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.

About Editors and Authors

Itsushi Kawase is a professor at Japan’s National Museum of Ethnology and the Graduate University for Advanced Studies. His work bridges ethnographic filmmaking, poetry, fiction and performance, bringing a dynamic and engaged approach to scholarship.
Since 2001, he has conducted research on hereditary singers in northern Ethiopia, and since 2018, he has explored religious practices among the Ethiopian diaspora in Tokyo. As a filmmaker, he has directed several documentaries, including Azmari-The Fest of Voices- (2023), When Spirits Ride Their Horses (2012) and the award-winning Room 11, Ethiopia Hotel (2007). His work critically examines the challenges and opportunities of communicating anthropological knowledge through film, encouraging dialogue both on screen and in daily life.

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