About Ethiopian Music: Ethiopia a country of traditional music. The music of Ethiopia is extremely diverse, with each of Ethiopia’s ethnic groups being associated with unique sounds. Ethiopian music uses a distinct modal system that is pentatonic with characteristically long intervals between some notes. The music of the Ethiopian Highlands uses a fundamental modal system called qenet, of which there are four main modes – tezeta, bati, ambassel, and anchihoy. Contemporary music has been gaining ground since the 1960s, but most musicians who produce modern songs also sing traditional songs because there is a huge audience for it.