In Addis nowadays, the decadent and vulgar azmari ‘songs’ leave the mind wondering if these locations have a hidden agenda of destroying all the best of culture totally.

Unlike what we used to consider conventional, today’s azmari bets have changed radically to become socially detrimental in a scary way. Azmari bets have become centers of immorality, vulgarity, dishonesty, cutthroat trickery and total disrespect - all adjectives quite well expressed in the dirty lyrics.

Sorry to be so categorical but the people who go to these clubs themselves are aware of the rut and yet enjoy the immoral songs, mostly because of strong drink.

In all the azmari bets I have visited, lyrics about the private parts in general, singing about sex organs of specific individuals and glorifying sex is normal and has become their trend. 

An azmari is an Ethiopian singer - musician, comparable to the European bard. Azmaris, which may be either male or female, are skilled at singing extemporized verses, accompanying themselves with either a Masenqo (one – stringed fiddle) or kirar (lyre).

Azmari often perform in drinking establishments called tejbets, which specialize in serving tej (honey mead). Since some two or three decades, these azmaris are beginning to establish their own high class clubs (Azamri Bets), most of which are found in Kazanchis and Hayahulet but many are also dispersed in many other parts of Addis Ababa.

Historically, in Ethiopian musical tradition, an azmari is also a wandering entertainer, a minstrel, or a voyaging troubadour who crisscrosses the Christian regions of the country (principally the provinces of Beguemeder, Wello, Gojam and Shewa) always ready to sing and play his instrument whenever he comes across a group of people willing to pay.

But I will try to give you an idea about my own experience within my general experience of Azmari Bets. 
There is no doubt that Azmari Bets are essential for a functioning cultural growth but it can be extremely difficult to realize and protect in a condition where the Azmari Bets are used as key tools of indecorous, taboo words and insult.
An Azmari that I have talked to said that he uses these taboo words in his songs because he has to survive.

“We struggle to survive; we are also struggling to build the basis for our future. Otherwise, our existence is in jeopardy.”

He also said, “Our part is to sing whatever we are recommended, an azmari has no say with regards to what he should or should not sing.

I talked to an Ethiopian from abroad and he said, “I only enjoy traditional songs that make you dance and sing along, but I honestly don’t like those that explicitly use rude words, which isn’t in our culture. If it had been the modern music that had been breaking these taboos, you would understand.”

It is actually a fact that praises and mocking are what azmaris do. They also unveil what is hidden, be it sadness, nostalgia, or veiled criticism but the ones that we are witnessing today are totally unacceptable and irrelevant to our culture. All societies need such performers – those who tell the truth from a different angle, the free-thinking jesters, the sad clowns and the loud-mouths. However, the azmari-bet scene at present is a disgrace.

Keywords:  ethiopia culture religions