Azmari: Living Through Song in Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, music is a way of life. This book offers a close, immersive portrait of itinerant poet-musicians who earn their living through song and performance. Focusing on Azmari singer-instrumentalists and itinerant Lalibela singers, the author, Itsushi Kawase, draws on many years of fieldwork to trace how these singers skillfully engage with audiences and shape their lives through music. Moving beyond the conventional divide between researcher and subject, Kawase follows their practices, aspirations, and transformations. Written by a visual anthropologist and filmmaker, and richly illustrated with photographs, this work captures Ethiopian musical culture in motion -- from local performances to international stages, and through the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic -- inviting readers to reconsider music and performance from an original and intimate perspective.