:masenqo

{{Short description|String musical instrument from Ethiopia}}

{{Infobox instrument

| name = Masenqo

| names =

| image = COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Langhalsluit met 1 snaar TMnr 2997-19a.jpg

| image_capt = A traditional Ethiopian masinko or chira-wata

| background = string

| classification = chordophone

| hornbostel_sachs = 321.311

| hornbostel_sachs_desc = spike bowed lute

| inventors =

| developed =

| range =

| related = *gusle (Dinaric Alps)

• igil (Tuvan)
• krar (Horn of Africa)

| musicians =

| builders =

| articles =

}}

The masenqo ({{langx|am|ማሲንቆ}}; Tigrinya: ጭራ-ዋጣ (ዋጣ), also known as masinko or mesenko,{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/09/arts/music/review-feedel-band-and-the-libyans-african-sounds-at-the-global-beat-festival.html|title=Review: Feedel Band and the Libyans, African Sounds at the Global Beat Festival|date=May 8, 2015|first=Jon|last=Pareles|author-link=Jon Pareles|work=The New York Times|access-date=January 27, 2025}} is a single-stringed bowed lute commonly found in the musical traditions of Eritrea and Ethiopia.{{cite NewGrove2001|title=Ethiopia|last=Shelemay|first=Kay Kaufman|volume=viii|pages=355–356}} As with the krar, this instrument is used by Ethiopian minstrels called azmaris ("singer" in Amharic)

.{{Cite journal

| author = Kebede, Ashenafi

| title = The "Azmari", Poet-Musician of Ethiopia

| journal = The Musical Quarterly

| volume = 61

| issue = 1

| pages = 47–57

| date = January 1975

| doi = 10.1093/mq/lxi.1.47 }} Although it functions in a purely accompaniment capacity in songs, the masenqo requires considerable virtuosity, as azmaris accompany themselves while singing.