The Secret Connecting Ethiopian Pentatonic Scales Revealed

[@TimSmolens]

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[@Web4Panama]

Very interesting, thank you. The Tezeta minor scale is also a mode of the Japanese Hirajoshi scale.

[@dbass4973]

it's like a window to another sonic world, thank you so very much

[@TimmyGMusic]

Very cool stuff! Picked up my git-fiddle and started messing around with some of these scales, already coming up with interesting new ideas!

[@justinhuffman2430]

I enjoy your unique breakdown ❤ 🔥 subscribed

[@GlendonGross]

Thanks! What an amazing theoretical discovery you have made. It really suggests a possible voice leading between the "root" of the A Tazeta minor to the 2nd degree of the Bati minor #4. I have found in my own personal studies that the Double-Harmonic scale works very well in these kinds of progressions because of tonal gravity. Thanks much for this, I'm sharing it on social media.

[@thomasbrown3325]

Add all the notes of those two Ethiopian pentatonics together (both in A), and you get Raag Simhendramadhyamam (with a root of A)--aka Hungarian minor. This is a mode of Raag Bhairav --aka the double harmonic major scale.

[@arlymonhollon804]

Excellent explanation of a very cool discovery! Discovered Mulatu because of the movie "Broken Flowers" with Bill Murray, lol! I've known about Ambassel and Tizita minor for some time now, also that these scales reside inside of each other- Ambassel from G is the fourth mode of Tizita minor from C. I wasn't aware of the Bati minor scale, -badass and mixing that with Tizita minor is awesome sounding. Discovered Mulatu is using Anchihoye in "Mascaram Setaba" which I absolutely love that track, and enjoy trying to learn it for marimba. Feels like there are more hidden treasures to be found in this music! Also some of these are found in Japanese music Tizita minor= Hirajoshi, Anchihoye = Iwato.

[@mattbarker8853]

Super cool! Definitely going to play with this! Relative major/minors really opened up my understanding of music. Neat how one's a minor third and other is a major on your connection. My understanding of why the golden age of Ethiopian music ended was because "The Derg, the Marxist regime of Mengistu Haile-Mariam that rose to power in 1974, squashed Ethiopia’s budding musical scene and liberal social life." Shut down all the nightclubs and live music didn't return until after the dictator was gone. There's some new modern ethio jazz bands reinventing the sound. Thanks for sharing your insights!

[@j.s.m.5351]

Perfect timing as I recently subscribed to your channel and just started getting into Ethiojazz!

[@frankgillet2752]

Great video, very insightful!

[@gabrielgodwin9953]

Thanks so much for sharing this insight into how this works. I've stumbled across this phenomenon many times, and some of my more "music theory" savvy friends have asked me what exactly I was doing. I, obviously, never had a clearly laid out explanation to offer. You have delivered it. This is solid gold for any musician that seeks the realm outside of the box.

[@Guitarisforgrins]

Great lesson! Subscribed!

[@mikaelsib2435]

Great lesson!!

[@myyootube2]

New subscriber! Thx for the lesson. Relating pentatonics to 7 note scales (heptatonics) is one way to expand their potential. The Tezeta could relate to a few reasonably common scales (Natural, Harmonic, and Neapolitan Minor). The Bati pentatonic relates to two heptatonics in my mind straight away, the Hungarian Minor and the Lydian b3, AKA Lydian Diminished scale because it contains a full diminished 7th chord within it. That latter scale particularly (it's the 4th mode of Harmonic Major) has a lot of untapped potential I think and the Bati pentatonic seems a great starting place to explore it.

[@MattParish]

Rad stuff, man. I absorbed a bunch of this stuff watching/listening to a rad Boston group called Debo Band that's been crusssssssshing Ethiopian jams for years.

[@jeremydacquin6311]

Good job. Well explain Thanks

[@jim-qx6zq]

incredibly interesting video!!

[@modtheblackmarvel]

Yes .not every one should know this 🤌🏾🤌🏾😅😇😇😉 ..very well explained...👊🏾👊🏾

[@veronikarevolt]

Never heard of it before but I met those scales in metal music many times!

[@getfre]

Thank you!

[@micahkeren-zvi9208]

awesome! i love ethiopian music. i had always called bati minor #4 "the evil ethiopian scale" and i thought of it as 1, b2, 4, #4, (nat) 6. guess that would be the third mode good to know what it's actually called and where the root is. also, secret chiefs rule many thanks;)

[@simrett149]

i think you might have missed two more scales: Anchihoye and Ambassel. And Tezeta and Bati are also not just minor

[@kassahunbelay7711]

you just done a phd level presentation on the scales 💪

[@mkdh7364]

Thank you so much

[@ChipsTipsforLife]

good video Timmy!

[@agamhamzah2924]

Tezeta minor is simylar with javanese scale "Pelog"?

[@RizalBudiLeksono]

nope, it's Sundanese madenda scale. Javanese pelog is bati major

[@agamhamzah2924]

@RizalBudiLeksono thanks 🙏

[@AIR-UTRA]

Acabas de eliminar la 4 de la escala de A menor armónica?😮

[@Almazees]

Awsome! Any relation with melodic minor and F G# B C E (F) ?

[@lorenzo--rossi]

Very interesting! Now I'm fully committed to listening Ethiopiques. .😂 thanks for the video!

[@theouterlimits7788]

Lol same discovery Columbus made when he came to the "new land" and discovered a place no one seen before. 😂😂😂

[@acirka]

Thanks :)

[@MarimboKing]

It would seem there are different names for these scales. What you call bati minor, I've come across as anchi hoye. Mulaue talks a bit about scales and how he forged ethio jazz in his red bull academy talk, it's on KZbin somewhere

[@TimSmolens]

To be honest I never knew them by names but just by the modes, so when I went to make the video I went to see if there was some consensus on the names and that was what popped up first so I went with it. Thanks for watching!

[@MarimboKing]

I'm always interested in learning more about the wonderful music of the Ethiopian golden age, so thanks for publishing. I'm not a trained musician, but I get by as well as I can. I actually played around a bit with your scale last night. My first thought was that it shares some properties of the double harmonic major scale (often referred to as Arabic, Byzantine or gypsy major)

[@AeolianPhysis]

Batti and Anchi hoye are two different scales(kiñit). in Ethiopia and Eritrea, we have 4 scales(kinit) which are Tizta, Batti, Ambassel, and Anchi hoye. The tizita and batti scales have both major and minor variations. if you are interested let me know I can send you the scales.

[@thomasbrown3325]

Anchi hoye seems to lack the fifth.

[@raenoldparkin]

This is fucking genius!

[@KiyaBiruk-wd8xq]

🇪🇹❤❤

[@M-on1]

That’s what’s up, keep the research going, look into the esoteric origin of those sounds and the relationship with the alphabet; I promise you’ll find mind blowing stuff!🫡

[@TimSmolens]

Anything you can turn me on specifically that goes into what you're talking about?

[@M-on1]

Yes for 1. The Alphabet(Fidal) ABOGIDA is like the piano 🎹, each letter has 7 different sounds, 2. St. Yared’s contribution, how he came up with those scales you’re talking about, Tizita, Bati…. For example when you say those related scales (Tizata, And Bati) means Different sides of the same 🪙, where Tizita triggers nostalgia emotion, and Bati “lump in the throat”. And they literally do! However you have to go out there, with the locals and patiently dig deep!