The Kirar is a bowl-shaped lyre, typically strung with six strings, found across Ethiopian secular and spiritual music. It belongs to a broader family of East African lyres that includes the Begena — its larger, deeper-toned relative used almost exclusively in Ethiopian Orthodox devotional music — and shares that instrument's box-and-crossbar construction, even as its playing style and repertoire differ.
A shared history
Lyres of this general family have been played across the Horn of Africa for generations, passed down primarily through oral tradition rather than written notation. The Kirar in particular found its place at celebrations, in secular music, and in accompaniment to singers — a more portable, more melodically flexible counterpart to the Begena's slow, meditative role in church.
Why it's taught by ear
Because the tradition has always been carried player to player, most Kirar technique is still best learned by watching, listening, and repeating — the same way it has always been passed down. That's the model Abelkirar is built on: structured lessons, but rooted in the way the instrument has always been taught.
Why it matters now
The Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox diaspora is large and growing, spread across cities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Passing the Kirar to the next generation now means teaching it somewhere it can reach that diaspora — which is exactly why Abelkirar exists.