COMPILED BY HIZKEL HAILU
Alemu Aga is an Ethiopian master of ‘Begena’. This multi-secular ten-stringed lyre has a special place for the Orthodox Christians. According to oral tradition, the Begena, also called David’s Harp, is the instrument given by God to King David. It is closely associated with faith and mostly played on religious occasions in Ethiopia. During Lent, the instrument is often heard on the radio and around churches. The instrument is also known for its meditative qualities. “The listeners, no matter if they are old, young or foreigners, even if they don’t understand the language, the sound that comes out has the power to make them very quiet,” Alemu Aga tells Radio France International (RFI).
The repetitive melodies of the Begena are accompanied by songs, poems or prayers that are almost whispered. “In the songs you have two messages. One is that life in this world is useless; of course from a religious point of view. The other thing outside of the religious thing is that the messages are sent by words that have double meanings. You want to say one thing but you don’t want to say it directly so you use words that have double meanings. If you have any complaints to say to God or officials, you use those kinds of words,” says Aga.
Born in 1950 in Entoto, Alemu Aga began training when he was twelve years old with a renowned master, Aleqa Tessema Welde-Ammanuel, stayed next door to his family. “My teacher came from northern Ethiopia. One day when the Emperor Haile Selassie was participating in a church ceremony, my teacher was playing the instrument. The Emperor told him to come to Addis and to teach this instrument because it is a traditional and very old instrument that has spread from generation to generation,” he explains.
Alemu taught Begena at Yared Music School for seven years, and for decades welcomed students and young musicians in his shop in Addis Ababa. The Begena saw resurgence after the years of the Derg regime (1974-1991) during which the instrument was banned from radio broadcasts.
Since the early 1990’s Alemu Aga has travelled to many different countries to perform with his Begena and to present it to a wider audience. He was recently invited to play in Bourges, central France, in a concert organized by the Festival de I’imaginaire where RFI met him. The Begena is the oldest of Ethiopia’s musical instruments and, over the centuries, has undergone variations like the Kirar, a five-or-six stringed bowl-shaped lyre, used notable by some Ethio-jazz musicians in their compositions. Aleqa Tessema began teaching at Ras Desta School, where Alemu was a pupil. As well as studying the Begena at school, Alemu carried his master’s instrument to and from school, and thus benefited from more of Tessema’s time.
He went on to study geography at Addis Ababa University, and after graduation went to work as a geography and Begena professor at Yared Music School, where for seven years he also taught Begena. Alemu went on to become an acknowledged master of the instrument, first recorded in 1972 by Cynthia Tse Kimberlin for a major UNESCO collection, and performing and broadcasting around the world. In 1974, however, the Derg military junta came to power in Ethiopia; their anti-religious policies also included the banning of the Begena from radio broadcasts, and the closing down of the Yared School’s teaching of the instrument. As a result, Alemu Aga decided to give up his teaching post in 1980, and opened a shop in Addis Ababa Piazza district.
For a time he played only in private, but the collapse of the Derg’s regime led eventually to a change in state policy, and Alemu again began to teach and perform in public. Since the early 1990’s Alemu traveled to many countries to perform with his Begena. In 1995, together with the famous Kirar player Asnakech Worku, he released the album “Ende Jerusalem” for Acoustic Music in Germany. In 2009, he released the CD “The Begena of Elders – The Harp of David in Ethiopia” as well featuring the Begena music of Seyoum Mengistu, Admassu Fikre and Tafesse Tesfaye.
By the same token, talking on any subject with Alemu Aga, one cannot help but be taken aback by the exceptionally smooth and enchanting tone in which the veteran Begena performer utters his measured responses. Of course, given the gracious and calm mood displayed on all occasions by one of the few living authorities on the Begena instrument, it could still be possible to pass Alemu Aga’s spiritual and melancholic sounding tones as mere natural endowments of that exceptional man. But take the scores of Begena lyrics Alemu is known to sing again and again, especially during fasting seasons, on the national radio and you have just begun to appreciate the high degree of sublimity (as they call it in the theatre) that the personality of Alemu has afforded to the art of that unique Ethiopian treasure.
True enough then that in manners, speech and strict Orthodox Christian way of life, the personality of Alemu Aga, to say the least, could be described as all Begena in itself. And this is due to the fact that all the enchanting monotony of lyrical sounds that the traditional string instrument is capable of producing, together with the strict spiritual messages the lyrics carry, have almost perfectly captivated the psyche and physique of the virtuoso performer. “In performing with the Begena, one is only supposed to appropriately reflect strictly spiritual and holy messages. Anything less and worldly than that, like modern music, is not attributable to the purposes of the Begena and is hence disrespectful,” he says.
The Ethiopian Herald June 23/2022
