# People who speak Amharic: what is this song about? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2018, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-speak-amharic-what-is-this-song-about/806931 "2018-01-19T00:22:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-speak-amharic-what-is-this-song-about/806931/1 "2018-01-19T00:22:20Z")
It’s a seven-minute song. Although I love it, I don’t expect you to listen to the whole thing. But can you give me a general idea what the topic is? Also, if anyone happens to know, what is the cool one-stringed instrument featured in this vid? And who is the (extra suave) accordion player? ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-speak-amharic-what-is-this-song-about/806931/2 "2018-01-19T00:30:58Z")
[Whoops, this one here:](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh7KU6B-mUg) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-speak-amharic-what-is-this-song-about/806931/3 "2018-01-19T00:48:03Z")
I just want to say that I’m going to be _really_ impressed if we have a poster here who speaks Amharic. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-speak-amharic-what-is-this-song-about/806931/4 "2018-01-19T02:15:41Z")
**John Mace:** Well, in light of my past posts asking sundry questions about the Ethiopian language, you are certainly not mistaken – but why is that, I wonder? We have thinking people here who are fluent in all kinds of other languages – why not Amharic?\* \*I may be mistaken about the spoken language of Ethiopia? Perhaps it’s not Amharic? ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-speak-amharic-what-is-this-song-about/806931/5 "2018-01-19T03:30:02Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > Also, if anyone happens to know, what is the cool one-stringed instrument featured in this vid? [Njarka](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Njarka) It looks and sounds like a njarka, anyway - I recognised it straight away as I’m a big fan of West African music. However, Ethiopia is right over on the other side of Africa, so it may well be called something else in East Africa, which is a very different a far separated culture from West Africa. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-speak-amharic-what-is-this-song-about/806931/6 "2018-01-19T03:35:35Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > \*I may be mistaken about the spoken language of Ethiopia? Perhaps it’s not Amharic? Ethiopia is a rather weird case. Amharic is the official language because the Amhara region is where the Orthodox principalities of highland Ethiopia coalesced to create a unitary state and conquer the rest of modern Ethiopia. But it is not the majority language - in fact it is #2 to Oromo. The Oromo people are actually the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, but even they only represent a plurality( 35-40% of the population, compared to maybe 27% Amhara ).