5th century – 6th century
Aksum and Ethiopia
Yared was a native of Aksum traditionally credited with composing or authoring the Degoua, a major collection of Ethiopian Christian liturgical chants. He is placed in local tradition alongside King Guebre Meskel and Abba Aregawi. The Degoua combines biblical, patristic, and apocryphal material in poetic forms used during daily services and annual and monthly feasts.
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The Story
Yared is identified as a native of Aksum and is associated with the creation of the Degoua, a collection of Ethiopian Christian liturgical chants. Local sources from the fourteenth century place him in the time of King Guebre Meskel and Abba Aregawi, one of the Nine Saints. His attribution anchors the chant tradition in the sacred and royal history of Aksum.
The Degoua draws on the Bible, writings of early patriarchs, theologians from the third to the eighth centuries, and apocryphal books. Its material is arranged poetically into books, chapters, and verses, with sections associated with annual and monthly feasts. The chants praise angels, saints, martyrs, the Virgin Mary, and God, and serve both morning and evening worship.
The collection is organized into four principal forms: Kum-Zema, Zemane, Meregde, and Tsfat. Performance combines singing, bodily movement, batons, sistra, drums, and hand-clapping, with variations in tempo and cadence. These chants accompany religious feasts and the ceremonial exposure of the Tabot, the sacred tablet representing the saint to whom a church is dedicated.
5th century – 6th century
Aksum and Ethiopia
Yared was a native of Aksum traditionally credited with composing or authoring the Degoua, a major collection of Ethiopian Christian liturgical chants. He is placed in local tradition alongside King Guebre Meskel and Abba Aregawi. The Degoua combines biblical, patristic, and apocryphal material in poetic forms used during daily services and annual and monthly feasts.
Continue exploring
The Story
Yared is identified as a native of Aksum and is associated with the creation of the Degoua, a collection of Ethiopian Christian liturgical chants. Local sources from the fourteenth century place him in the time of King Guebre Meskel and Abba Aregawi, one of the Nine Saints. His attribution anchors the chant tradition in the sacred and royal history of Aksum.
The Degoua draws on the Bible, writings of early patriarchs, theologians from the third to the eighth centuries, and apocryphal books. Its material is arranged poetically into books, chapters, and verses, with sections associated with annual and monthly feasts. The chants praise angels, saints, martyrs, the Virgin Mary, and God, and serve both morning and evening worship.
The collection is organized into four principal forms: Kum-Zema, Zemane, Meregde, and Tsfat. Performance combines singing, bodily movement, batons, sistra, drums, and hand-clapping, with variations in tempo and cadence. These chants accompany religious feasts and the ceremonial exposure of the Tabot, the sacred tablet representing the saint to whom a church is dedicated.
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