone system that is mainly used in the secular music of the Amhars in the historical regions of Begemder , Shewa and Wällo in the highlands of Ethiopia .
In this area in northern Ethiopia there are four pentatonic scales ( kignit, kiñit, or qәñәt ), which consist of a sequence of small seconds , major seconds and thirds . In addition to ambassel , these are tizita ( tәzәta ), bati ( batti ) and anchihoye ( anči hoye ). The name ambassel is derived from the district of the same name ( woreda ) in the administrative region of Amhara .
The Amharas' musical system has no fixed pitches. In the key of C major , the scale on which the mode is based has the following tones: C, Db, F, G and A -flat . The corresponding intervals are a minor second , a major third , a major second , a minor second and a major third.
One of the two main variants of this scale corresponds to the Mixolydian church key in Europe . Ambassel is used in Ethiopian music for songs with historical themes and can be played on the spit violin masinko , the lyre krar and the bamboo longitudinal flute waschint . In addition to traditional Ethiopian music by ballad singers ( azmari ), you can also hear them in the song Ambassel (2015) by Arbate Berihun and Yitzhak Yedid, who play together as the Israeli-Ethiopian duo Ras Dashen .
literature
- Ezra Abate: Ethiopian Kiñit (scales) Analysis of the formation and structure of the Ethiopian scale system. In: Svein Ege, Harald Aspen, Birhanu Teferra, Shiferaw Bekele (eds.): Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Trondheim July 2007. Trondheim 2009, pp. 1213-1224
- Stéphanie Weisser, Francis Falceto: Investigating qәñәt in Amhara secular music: an acoustic and historical study. In: Annales d'Ethiopie, Volume 28, 2013, pp. 299–322
Web links
- Ambassel Kignit (YOD) .MP3. Soundcloud. Audio sample of the YOD Abyssinia Cultural Band : Baynesagn Birhani ( masinko ), Yahalem Zod Negussie ( krar ), Tewodros Bogale ( waschint ), Zeriyun Girma (double-headed hand drum kebero )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Timothy Johnson: Music Theory Ethiopian Music. FSU World Music Online