Fasilides

Fasilides
Emperor of Ethiopia
Fasilides' Castle in Gondar, Amhara Region.
Reign	1632 - 18 October 1667
Born	1603
Birthplace	Magazaz
Died	18 October 1667
Predecessor	Susenyos I
Successor	Yohannes I
Royal House	House of Solomon
Father	Susenyos I
Mother	Sultana Mogassa
Religious beliefs	Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo

Fasilides (Ge'ez ፋሲልደስ Fāsīladas, modern Fāsīledes; throne name ʿAlam Sagad, Ge'ez ዓለም ሰገድ ʿĀlam Sagad, modern ʿĀlem Seged, "to whom the world bows"; 1603 - 18 October 1667) was nəgusä nägäst (1632 - 18 October 1667) of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the son of Susenyos I and Empress Sultana Mogassa, born at Magazaz in Shewa before 10 November 1603.
Fasilides was proclaimed Emperor in 1630 during a revolt led by Sarsa Krestos, but did not actually reach the throne until his father abdicated in 1632. Once he became Emperor, Fasilides immediately restored the official status of the traditional Ethiopian Orthodox Church. He sent for a new abuna from the Patriarch of Alexandria, restoring the ancient relationship that had been allowed to lapse. He confiscated the lands of the Jesuits at Dankaz and elsewhere in the empire, relegating them to Fremona. When he heard that the Portuguese bombarded Mombasa, Fasilides assumed that Afonso Mendes, the Roman Catholic prelate, was behind the act, and banished the remaining Jesuits from his lands. Mendes and most of his followers made their way back to Goa, being robbed or imprisoned several times on the way. In 1665, he ordered the "Books of the Franks"—the remaining religious writings of the Catholics—burnt.
He is commonly credited with founding the city of Gondar in 1636, establishing it as Ethiopia's capital. Whether or not a community existed here before he made it his capital is unknown. Amongst the buildings he had constructed there are the beginnings of the complex later known as Fasil Ghebbi, as well as some of the earliest of Gondar's fabled 44 churches: Adababay Iyasus, Adababay Tekle Haymanot, Atatami Mikael, Gimjabet Maryam, Fit Mikael, and Fit Abbo. He is also credited with building seven stone bridges in Ethiopia; as a result all old bridges in Ethiopia are often commonly believed to be his work.

Sebara Dildiy (broken bridge in Amharic) was one of two stone bridges built over the Blue Nile River during Fasilides reign. Sebara Dildiy was later repaired during Emperor Menelik II's reign in 1901. Photo shows repair to bridge performed by USA charity Bridges to Prosperity in 2001.

Emperor Fasilides also built the Cathedral Church of St Mary of Zion at Axum. Fasilides' church is known today as the "Old Cathedral" and stands next to a newer cathedral built by Emperor Haile Selassie.
The rebellion of the Agaw in Lasta, which had begun under his father, continued into his reign and for the rest of his reign he made regular punitive expeditions into Lasta. The first, in 1637 went badly, for at the Battle of Libo his men panicked before the Agaw assault and their leader, Melka Kristos, entered Fasilides' palace and took the throne for himself. Fasilides quickly recovered and sent for help to Qegnazmach Dimmo, governor of Semien, and his brother Gelawdewos, governor of Begemder. These marched on Melka Kristos, who was still at Libo, where he was killed and his men defeated. The next year Fasilides marched into Lasta; according to James Bruce, the Agaw retreated to their mountain strongholds, and "almost the whole army perished amidst the mountains; great part from famine, but a greater still from cold, a very remarkable circumstance in these latitudes."
Fasilides dispatched an embassy to India in 1664-5 to congratulate Aurangzeb upon his accession to the throne of the Mughal Empire.
In 1666, after his son Dawit rebelled, Fasilides had him incarcerated at Wehni, reviving the ancient practice of confining troublesome members of the Imperial family to a mountaintop, as they had once been confined at Amba Geshen.
Fasilides died at Azazo, five miles south of Gondar, and his body was interred at St. Stephen's, a monastery on Daga Island in Lake Tana. When Nathaniel T. Kenney was shown Fasilides' remains, he saw a smaller mummy also shared the coffin. A monk told Kenney that it was Fasilides' seven-year-old son Isur, who had been smothered in a crush of people who had come to pay the new king homage.
^{source:wikipedia.org}

Zagwe dynasty

Around 960, Queen Gudit destroyed the remnants of the Aksumite Empire, causing a shift in its temporal power centre that later regrouped more to the south. For 40 years she ruled over what remained of the kingdom, eventually passing on the throne to her descendants. According to other Ethiopian traditional accounts, the last of her dynasty was overthrown by Mara Takla Haymanot in 1137. He married a daughter of the last king of Axum, Dil Na'od, putting control of Ethiopia in Agaw hands.
The Zagwe period is still shrouded in mystery; even the number of kings in this dynasty is disputed. Some sources (such as the Paris Chronicle, and manuscripts Bruce 88, 91, and 93) give the names of eleven kings who ruled for 354 years; others (among them the book Pedro Páez and Manuel de Almeida saw at Axum) list only five who ruled 143. Paul B. Henze reports the existence of at least one list containing 16 names.
According to Carlo Conti Rossini, the shorter length of this dynasty was the more likely one. He argues that a letter received by the Patriarch of Alexandria John V shortly before 1150 from an unnamed Ethiopian monarch, in which the Patriarch is asked for a new abuna because the current office holder was too old, was from Mara Takla Haymanot, who wanted the abuna replaced because he would not endorse the new dynasty.
The mystery of the Zagwe dynasty is perhaps darkest around its replacement by the revived Solomonic dynasty under Yekuno Amlak. The name of the last Zagwe king is lost—the surviving chronicles and oral traditions give his name as Za-Ilmaknun, which is clearly a pseudonym (Taddesse Tamrat translates it as "The Unknown, the hidden one"), employed soon after his reign by the victorious Solomonic rulers in an act of damnatio memoriae. Taddesse Tamrat believes that this last ruler was actually Yetbarak. The end of the Zagwe came when Yekuno Amlak, who proclaimed himself the descendant and rightful heir of Dil Na'od, and acting under the guidance of either Saint Tekle Haymanot or Saint Iyasus Mo'a, pursued the last king of the Zagwe and killed him at the church of St. Qirqos in Gaynt on the north side of the Bashilo River.  

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  source:Wikipedia.org}

Makeda

Makeda

The imperial family of Ethiopia claims its origin directly from the offspring of the Queen of Sheba by King Solomon.^[7] The Queen of Sheba (ንግሥተ ሣብአnəgəśtã Śāb'ã), is named Makeda (ማክዳ Mākədā) in the Ethiopian account.

The Queen of Sheba from medieval manuscript «Bellifortis» by Conrad Kyeser (c. 1405), Prague school.

Story

An ancient compilation of Ethiopian legends, Kebra Negast ('the Glory of Kings'), is dated to seven hundred years ago and relates a history of Makedaand her descendants. In this account King Solomon is said to have seduced the Queen of Sheba and sired her son, Menelik I, who would become the first Emperor of Ethiopia.

The narrative given in the Kebra Negast - which has no parallel in the Hebrew Biblical story - is that King Solomon invited the Queen of Sheba to a banquet, serving spicy food to induce her thirst, and inviting her to stay in his palace overnight. The Queen asked him to swear that he would not take her by force. He accepted upon the condition that she, in turn, would not take anything from his house by force. The Queen assured that she would not, slightly offended by the implication that she, a rich and powerful monarch, would engage in stealing. However, as she woke up in the middle of the night, she was very thirsty. Just as she reached for a jar of water placed close to her bed, King Solomon appeared, warning her that she was breaking her oath, water being the most valuable of all material possessions. Thus, while quenching her thirst, she set the king free from his promise and they spent the night together.

Other Ethiopian accounts make her the daughter of a king named Agabo or Agabos, in some legends said to have become king after slaying the mythological serpent Arwe; in others, to have been the 28th ruler of the Agazyan tribe. In either event, he is said to have extended his Empire to both sides of the Red Sea.

The tradition that the Biblical Queen of Sheba was a ruler of Ethiopia who visited King Solomon in Jerusalem, in ancient Israel, is supported by the first century AD. Roman (of Jewish origin)historian Flavius Josephus, who identified Solomon’s visitor as a "Queen of Egypt andEthiopia".

While there are no known traditions of matriarchal rule in Yemen during the early first millennium BC, the earliest inscriptions of the rulers of Dʿmt in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea mentionqueens of very high status, possibly equal to their kings.

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source: Wikipedia.org

 you can find the full article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of_Sheba

A HISTORY OF MUSIC 

Ashenafi Kebede

Saint Yared: Ethiopia's Great Ecclesiastic Composer, Poet and Priest

Saint Yared singing in front of Emperor Gebre Meskel accompanied by drums, sistra, and male priests. Mesmerized by the music, the Emperor accidentally dropped his spear into the flat part of Yared's foot. Photograph of a traditional color painting. (Collection of Ashenafi Kebede, Florida State University.)

According to Saint Yared's Gedle (biography), he was born in Axum circa 496 (Ethiopian Calendar). His father was an Amhara farmer by the name of Yisaak (Isaac). His mother, Kristina, was born in Tigre from Eritrean parents. Yared received educational and moral guidance from his uncle Gaidiwon who was then reputed to be a scholarly priest. Moreover, it is claimed that Yared was taken to Heaven where he was taught by three Holy Spirits, the arts of vocal performance, composition, poetry, versification and improvisation. Yared arranged and composed hymns for each season of the year, for summer and winter and spring and autumn, for festivals and Sabbaths, and for the days of the Angels, the Prophets, the Martyrs and the Righteous.

Yared often sang for Emperor Gebre Meskel. "And when they heard the sound of his voice," his Gedle (biography) tells us, "the king and the queen, and the bishop and the priests, and the king's nobles, ran to the church, and they spent the day listening to him." And one day Saint Yared sang in front of Emperor Gebre Meskel accompanied by drums, sistra, and male priests. Mesmerized by the music, the Emperor accidentally dropped his spear into the flat part of Yared's foot. (See picture of Yared.)

The Emperor was grieved by the pain he had inflicted on his spiritual friend. He said: "Ask me whatever reward thou wishest in return for this thy blood which hath been shed."Yared made the Emperor promise that he would not refuse his request. Having accomplished that, Yared asked and was reluctantly granted permission to live in solitude and to dedicate his life to prayer, meditation, and to his music. He departed from Axum and went to the Semien mountains where he lived until his disappearance. According to our recent research among Ethiopian scholars, there is a general claim that he did not die, and that he will come back in the future to perform, preach, and teach. He was sainted after his disappearance. (Notes from Ashenafi Kebede's Roots of Black Music, Africa World Press, 1995) And one day Saint Yared sang in front of Emperor Gebre Meskel accompanied by drums, sistra, and male priests. 

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Sacred Musical Instruments at the Horn of Africa

Sistrums

The Egyptian and Ethiopian sistrums are probably the oldest and best known idiophone types. Both are made of three or four metal rods that are horizontally drawn through a bow or U- shaped frame with a handle. They are of wood, porcelain, or pottery; the more recent standard type is made of metal. Both are equipped with movable discs, threaded on the rods, which jingle or clash when the instrument is shaken. It is interesting to note here that these ancient sistrums of African origin later spread to Greece, Rome, and other cultures around the Mediterranean as well as to other countries on the African continent. The sistrum used in Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Churches as well as in the Fellasha Synagogues are known astsenatsil. Its social function is evidenced by its popularity in many Jewish Communities of North Africa, and the Middle and Near East, where it accompanies exclusively sacred chants.

It is also interesting to indicate here that the four jingling metal bars on the sistrum are linked with the elements of nature: fire, water, air, and earth. In most of the cults, the sistrum was identified with votive power. The sistra of contemporary Ethiopia are strictly religious instruments played only by male deacons and priests to accompany sacred chants. In this case, close relationships exist between Ethiopian and Jewish practices in the use of the sistrum; and in both cultures, it is played by male priests. Metallic idiophones had a universal role of protecting the bearer against evil spirits. In many oriental cultures of Africa and the Near East, for example, jingles are used in the rites of initiation and circumcision. This extra-musical roles associated and interrelated with magic and religion are by no means limited to the non-European world. It is also practiced in Europe; in A.D. 900, for example, Pope John IX ordered that bells be used in the Catholic Church as a defense against thunder and lightning. It is edifying to know the roles musical instruments play in religious, magical, and other symbolic services in societies, east and west.

 

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Censors and silver pyxes
 

In all Orthodox Christian Churches, the censors and silver pyxes are provided with jingles. Even Biblical references indicate that Hebraic priests wore metallic jingles on their robes upon entering sacred places such as the Holy of Hollies. This is still practiced in many Christian and Jewish communities, including those found today in Oriental Africa and the Near East. The names of some of these instruments are often indicative of their common origin or source. The spherical jingle, which is popularly found is known, for instance, under onomatopoeic names in Afro- Semitic languages: al-gulgul, shkelkil (Egyptian), al-galag (Sudan), and quachil (Ethiopia).

  

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Membranophones

Drums, or membranophones, play an important role in Afro-Asiatic religious ceremonies. The Sudanese Dervish sect performs its ritual songs and dances accompanied by drums; intricate dance movements and syncopated rhythms are performed simultaneously each Friday afternoon at the Hamad el Nil cemetery in Omdurman. In Egypt, drums play an important role during the religious ceremonies of the Sufi mystic brotherhood in Cairo.

In the area of Christian music, priests of the Ethiopian and Coptic Churches undertake specialized training in order to master the techniques employed in playing the drums that accompany sacred hymns sung during the year. Probably the most known of these membranophones is the Ethiopian kebero. Its name is derived from the Amharic verbmakber, which means "to celebrate; to honor." Thus, its name refers to its function; it is a processional drum used to accompany the music of important religious celebrations of the Church. The kebero is also used by the Fellasha of Ethiopia (as distinct from those Ethiopian Jews in Israel who do not use it).

The Ethiopian kebero is an excellent example of a large double-headed cylindrical drum. It is made of a hollowed-out log. The interior and exterior are iron-filled and smoothed with sandpaper. It is covered by hide or membrane in two ways: there are drums that are laced with leather cord, and those whose bodies are entirely covered with ox-hide. In the first case, the skins of the two faces are stretched and laced on top of the wooden body. Often enough, the stretched membrane is treated with animal fat oil to prevent it from breaking. The keberois always played with the bare hands; the right hand plays on the big face and the left hand on the small side. It is often suspended horizontally from a strap around the players shoulders.

 

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Chordophones

Perhaps one chordophone which is quite often used to accompany semi-religious songs is the lyre-type begena of Ethiopia. Lyres are structurally distinguished from other chordophones in the following ways: Two wooden side-posts emerge from a sound resonator; a crossbar or yoke connects the posts on the opposite side of the resonator; the strings, stretched from the crossbar down to the bottom of the resonator, always run parallel to the face of the resonator. There are two types of lyres: namely box-lyres and bowl-lyres. The terms "box-lyre" refer to the types with square-, rectangular-, or box-shaped resonator, similar to the begena. Lyres are found in many of the northeast African, Near Eastern, and Mediterranean cultures. For example, it is known as kinnor in Hebrew, kinnara in Arabic, ginera in Egypt, and lyra in Greece.

Most lyres use a bridge that stands on the face of the resonator; it has slots equal to the number of the strings; its purpose is to lift up the strings off of the face of the resonator so each string can vibrate freely and produce clear tones. One end of each string is tied to the loop on the sound resonator and the other end around the yoke with the tuning twigs, or pegs. These pegs may be turned to the required intensity to tune the eight to ten strings. Traditionally, the strings of the begena were made of ox or cow gut. (Today, however, nylon strings may also be used.)

Historically, Egyptian paintings of about 2000 B.C. show Semitic nomads with lyres. It is not, however certain whether Egyptians exerted their influences on Asian, Mediterranean, and other African musical cultures. Lyres are also found widely distributed in most of the northeast and east African cultures. Uganda and Sudan are famed for their large variety of bowl-lyres. These lyres generally use a tuning-bulge on the yoke to tune the gut strings. Ethiopian lyres, unlike the Ugandan lyres, have tuning twigs or sticks. The direction of influences and migrations still remains a mystery.

Ethiopia is the only country in the world where the box-lyre begena is found as part of the living tradition today. Wood from eucalyptus or juniper trees is ordinarily used in making the frame of the soundbox. It is then covered by parchment made of ox-hide. The box is sometimes made of a hollowed-out piece of wood of appropriate circumference and depth. The begena do not have rattles on their surface as some of the other African lyres do, such as the lyres of Uganda and Zaire, for example.

The begena plays a semi-sacred role in the hands of the solo performer. Though completely out of the sphere of the strictly sacred practices of the dominant religions, it is not either used in the performance of really secular music. For example, it is primarily used to accompany awit's (Biblical David's) Psalms during Lent or other fasting periods of the Christian population; again, members of the Fellasha (Black Jews) use it in a similar manner. Consequently, and following oral tradition, it is nicknamed "Dawit's Harp;" it is the instrument, they say, that David played to soothe King Saul's nerves and saved him from madness. It is also claimed that the instrument was introduced to Ethiopia by the Israelites who came to Axum from Jerusalem escorting Menelik I, the alleged son of Solomon and Queen Sheba. On the other hand, the begena is found depicted on Ethiopian manuscripts of the early fifteenth century.

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Copyright ©1997 EDLA Ethiopian Distance Learning Association. All Rights Reserved.

Last modified 17-March-99.Copyright ©1997 Dr. Abebe Kebede. All Rights Reserved.

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ዘመነ ማቴዎስም፣ ዘመነ ማርቆስም፣ ዘመነ ሉቃስም ሆነ ዘመነ ዮሐንስ፤ በአራቱም ዘመናት አስቀድሞ ርእሰ ዓውደ ዓመት ቅዱስ ዮሐንስ ይዘከራል፡፡ ዮሐንስ የስሙ ትርጉም «ጸጋ እግዚአብሔር» ማለት ነው፡፡ ዘመናት ዘመናትን እየወለዱ፣ ሰዓታት ደቂቃን ቅጽበትን /ሰኮንድን/ ሳይቀር እየሰፈሩ/እየቆጠሩ/ ዕለታት ሳምንታትን፣ ሳምንታት ወራትን፣ ወራት ዓመታትን አሁን ላለንበት ዘመን ደርሰናል፡፡ ዓውደ ዓመት በግእዝ ሲሆን በአማርኛ የዘመን መለወጫ/ ቅዱስ ዮሐንስ፣ ዕንቁጣጣሽ እየተባለም ይጠራል፡፡