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.

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

Last Sunday saw the 60th anniversary of the birth of the legendary Bob Marley. Appropriately, thousands of Rastafarians, bedecked in red, gold and green, gathered in Meskal square, Addis Abbaba in Ethiopia, to salute their spiritual fellow traveller and great inspiration.

They formed part of a vast crowd that had assembled to commemorate the life and philosophy of the towering figure that was Bob Marley, who died of cancer, aged 36, in 1981. A musical tribute, in the form of a free concert, was paid by the likes of Youssou N’Dour, Baaba Maal and Angelique Kidjo.

There’s no question that Marley’s music captured the world’s imagination and was instrumental in establishing reggae as the pre-eminent world-music from the 1970s to the late 80s. He came to global prominence with his group The Wailers – who initially formed in 1963, securing quick credibility in Jamaica with a number of hits, produced under the guidance of Coxone Dodd.

International recognition was slower in coming – Marley even had a spell working on a car assembly line in the USA in 1969 – and only materialised once a deal with Island Records had been signed and the collaboration with producer Lee Perry established the sound that came to define Bob Marley and the Wailers to millions of fans around the planet. With the backing vocals of the I-Threes (including Bob’s wife Rita) and a new line-up in 1974, the Marley bandwagon began to roll in earnest.

1977 and 78 marked the release of 2 seminal albums: Exodus and Kaya – which ,in addition to the critical acclaim they received, were massively successful in commercial terms, too. Island Records calculated that, in 1981, the extent of Marley’s global sales stood at £100 million.

Record sales have continued apace since his death. In fact, the 1984 compilation: Legend has consistently topped album charts around the world. There’s a compelling view amongst critics that this appeal is based on the unshakable loyalty of his fan base rather than a significant growth in younger generation converts to Marley’s brand of reggae – which is now seen, very much, as ‘old school’ and the less vibrant and engaging upcountry cousin to the much sharper modern dancehall music – whose influences are drawn from hip-hop, funk and R&B and melded into a powerful, street, hard-hitting, in-yer-boat, urban fusion.

Personally, I happen to think that the music does stand the test of time. Some of the landmarks in the Marley catalogue are:
• Catch a Fire, featuring Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, and released in 1972. It was the first reggae album to be distributed internationally.
• Burnin’, 1973, containing the gems that are: ‘I Shot the Sheriff’ and ‘Get Up Stand Up’.
• Rastaman Vibration, 1976. It stormed into the US charts and articulated many of Marley’s core beliefs – take ‘War’, for example, with the lyrics coming from one of Haile Selassie’s speeches.
• Survival, 1979, with it’s pan-African message of solidarity – promoted by such songs as: ‘Africa Unite’ and ‘Zimbabwe’.

Chris Meehan is the features editor at www.Just-Jammin.com. As well as a freelance writer on many subjects
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