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Tsehai Birhanu and choir performing at wedding vhurch in Watertown, Massachusetts, Ethiopian Orthodox Church music,
Qesus Tsehai Birhanu
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Photography by Kay K. Shelemay
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Tsehai Birhanu is both an ordained priest and a marigeta (leader of musicians) in the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian musical tradition. He trained for many years in Gojjam, Ethiopia and is a carrier of a rare vocal and dance tradition from the Gojjam Qoma monastery. He is very unusual in that he both perpetuates what can only be described as an endangered, traditional form of musical performance and dance, while also composing new Ethiopian Christian hymns. Regional vocal styles such as this one, with its long, sustained lines of ornamented chant and emotional power, are today dying out in Ethiopia. In 2008, Qesus Tsehai Birhanu was named a Mass Cultural Council Finalist in the Traditional Arts.
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