9. Zegevre ‘Aviya Wamenkǝra

This prayer can be heard on different occasions of the liturgical calendar, including the Seventh Sabbath, but not on an ordinary Sabbath. The text is a fragment from a larger prayer sung to the same melody on Berhan Sāraqa, the New Moon and Tāzkar. The text states that God should be praised eternally. He is the Creator. He has favored they who praise Him by enabling them to perform the prayer. God’s judgment upon man and the ensuing demise of man contrast with God’s eternal nature. However, it is through the observance of the holidays that man is alive. It is also part of the wedding service.

In Ethiopia, Zegevre – like Herzәga (CD I, no. 11) – was accompanied by a frame-drum that fulfilled an emphatic rather than rhythmic function. In this piece in the hemiola pattern, short enunciations alternate with very long ones. The chant has a narrow range.