azmari
{{Short description|Entertainer who plays traditionel string instruments of the Ethiopian Highlands}}
Image:Azmari in a tejbeit.jpg, northern Ethiopia]]
An Azmari (Amharic: አዝማሪ) is an entertainer who sings and plays traditional string instruments of the Ethiopian Highlands. They are comparable to medieval European minstrels, bards or West African griots.
Azmari, who may be either male or female, are skilled at singing extemporized verses, accompanying themselves on either a masenqo (one-stringed fiddle) or krar (lyre).
Etymology
Azmari means (to sing or singer) in Amharic. Amharas tend to call all musicians Azmari simply because there's no other word in the language denoting a person who plays a musical instrument.{{cite book |last=May |first=Elizabeth |author-link= |date=1983 |title=Musics of many cultures : an introduction |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/10960729 |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |page=234 |isbn=|oclc=10960729 }}
History
The earliest documented mention of the Azmaris goes back to the mid-15th century, and they presumably go back much further.{{cite book |last=Shelemay |first=Kay Kaufman |author-link=Kay Kaufman Shelemay |date=2021 |title=SING AND SING ON : sentinel musicians and the making of the ethiopian american diaspora. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1241245393|location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=316 |isbn=|oclc=1241245393 }}
= Role in society =
Azmaris once played an important role as social critics by improvising sophisticated texts of praise or criticism.{{cite book |last1=Uhlig |first1=Siegbert |author-link= |date=2017 |title=Ethiopia : history, culture and challenges |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/978295392|location=Munster, East Lansing |publisher=Michigan State University Press |page=207 |isbn=|oclc=978295392 }} Azmaris would mock people in high places, and even Emperors were not spared if they were found to be unpopular with the public. Azmaris were the first to convey scandals in high places.{{cite book |last=Milkias |first=Paulos |author-link= |date=2011 |title=Ethiopia |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/728097838 |location=Santa Barbara, California |publisher=ABC-CLIO |pages=344–345 |isbn=|oclc=728097838 }}
Female Azmaris flourished in feudal Ethiopia. They were just like their male counterparts poet-musicians. The female musicians are usually wives or lovers of male Azmaris who gradually learned the repertory of their male counterparts.{{cite book |last=Milkias |first=Paulos |author-link= |date=2011 |title=Ethiopia |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/728097838 |location=Santa Barbara, California |publisher=ABC-CLIO |pages=344–345 |isbn=|oclc=728097838 }}
Between 1841-1843, the English traveller Major William Cornwallis Harris captured the prevailing political atmosphere and attitudes of Sahle Selassie's court towards his enemies in a song of praise played by one of his female chorist (azmari).
{{Poem quote
|text=In stature like the lance he bears,
His godlike mien the prince declares;
And famed for virtue through the land,
All bow to Saloo's just command.
The sabre feels the royal grasp,
And Pagans writhe in death's cold clasp;
The Galla taste the captive fare,
And dread the vengeance which they dare.
|char=A memorable observation by Major William Cornwallis Harris, of a female Azmari praise of king Sahle Selassie court
|source=The Highlands of Ethiopia (London, 1844) vol.3 page 288
|title=" Misgana (translated from Amharic) praise song"
|style=
}}
Today
Azmaris have continued perform in various settings ranging from wedding ceremonies, to hotels, and in drinking establishments called tejbeit, which specialise in the serving of tej (mead). The Azmaris introduced the popular Tizita ballad form.{{cite web |url=http://www.arts.cornell.edu/english/_lib/pdf/fa08_english_cu.pdf|title=Tizita: A New World Interpretation|accessdate=2010-02-05 |author=Dag Woubshet|year=2008|work=English at Cornell: A newsletter from the Department of English|publisher=Cornell University}}{{cite book |last1=Uhlig |first1=Siegbert |author-link= |date=2017 |title=Ethiopia : history, culture and challenges |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/978295392|location=Munster, East Lansing |publisher=Michigan State University Press |page=207 |isbn=|oclc=978295392 }}
Notable Azmari
References
{{Reflist}}