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THE MAKING OF A MASINQO (ETHIOPIA'S SINGLE STRING BOWED SPIKE FIDDLE) [Abstract ID: 1203-01]
In 1990 the late historian Chris Prouty Rosenfeld, author of the book about Empress Taitu and Emperor Menilik II, heard I had made a film and asked if I would show it. I said the ten hours of raw footage have not been edited and in storage. But then the Revolution of 1974-91 happened and circumstances changed including the introduction of digital technology. Passage of time gave me time to reflect and gain perspective. For example, are instruments becoming more massed produced or, if an azmari wants to have a masinqo made, can he still go to a maker to have one custom made using traditional methods? And how are instruments being transformed to suit today's musical environment? This 1-hour documentary was originally made using a Beaulieu 4008 ZM2 super-8 movie camera and a Nagra IV S reel-to-reel tape recorder in October and November 1972 during Ramadan, depicting a period before the onslaught of the 1974-91 Revolution. The film was converted to a digital format in 2009, and the editing process began in 2016. Instrument maker Yusef Idris, a Moslem originally from Wallo, consented to be the subject of this film. He and his wife Tashi, an Orthodox Christian, and their children lived at the outer edges of the Merkato in the Ketema district. Actual masinqo construction took place in the yard of the author's house located above the Ras McKonnen bridge. Aspects of what took place 46 years ago in making a masinqo may no longer exist. Thus, this film provides a time capsule of that point in time at locations in Addis Ababa and Addis Alem. Amhara, Oromo, Tigre and Tigrinya songs are taken from the author's 1972 field recordings and integrated into the film. Films such as this on instrument morphology add to literature on an historic event about construction techniques, production technology, and museum conservation. As an ethnomusicologist, the author utilizes methodologies also relevant to musicologists and anthropologists: participant-observation of musical events, recording and transcribing interviews and interactions, and documenting musical performances within their cultural contexts.