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Abstract
St. Yared is a man who has made a significant contribution to the church by composing more than ten thousand hymns sung by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and creating a dance movement that goes along with the melody. St. Yared’s work played a significant role in believers’ lives and spiritual formation over the past fifteen hundred years. It is inappropriate that there is not enough attention given to St. Yared’s life and works in the local Ethiopian Evangelical Churches and outside researchers, even though his works contributed so much to the church.
In this study, the life journey of St. Yared is explored, and the three scales he composed with—all zēmā—are analyzed, a method to transcribe the chants is created, his theology through investigation of the texts of the chant is analyzed, and the liturgical dance he created is analyzed. In this way, pointing out the possibility of a chant’s transcription will invite researchers to discuss more on the issue, and the transcription also will help shorten students’ study time.
One of the things that shocked many new believers when they came to the Ethiopian Evangelical Church was their unfamiliarity with the western contemporary Christian music style. The Ethiopian Evangelical churches should also make an in-depth study of the teachings and music of St. Yared, so that people can easily understand the gospel in a style of song and culture where people are accustomed to worshiping God. All biblical references in this paper are from the New International Version (NIV) unless otherwise noted.
