Qañat or Qeñet (Amharic: ቅኝት, alternatively spelled Kignit, Keniet, Gegnet, Gignit) are secular musical scales developed by the Amhara ethnic group of Ethiopia. Qañat consists in a set of intervals defining the mode of a musical piece or the tuning scale of the instrument playing the piece.^[1] There are four main qañat scales that are used, all of which are pentatonic: tizita (ትዝታ), bati (ባቲ), ambassel (ዐምባሰል), and anchihoye (አንቺሆዬ).^[2][3] Three additional modes are variations on the above: tezeta minor, bati major, and bati minor.^[4] Some songs take the name of their qañat, such as tizita, a song of reminiscence.^[3]

History

Ashenafi Kebede was one of the early scholars to standardize the kignits of northern and central Ethiopia.^{[citation needed]}