Musical Culture of the Agew-Awi People in Awi Zone
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Date
2022
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The major purpose of this paper is, therefore, to bring out the musical culture that have been practiced in Awi zone. It also attempts to assess and analyze the folk songs as well as the folk musical instruments of Agew-Awi people. Agew-Awi has a variety of folk musical instruments. For the purpose of carrying out this research, three traditional musical instruments are identified as instruments of focus. These are kiriwe (Agew-Awi drum), tirumba (Agew-Awi horn) and shoreng (Agew-Awi flute).
A total of 9 folk songs (1 weeding song, 1 funeral song, 1 children song, 1 lullaby song, 4 ceremonial song and 1 war song) were identified and described. The methodological basis of the research was the Ethnographic approach. The methods of data collection in this paper include in-depth interviews, focus groups, observation, participant observation, and document analysis. The interview was effectively addressed by qualitative approach through purposive sampling method; as a result, 26 informants were involved in the study. With the data collected and organized, data analysis was carried out from the content analysis using the Systematic Approach. The analyses assisted in identifying common music features in the folk songs and hidden meanings that could characterize traditional music of the Agew-Awi. The results showed that music in Agew-Awi is for the whole community and everyone from the youngest to the oldest participates. It is so interwoven with the work, the play, the social and religious activities of the natives. The findings reveal that there is an immense musical culture in Agew-Awi people. Even with this study, Agew-Awi folk music is still understudied. It is therefore important that more ethnographic studies in Agew-Awi folk music and folk musical instrument be carried out by insiders and by outsiders too.
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Keywords
Folk music, Folk musical instruments, Agew-Awi people, Musical culture