University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar | Department o
Transcultural Music Studies
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GUZO: Search for the Origins of
Ethiopian Music
Together with one of the most famous jazz pianists in Africa, the
Ethiopian Samuel Yirga from Addis Abeba, the team from the
Weimar Transcultural Music Studies will embark on a search for the
diversity of an archaic, multi-faceted music. In 2015 and 2016 they
will be accompanied by filmmaker Dirk van den Berg. Samule Yirga
describes his life project as a ?Guzo? (Journey), that will take the
group through a breathtaking country with three climate zones and
5,000 meters difference in altitude.
There is hardly any other cultural region south of the Sahara that has
enjoyed the attention of so many western writers and scholars since
antiquity as much as ancient Abyssinia. The most famous divs
included the Greek philosopher Herodotus, the Phoenician-Syrian
antiquity as much as ancient Abyssinia. The most famous divs
included the Greek philosopher Herodotus, the Phoenician-Syrian
author Heliodorus, the Orientalist Job Ludolf and the enlightener
Adolph Freiherr Knigge. In contrast to other African regions in which
the languages of the colonial powers largely influenced the
development of the culture, this factor has played a subordinate role
in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is the only country in Africa that was not
colonized by a European nation for any length of time.
The unusual cultural density has produced great musical and literary
wealth in the region. The three great monotheist religions have been
represented here from the beginning. Liturgical music of Coptic
monks brought Christianity to the region as early as the 4th century.
In the 7th century Islam entered Ethiopia, and the presence of the
Jews, called Falasha, most likely dates back to the 3rd century. The
Ethiopian sacred musical ceremony connected the European sacred
keys with the ?modi? of Ethiopia, which still influence the style of
music in several regions of the country.
Between Ethiojazz and Traditions
Since the mid-twentieth century, Ethiopia is also well known for its
original urban music scene. The project ?Ethiojazz? made the
country?s music known around the world, especially among jazz
fans. After the socialist revolution in 1974, many Ethiopian musicians
emigrated to North America or Europe (particularly to France).
However, Ethiopia has for the most part remained musically
unexplored. The core of the new ?Guzo? project is to document the
historic music traditions of Ethiopia, and they are firmly tied into the
course of the ?Journey?.
At the same time, the dialogue with the present day will be led by
At the same time, the dialogue with the present day will be led by
Samuel Yirga, who will meet with traditional musicians, who, together
with the musicologists, will examine how music instruments are
made, will attend religious ceremonies, and will perform music
together with musicians he and the group encounter along their
journey. This performance component is fundamentally important for
the film project, because during his search, Yirga will actively interact
with the surroundings he is exploring. On a theoretical level, he will
conduct interviews with musicologists, researchers, experts and
musician colleagues and discuss methods, discoveries and results.
Musicological Mission
Along with concerts in Weimar and other German cities where
Samuel Yirga and traditional musicians from Ethiopia will perform, a
documentary film about an exciting musicological mission in Ethiopia
will mark the end of the project. In addition, the audio and visual
documentation will be added to materials from older private archives
that were collected in 2014 by the Transcultural Music Studies. The
software and music database, ?Global Music Data Base?,
developed by the Weimar department forms the technical and
scholarly platform for the integration of the existing archives and the
material yet to be documented. With the respective meta data, the
music archive can later be easily transferred to Ethiopia.
The idea for Guzo evolved in 2014. Thanks to the support of the
German Federal Foreign Office, Sammy Yirga (Addis Abeba) could
be accompanied by the experts Getie Gelaye (Bahir Dar/Hamburg),
Timkehet Teffera (Addis Abeba/Berlin), Francis Falceto (Addis
Abeba/Paris), David Evans (Memphis)and Itsushi Kawase (Osaka)
Timkehet Teffera (Addis Abeba/Berlin), Francis Falceto (Addis
Abeba/Paris), David Evans (Memphis)and Itsushi Kawase (Osaka)
to visit the Department of Musicology Weimar-Jena in order to
determine and plan the contents of the project during a one-week
symposium. In the meantime there is a Memorandum of
Understanding between the University of Music FRANZ LISZT
Weimar and the Bahir Dar University in northern Ethiopia. According
to Forbes Magazine Africa, Samuel Yirga belongs to the 50 most
important African divs alive. But instead of resting on the laurels of
his popularity, Yirga is determined to investigate the origins of both
his own and Ethiopian music. He has found the perfect partner in
Weimar.