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Oracles and divination

The Emperor followed the advice and went to ntotto where he learned that ras Gobna had died and his presence was urgently needed as the monk had predicted (BTafA 802). A special technique of foretelling the future is practiced by interpreting given natural events as divinatory signs, i.e. omens. Widespread and well documented is the reading of animal omens. Haberland (VSAe II, 257, 330, 341f., 405, 486, 502, 551) documented examples of such a practice among the Oromo. Before making an important choice, e.g., of the sons bride or of a place to construct a house, people observe the behaviour of animals and listen to their sounds. Whether the omen is positive or negative largely depends on the direction from where the sound comes, left or right. A famous bird of augury is the guramayle (Black Crow), but also the sounds of the owl and the hornbill are interpreted as signs. Other animals taken into consideration are lions, leopards, hyenas and jackals. In the traditional Oromo culture a serpent visiting the house had a very positive meaning. Similarly animal sounds as omens are attested to in northern Ethiopia by Lobo already in the 17th cent. and a strong belief in such signs is conrmed by travellers such as Bruce, Parkyns, Plowden and Samuel Gobat (PankSoc 47, 85, 202). Exceptional events are often taken as an omen, such as certain weather phenomena like sand devils (small tornados; e.g., taken as a sign who shall be appointed new saamar dam priest of ndga) or the birth of an animal or human child with bodily deviance (e.g., congenital deformations, or childs rst tooth growing from the upper jaw etc.; BrHad 266; VSAe II, 328, 401). Cerulli relates that among the Meen, D. from the direction of ames was practised (CerPeople 50). Today, despite modern education and the dominance of the world religions, D. techniques continue to be used. Concepts from Western as well as Arab countries resulted in the emergence of new forms including consulting the cards and European astrology. In continuation of the above-mentioned Christian traditions of computation, different Amharic and Gz divinatory texts (poorly studied by scholars) circulate in Ethiopia and enjoy considerable popularity. Some exist only in form of a manuscript, while others are printed (some including prayers). New guide books are prepared on the basis of new divinatory methods, sometimes bor38

rowed from the European/American popular literature.


Src.: Dirk Bustorfs eld notes from Gurage, Slte and Addis Abba; CRRicBerhan II, 51 [text] = 30 [tr.]; Getatchew Haile (ed.), The Epistle of Humanity of Emperor Zra Yaqob (Tomar Tsbt), (CSCO 522 [= SAe 95]), Lovanii 1991 (text); Id. (ed.), The Epistle of Humanity of Emperor Zra Yaqob (Tomar Tsbt), (CSCO 523 [= SAe 96]), Lovanii 1991 (tr.); KaneDic 174; KrAmdS 6f. (text) = 10f. (tr.); MarAmdS 59; Paolo Marrassini, Il gadla Yemrehanna Krestos, Napoli 1995 (Supplemento 85), 26 (text) = 65 (tr.). Lit.: Jon Abbink, Reading the Entrails: Analysis of an African Divination Discourse, Man (N.S.) 28, 4, 1993, 70526; Harald Aspen, Amhara Traditions of Knowledge: Spirit Mediums and their Clients, Wiesbaden 2001 (AeF 58), 124; Joo Bermudez, Breve relao da embaixada que o patriacha D. Joo Bermudez trouxe do imperador da Ethiopia vulgamente chamado Preste Joo, Lisboa 1875, 101f.; BrHad 266; BTafA 95, 705 (n. 933), 802; CerPeople 50, 94, 114ff., 129f.; Toufic Fahd, La divination arabe, Leiden 1966; Id., Fal, in: EI, vol. 2, 75860; Id., Istiara, in: idem, vol. 4, 259f.; Marcel Griaule, Notes sur larithmomancie thiopienne, Journal de la socit des Africanistes, 1934, 4, 1, 2531; HabKn 123ff.; Wolf Leslau, Popular Interpretation of Dreams in Ethiopia, in: Joseph Tubiana (ed.), Guirlande pour Abba Jrome, Paris 1983, 6182; Deborah Lifchitz, Textes thiopiennes magico-religeux, Paris 1940; Mohamed Mohamed Abdi, Histoires et Croyances en Somalie, Paris 1992; Reidulf K. Molvaer, Socialization and Social Control in Ethiopia, Wiesbaden 1995 (AeF 44), 50; MorDicAfar 23538; PankSoc 47, 85, 202f., 263; Maxime Rodinson, Magie, mdecine et possession en thiopie, Paris 1967, 45, n. 4; Carlo Conti Rossini, Lo Awda Nagast, scritto divinatorio etiopico, RSE 1, 2, 1941, 12745; Id., Sul calendario astrologico degli Habab, RSE 5, 1947, 8392; Emilie Savage-Smith Marion B. Smith, Islamic Geomancy and a Thirteenth-Century Divinatory Device: Another Look, in: Emilie Savage-Smith (ed.), Magic and Divination in Early Islam, London 2004, 211 76 (Lit.); TrIslam 264; VSAe IIII, s. index. Dirk Bustorf Denis Nosnitsin

Oral literature O.l. is a term that has been used since the 19th cent. for referring to several unwritten, oral forms of expression with a literary character, that makes them different from everyday speech. Finnegan (1970) is one of the rst systematic surveys of Africa and the Horn of Africa that made use of this term. The eld of interests of O.l. partially overlaps with oral tradition, folklore, verbal art, performance literature and ethnopoetics (s., e.g., Hymes 2003), that are sometimes used as synonyms or quasi-synonyms. Orature is a blending of O.l. that is preferred by those who feel this phrase to be an oxymoron because of the etymological meaning of literature (a writing formed of letters). The term O.l. has

Oral literature

also been criticized because of its implicit reference to the concept of text, and the allegedly controversial epistemological status of an oral text. Yet recent research (e.g., Barber 2005) has stressed that, even though oral discourse is a sequence of physically evanescent utterances, some kinds of these utterances can be remembered in a more or less exact manner, detached from their immediate context and recontextualized in subsequent performances. Oral utterances thus can become texts, i.e. mental or ideal objects that can be identied independently of their particular instantiations, be quoted, and become the focus of commentary and exegetical attention. There is a growing awareness that a proper understanding of O.l. requires the multiple competences of linguistics, anthropology, ethnomusicology, anthropological linguistics (especially ethnography of speech), cultural studies and not only of literature studies. However, there is no consensus on the boundaries of O.l., e.g., of which oral genres should be regarded as part of a communitys O.l. vis--vis other speech genres (s., e.g., Bauman 2001). This is due, in part, to different approaches in the denition of what has a literary character, e.g., whether this is dened by an external observer or by the people who produce, perform or make use of oral texts. For instance, many Somalis regard as literature proper only the genres of maanso oral poetry, but not other genres such as the daanto dance songs and the goatherding songs that are for them just hees (song), even though their formal organization does not differ substantially from the former genres. Another issue of boundaries has to do with popular culture, which is mainly an oral one in most contemporary African societies because of their low levels of literacy (s. Barber 1997, esp. Introduction). Indeed, also in Africa, contemporary popular culture incorporates and modernizes several aspects of traditional culture and O.l., e.g., in the formal organization of song texts and in their music. For instance, some Somali poets such as Abdi Muhumud Amiin perform their political poems to the accompaniment of a guitar or a kaban lute rather than with no musical instruments like more traditional poets; and several Oromo modern singers actually sing geerarsa songs accompanied by electronic musical instruments. Contemporary O.l. thus merges with popular culture in many urban settings in the Horn. A quite different kind of boundary issue concerns genres that are composed and performed orally but are then often

recorded and transmitted to posterity in written form. Typical traditional examples are the qne hymns improvised in Gz by dbtras during Ethiopian Orthodox celebrations, that are frequently recorded in written hagiographies and other historical texts. But the introduction of literacy and of modern technology in recent decades for several languages that had been exclusively oral in the past has induced several oral poets either to write down what they compose orally or to avail themselves of audio recordings for preserving and transmitting their poems. The latter case has been called electronically aided O.l. by Andrzejewski (1985: 43). Particularly useful seems an ethnographyof-speech approach to O.l. This means that the following aspects should be taken into account when analysing O.l.:
(a) in which community does it circulate? (b)which are its genres and subgenres, and what are their distinctive features? (c) who creates which genres and subgenres, when and for whom? (d)who performs which genres and subgenres, when and for whom? (e) who listens to, looks at, or anyhow acts as an audience to which genres and subgenres, when and how? (f) what kind of action is carried out by creating, performing or, anyhow, disseminating which genres and subgenres? That is, to what purpose is this done?

The O.l.s of only some linguistic communities in the Horn have been studied in detail: the Amhara, the Tgra speakers, the Oromo, the Somali, the Afar and the Bega. There are also good studies on specic aspects of Gurage (s. Shack Habte Mariam 1974), Harari (s. Harari literature), Tgre (s. Littmann 1910), Bet srael (Flaa; Folktales of the Bet srael), Hadiyya (s. Braukmper Tilahun Mishagu 1999), Sidaama (s. Lonfernini 1971), Saho (s. Morin 1995, 1999), Kfa (s. Lange 1979) and akao (s. Lange 1979) O.l. Very little is known about O.l. in the other Omotic languages or in any of the Nilo-Saharan languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Several distinctions can be drawn for classifying the different genres of O.l. One is between open and closed genres, i.e., genres that are transmitted freely, changing with differences of time, place, and individual speakers (Mphande 2003: 580) versus genres whose texts are xed and undergo little, if any, variation when they are transmitted from mouth to ear. Good examples of the rst group are narratives such as folktales and legends, but also 39

Oral literature

epic oral poems that are recomposed by bards out of sets of more or less xed formulas at each performance as shown by the so-called oralist school of Milman Parry and Albert B. Lord, Ruth Finnegan (s. Finnegan 1970; 1992), or Paul Zumthor (s. Zumthor 1983). Instances of the second group are proverbs and certain kinds of oral poetry that are circulated verbatim like the Somali maanso. Another distinction should be drawn between oral texts that have the same organization of ordinary discourse vis--vis oral texts whose formal organization marks them off as special, not ordinary speech, e.g., poetry. The latter are frequently characterized by some kind of metric organization, special grammar, special lexicon, and special style, i.e., by different kinds of poetic procedures (s. Banti Giannattasio 2004) that act as framing devices (s. Foley 1997, esp. 259378). This broadly corresponds to the traditional distinction between prose and poetry. Importantly, there are several intermediate genres in many communities of the Horn that are characterized by poetic procedures sometimes or in a reduced way, such as proverbs, riddles and questionanswer games, curses (e.g., the Amharic nqoqll, the Somali googgaale, or the Oromo hiibboo), curses (e.g., the Somali alliterated and metrically balanced habaar), etc. Ethnomusicologists have also highlighted how special speech can be framed distinctly from ordinary speech by means of changes of voice register (i.e., its frequency range, timbre and intensity), melodic contour and rhythm. This occurs both (i.) in kinds of special speech that are not O.l., such as when addressing babies, (ii.) in some genres that are intermediate between normal speech and O.l., such as Oromo oratory, and (iii.) in several kinds of special speech that are O.l. proper, such as performances of oral poems and songs. Banti Giannattasio (1996) studied in detail the luuq, i.e., the different rhythms and melodies that characterize how seven different genres of Somali oral poetry and songs are performed, as well as of their metric organization (scansion patterns). When classifying genres of O.l. it is important to be aware that distinctions made by westerneducated scholars can be based upon features that are quite different from those that are relevant for local ethnoclassications. One important such feature in several O.l.s of the Horn is whether the theme is religious or not. For instance, western Gurage poems in praise of traditional deities are called bdra and are clearly 40

distinguished from the secular wyg poems that praise chiefs, famous warriors, clans and lineages (Shack Habte Mariam 1974: 2f.). Similarly, the Saho regard religious nazme as a quite different genre from non-religious poetry, and the Somali call masafo several poems of religious exhortation composed by well-known ays such as ee Ahmad Gabyow and ee Ali Abdirahmaan even though their respective scansion patterns and luuqs (s. above) are quite diverse (s. Banti Ciise Maxamed Siyaad 2000; Banti Giannattasio 1996). Another important feature is the performance style, e.g., its rhythm and melody. For instance, the guurow of the Abgaal Somali is distinguished from the gabay of other Somalispeaking areas (s. maanso) because of its very fast performance style, even though its lines have the same scansion pattern as the gabay. Also gender can be relevant, e.g., some kinds of poems and songs are distinctively performed by males versus females among the Somali, the Afar and the Oromo. Broadly speaking, the following genres of O.l. are known to occur frequently among the communities of the Horn:
(a) Major oral poetry: Several instances of religious poetry have been mentioned above. But different kinds of secular poetry enjoy a high status among different peoples of the Horn. In many cases these are praise poems such as the Gurage wyg. A widespread type are poems in praise of ones self or, more precisely, epinicia such as the Amharic fukkra and qrrto and the Oromo geerarsa (Oromo oral literature), or even poems for important domestic animals such as the Somali geeraars that praised famous war horses. Several kinds of social poetry, i.e., poetry for achieving social or political effects and for political debate are not in the form of praise poetry; for instance the Saho adar (Saho literature), and most genres of Somali maanso. Even the geerarsa has developed into a tool of political and social critique among the Ethiopian Oromo. Interestingly, epic poetry stricto sensu, i.e., narrative poetry that depicts the deeds of heroes doesnt seem to occur in the known O.l.s of the Horn. Professional itinerant performers such as the azmari and the lalibla of northern and central Ethiopia sing praise poems and blessings that are regarded as having a somewhat lower status than the above-mentioned genres. (b)Minor oral poetry and songs: Most communities of the Horn have different kinds of wedding songs, dance songs, mocking songs, work songs, etc. Some of these are described in the relevant entries (Afar literature, Harari literature, Oromo: Oromo literature, etc.). Love songs existed traditionally only in some oral traditions of the Horn, as the young mens faaruu and the young womens qarillee love songs of the Gabra Oromo; yet they have acquired considerable importance in contemporary urban popular cultures.

Oral literature (c) Prophetic texts: Soothsayers who foretell future events are known from some communities, such as the ginnili of the Afar and the raaga of the Boorana Oromo. Their prophecies are both in poetic and in prose form (s. Afar literature). (d)Laws and decrees: Oral texts of customary law are known to exist, e.g., among the Tgra speakers, whose elders (magll) meet to discuss and rehearse them in their capacity of holders of tradition (Conti Rossini 194853, s. also Tgra literature). Texts of customary law have also been published by Cerulli for some Somali-speaking groups (Cerulli 1918). Traditional Oromo caffees frequently issued their decrees in verse (s. Oromo literature). (e) Historical oral chronicles and genealogies: Historical oral texts are known for all the peoples of the Horn. Since the 19th cent. they have often been collected and published under titles such as Historical traditions of and include genealogies, traditions of origins (not infrequently from the Queen of Sheba and Israel in northern Ethiopia), legends about ancient heroes, etc. But they existed in much earlier times; for instance, Oromo oral chronicles were obviously the main source for the early history of the Oromo luubas as it is depicted in Bahrys Zenahu lgalla, dated 1593. Not infrequently one of the purposes of oral chronicles was to exalt the noble origin and deeds of local dynasties, and many were soon forgotten after their demise. (f) Folktales and anecdotes are discussed in the relevant entries of this Encyclopaedia; s. also Oromo literature and Somali literature. (g)More or less extensive collections of proverbs have been published for most of the communities of the Horn, discussing different aspects of human experience in detached and generalized ways, yet at the same time obliquely and allusively. Not infrequently, they share different formal aspects with oral poetry, such as rhyme, alliteration, organization into parallel cola or lines, etc. Among the Somali and in Harr there is a strong tradition of numerical sayings (s. Somali oral literature). (h)Highly formalized riddles are known from several language-communities. e.g., the Amharic nqoqll, the Somali googgaale, or the Oromo hiibboo. These three genres are introduced by xed formulas uttered by the participants and are frequently characterized by formal features that are similar to those of poetry.

the Oromo (s. Oromo oral literature). Interestingly, also some particularly elaborate proverbs are authorial among the Somali (s. Somali literature). In the other cases, O.l. texts are transmitted as anonymous texts, even though their performers may be quite famous. The status of oral poets and of other specialists of O.l. changes considerably in the different communities of the Horn. For instance, the azmari and the lalibla of northern and central Ethiopia are generally regarded as marginal groups of low social status. Traditional Saho poets, even though their verbal skills are highly appreciated, were treated with suspicion, probably because of the power and potential effects of their words. Among the Somali skilled poets are important persons, and some leaders such as the sayyid Muhammad Abdallah Hasan owed part of their charisma to their poetic force. A clans strength consisted in its military power and in its having a skilled poet among its ranks, who would defend its cause in the public arena. Among the Kfa and the akao the attos (minstrels, bards) were a low and landless caste, but the atto-raa head of the bards had important ceremonial functions extending beyond singing (s. Lange 1979: 2). Lit.: Bogumil W. Andrzejewski, Oral Literature, Somali Literature, in: Id. StanisLaw Piaszewicz Wytold Tyloch (eds.), Literatures in African Languages: Theoretical Issues and Sample Surveys, Cambridge Warsaw 1985, 3148, 337407; Giorgio Banti Ciise Maxamed Siyaad, Two Little-known Poems by Sheekh Axmad Gabyow, Au 83, 2000, 181207; Giorgio Banti Francesco Giannattasio, Music and Metre in Somali Poetry, in: Richard J. Hayward Ioan Myrddin Lewis (eds.), Voice and Power: Essays in Honour of B.W. Andrzejewski (African Languages and Cultures, supplement 3), London 1996, 83127; Id., Poetry, in: Alessandro Duranti (ed.), A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology, Malden, MA 2004, 290320; Karin Barber (ed.), Readings in African Popular Culture, London Oxford 1997; Id., Text and Performance in Africa, Oral Tradition 20, 2005, 26477; Id., The Anthropology of Texts, Persons and Publics: Oral and Written Culture in Africa and Beyond, Cambridge New York 2007 (New Departures in Anthropology 5); Richard Bauman, Genre, in: Alessandro Duranti (ed.), Key Terms in Language and Culture, Malden, MA et al. 2001, 7982; Ulrich Braukmper Tilahun Mishago, Praise and Teasing: Narrative Songs of the Hadiyya in Southern Ethiopia, Frankfurt am Main 1999 (Sonderschriften des Frobenius-Institutes 13); Enrico Cerulli, Testi di diritto consuetudinario dei Somali Marrehn, RSO 7, 1918, 86176; Carlo Conti Rossini, Consuetudini giuridiche del Sera, vols. 12, Rome 194853 [supplements to RSE 7 and 11]; Ruth Finnegan, Oral Literature in Africa, Oxford 1970; Ead., Oral Tradition and the Verbal Arts, London New York 1992; Ead., Oral Literature: Issues of Denition and Terminology, in: Philip M. Peek Kwesi Yankah (eds.), African Folk-

Only in a few cases are O.l. texts authorial, i.e., composed by a known author. One such example are the above-mentioned qne, that are improvized only once for a particular occasion, by a particular individual and in a particular Orthodox church. Another example are the Somali maanso poems, composed by individual poets on particular occasions, and later disseminated orally and verbatim by memorizers, or quoted as compositions of their particular authors (s. maanso, Somali literature). Individual authors of particular oral poems are also known among the Afar (e.g., Hanfae, s. Afar literature), the Saho (e.g., Faakoobe) and, less frequently, among

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Oral literature lore: an Encyclopedia, New York London 2004, 62128; William A. Foley, Anthropological Linguistics: an Introduction, Malden, MA Oxford 1997 (Language in Society 24); Dell H. Hymes, Now I Know Only so Far: Essays in Ethnopoetics, Lincoln, NE 2003; W. Werner Lange, Domination and Resistance: Narrative Songs of the Kafa Highlands (Ethiopian Series Monograph 8), East Lansing, MI 1979; LitPEA; Bruno Lonfernini, I Sidamo: un antico popolo cuscita, Bologna 1971; Wilhelm J.G. Mhlig Herrmann Jungraithmayr, Lexikon der afrikanistischen Erzhlforschung, Kln 1998; Didier Morin, Des paroles douces comme la soie: introduction aux contes dans laire couchitique, Leuven 1995 (Langues et Cultures Africaines 19); Id., Le texte lgitime: pratiques littraires orales traditionnelles en Afrique du nord-est, Leuven 1999 (Langues et Cultures Africaines 25); Lupenga Mphande, Oral Literature and Performance, in: Simon Gikandi (ed.), Encyclopedia of African Literature, London New York 2003, 57986; Isidore Okpewho, African Oral Literature, Bloomington, IN Indianapolis, IN 1992; Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy: the Technologizing of the Word, New York 1982; Martin Orwin, On the Concept of Denitive Text in Somali Poetry, Oral Tradition 20, 2005, 27899; William A. Shack Habte Mariam Marcos, Gods and Heroes: Oral Traditions of the Gurage of Ethiopia, Oxford 1974; Jan Vansina, De la tradition orale: essai de mthode historique, Tervuren 1961; Paul Zumthor, Introduction la posie orale, Paris 1983. Giorgio Banti

from modern political boundaries, as a cultural region centred in the EthioEritrean highlands which are distinguished by a common history and strong cultural interconnections. Since the 17th cent., in fact, Ethiopian studies developed as a philological and historico-ethnographical discipline focusing on the Christian state (with its Ethio-Semitic languages) and on the neighbouring regions (where Cushitic and Omotic languages are dominating; cp. the akin notion of the Ethiopian Language Area). With the name O.Ae. b?A y # M _ 1 \ , a Society for the Preservation and Promotion of Ethiopian Culture was founded in Frankfurt in 1995. The corresponding Amharic term Wrs Ityopya means Ethiopian [Global] Heritage, Wrs wittingly implying also the idea of encompassing, including (cp. Amh. wrrss adrrg, to invade, to surround). Src.: RI no. 277:39; Gerardus Mercator, Atlas, sive
Cosmographicae meditationes de fabrica mundi et fabricati gura , Duisburgi Clivorum 1595; Siegbert Uhlig Gernot Bhring, Damian de Gis Schrift ber Glaube und Sitten der thiopier, Wiesbaden 1994 (AeF 39), initial yleaf, 177f. and n. 123. Lit.: Asfa-Wossen Asserate, 100 Jahre deutschthiopische Beziehungen Bemerkungen zum Bericht der Rosen-Gesandtschaft, Aethiopica 8, 2005, 79; Gianfranco Fiaccadori, Sembrouthes gran re (DAE IV 3 = RIth 275). Per la storia del primo ellenismo aksumita, La Parola del Passato 59, 2004 [2005], 10357, here 139f.; Piotr O. Scholz (ed.), Orbis Aethiopicus. Studia in honorem Stanislaus Chojnacki , Albstadt 1992 (Bibliotheca Nubica 3), vol. 1, xxiiixxxi, here xxvf.; Id. (ed.), thiopien gestern und heute. Akten der 1. Tagung der Orbis-Aethiopicus-Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung und Frderung der thiopischen Kultur (St. Augustin, Bonn 1.3. Oktober 1995), Warszawa 1999 (= Nubica & Aethiopica 4/5), 389648; Id. (ed.), Von Hiob Ludolf bis Enrico Cerulli: Akten der 2. Tagung der Orbis Aethiopicus Gesellschaft (Halle/S., 3.5. Oktober 1996), Wiesbaden 2001 (Bibliotheca nubica et aethiopica 8); thiopien und seine Nachbarn/Ethiopia and its Neighbours. 3. Wissenschaftliche Tagung des Orbis Aethiopicus/The 3rd Academic Conference of Orbis Aethiopicus. Gniew, 2529 September 1997, Frankfurt 1998. Siegbert Uhlig

Orase Mosiye Orbis Aethiopicus O.Ae. (Ethiopian World) is a Latin neologism recently created (Scholz 1992) through casting the well-known expression orbis Romanus (Roman World) a classical designation of the Roman empire in its political and cultural unity, as opposed to the rest of the world. One is reminded of the king of the Monumentum Adulitanum speaking of the kovsmo, ksmos, i.e. the world, subjected to him (RI no. 277: 39), since Gr. ksmos conveys in fact the notion of Lat. orbis (terrarum), i.e. the known world (Fiaccadori 2004: 139f.). Similarly sounding are such labels as Oceanus Aethiopicus, used for the Atlantic Ocean to the west of the South African coast, e.g., in Mercators map of Africa (1595; s. also Uhlig Bhring 1994: 177f., n. 123). A western articial term, O.Ae. should apply to either the NubianEthiopian area (Scholz 1992: xxvf.) or, more extensively, the Horn of Africa with special focus on its highlands and the adjacent, culturally interlinked areas (Abyssinia; Aithiopa; Habaat). If one follows a pivotal concept in Ethiopian studies, the latter meaning is preferable, insofar the O.Ae. is understood as a concept independent
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Orchestra Ethiopia O.E. was founded in 1963 at the Haile Sellassie I Universitys Creative Arts Center by Professor Halim El-Dabh (Halim ad-Dab), an Egyptian composer well versed in 20th cent. trends in music, who was invited in 1961 by the Ethiopian government and the University. In contrast to the folklore ensembles which preceded O.E., El-Dabh created an indigenous pan-Ethiopian ensemble reecting the ideal of a multi-ethnic, yet unied culture. O.E. served as a forum for

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