The world of international music can be fascinating in its complexity and enjoyable in the adventurous nature of the music on the whole. The music of Africa is especially appreciated for this reason and Ethiopia music is among the finest out there. Considered a musically traditional country, the music of Ethiopia is very diverse and varied. Some forms of the tribal Ethiopia music are influenced by religious beliefs from Islam while other forms take their influence from a lot of the folk music in the area.  Ancient music from Ethiopia also has a distinctive Christian element that is related to their descent from Yared, a man who lived during the reign of Gabra Masqal.

 With such an extensive and influential history, it’s no wonder that Ethiopia music remains to be diverse and popular. Throughout recent history, before the 1990s, Ethiopia went through a period in its history that was especially hard on the people. This included a siege of floods and famines that overtook the land and cost many lives. This part of the history of Ethiopia has helped to shape the land into what it is now and influenced the people in many ways. The country is currently in the middle of a rebuilding process, however, and is starting to re-establish some of their infrastructure to create a way of life for the people. This, of course, also influences the musical expression of Ethiopians.

The Continual Influence Of History

Music, because of the changes made in the last decade or two, has become more accessible outside of Ethiopia’s major city, Addis Ababa. Before the changes to the structure of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa was the major cultural center of Ethiopia music and held much of the culture of the country within its borders. Since then, music has grown throughout the land again and people are practicing all sorts of new styles and flavors of music in their villages and towns.  The music of Ethiopia uses a unique system that is known as the modal system.

The modal system, as used in Ethiopia music, is a style of music that has long intervals between notes. This leads to an often unfinished and spontaneous feel to the music that creates an atmosphere of anticipation as to what will come next. The modal system is well suited to the instrument most often used in Ethiopia music, the “krar”. The krar is a five or six stringed lyre type instrument with a pentatonic scale that is used much the sale way as a standard guitar or violin.

The music of Ethiopia is traditional and eclectic, infused with the variety of culture and religion in the land and created with creativity and energy. The people of Ethiopia love to sing the Ethiopia songs of celebration and protest, allowing them the chance to freely express their experiences and emotions to the fullest. This gives them opportunity to engage in a cultural dialogue, too, giving them the chance to explore the culture and share it with others that may not know. Learning Ethiopia songs is a great way to learn about the cultural mosaic of this African country.

Each of the country’s 80 tribes is associated with at type of music. This makes for a lot of unique sounds in the country of Ethiopia. A lot of the forms of Ethiopia songs are influenced by the countryside folk musicians or Islamic music, but it also has an ancient element derived from Christianity that is related to the country’s deep Christian heritage. The country of Ethiopia uses music as a form of therapy to recover from the serious history of the country, including the famine and the war with Eritrea. This recovery has been aided with Ethiopia songs that have spread throughout the land.

More About The Music

The majority of the music in Ethiopia is traditional or related to the tribal influences. There is, however, a small community of popular music that develops. Most of these musicians in the popular music field, however, sing and perform traditional Ethiopia songs. A longstanding tradition in Ethiopia of brass bands has become quite popular again in modern times, emanating from Jerusalem where the first official orchestra of Ethiopia came from. Large orchestras often accompany singers, creating a large group of European or American trained vocal and musical orchestras.

In the 1980s, when the Derg controlled Ethiopia, it became a lot more stringent to perform or play Ethiopia songs because of the harsh constrictions on the legal elements. Emigration became nearly impossible and the music of Ethiopia suffered as a result of that, creating a musically stagnant time that the country has since evolved out of. Music from Ethiopia in modern times is now becoming popular, with Los Angeles based singer Aster Aweke leading the pack with her tremendous crossover appeal. The music has expanded and is popular all over the world, especially in places like Italy where the scene is thriving.

23rd annual Ethiopian soccer tournament comes to the LA Coliseum for a week long get together of Ethiopians and friends for sports and cultural activities. This is the largest event outside of Ethiopia each year. 50,000 - 75,00 expected.

(PRWEB) June 27, 2006 — Every year the Ethiopian Sport Federation of North America (ESFNA) prepares a week long soccer tournament and cultural expo in major US and Canadian cities; now in its 23rd year it is being celebrated at the L.A. Coliseum in Los Angeles, CA.

This year around 50,000 Ethiopians are anticipated to attend in Los Angeles with many traveling from all corners of America, Canada, Europe, Israel and even from Ethiopia.

The event was held at the Atlanta Dome in Atlanta, GA last year with Atlanta's Mayor Shirley Franklin in attendance and in 2004 it was held at the Seahawks Stadium in Seattle, WA with Seattle Mayor Greg Nickles in attendance.

The event features sports, cultural, culinary and art shows.

About the Organizers (ESFNA and EthioLA3)
Ethiopian Sport Federation of North America (ESFNA) now in its 23rd year holds the largest and most anticipated event by Ethiopians outside of Ethiopia.

ESFNA has 27 soccer teams in division I and II organized by the city in
which they reside, with larger cities such as LA & DC having up to 3 teams due to the large Ethiopian numbers of residents. The games are competitive and even more so this year since they are following right after the 2006 FIFA World Soccer Cup games.

Ethio LA3 is a group comprised of the three ESFNA teams based in Los Angeles. Members of LA Stars, LA Abebe Bekila and LA Dallol are working together to host the ESFNA 2006 in Los Angeles. EthioLA3 has focused to enrich the cultural, culinary and art aspects of the event to draw local non-Ethiopians. Attending is almost like taking a mini-vacation to Ethiopia.

http://ethioLA3.com