One of the country’s oldest instruments, the begena was once reserved for the elite — and effectively banned during the Marxist Derg regime between 1974 and 1991.
But it is experiencing a resurgence among Ethiopia’s artistic community.
For the past three years, Biruktawit’s group has visited a nursing home in Addis Ababa every Friday to play for its residents.
The begena “is medicine for the soul,” said Biruktawit, 23, who has been playing the instrument for about a year.
Legend has it that the instrument was brought over from Israel in the 10th century BC by Menelik I, Ethiopia’s first emperor, who received it from King David.
For centuries, the instrument’s music has accompanied the prayers and meditations of monks of the Ethiopian Tewahedo Church, which represents about 40 percent of Ethiopia’s 120 million people.
That association with religion meant it fell from favour as the country turned towards communism in the 20th century, but it has slowly returned.
Resembling a harp or a large lyre, trapezium-shaped and about a metre tall, it has 10 strings —- traditionally made from sheep’s intestines — that symbolise the Ten Commandments.
It is plucked with the left hand, either bare or with a plectrum, while players wear a netela — a traditional white cloth — draped across the chest for men, and in the form of a veil for women.
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