Ethiopia has a rich cultural mosaic. One reason for this is that the country has over 80 languages. Ethiopian music is defined as music and recreation, music and work, music and politics, music and spiritual belief.
In Ethiopian music the earliest style is a personal lament of Ingurguro, which has a simple form with small ranges of undulating movement. The second style is Mezmur that has its unique character of singing, performance style, rhythmical restrictions and limitation of contents. The third style is Zefen - the most popular musical style within all the ethnic groups. It differs from the other two in its performance style.