Kassmasse

ካሥማሠ Kassmasse

Kassmasse in a cream knit, lit in warm amber light.

Singer, rapper, producer and painter from Addis Ababa. His name means “if it is needed”: the music is offered as a point of view, for whoever wants it.

C · D · E · G · A

Tizita: memory and longing. The mode of looking back.

Sweep across the strings, tap one, or press 1–5.

Antsar አንፃር

Perspective. The genre he named himself, because nothing on the shelf fit.

When Kassmasse and his team finished Maleda, they found it didn’t belong to any one genre. So they named it Antsar: music heard from the musician’s own point of view, with room to sample across genres.

In practice that means the old Ethiopian modes, the ቅኝት qenet above, carried into hip hop, reggae, R&B and jazz rhythms, with the samples, wordplay and allegory of Amharic on top.

  • አምባሰል Ambassel mode
  • ትዝታ Tizita mode
  • Golden-age Ethiopian samples
  • Amharic wordplay & allegory

አንፃርAntsar

  • Hip hop
  • Reggae
  • R&B
  • Jazz & pop
What goes in: the sources he names, Ethiopian on the left and global on the right.
Two portraits of Kassmasse facing each other over a gold record, one in a white gabi and one in a hoodie: the Bahil | Weg artwork.

Letters first, then words

Before the music, Fikiru Sema was a graffiti writer who loved drawing letters. Music became the way to make those words move.

Addis Ababa
Born and raised. St. Joseph School, then a marketing degree at Addis Ababa University’s School of Commerce.
After college
About three years building his craft alongside people already working in the industry.
New Year’s Eve 2020
Maleda (ማለዳ, “dawn”), a debut EP about taking your chance early, opening on a sample of Ethiopian elders talking about the country’s future.
2022
Bahil | Weg, with Julian Marley on “Africa”. That year’s AFRIMA named him Best Male Artist in East Africa.
2025–26
Mentewab, then Ke 13 Werat with Neba Tiqo.
Now
Artist, producer and co-founder of Qena Lib, an artist-led label, studio and agency in Addis. Earlier he helped create Meedo Records.

On stage and in his videos he wears traditional Ethiopian dress, cut for now.

The record

Every release, newest first. Full track lists below.

  1. 2026

    Ke 13 Werat visualizer still: an illustrated woman in a white dress and red cape holding a yellow flower against a blue sky.

    Ke 13 Werat ከ፲፫ ወራት

    Single · with Neba Tiqo · visualizer 6 September 2026

    “From thirteen months”: the Ethiopian calendar has twelve months of thirty days and a thirteenth, Pagume, of five or six.

    WatchSpotify

  2. 2025

    Mentewab video still: Kassmasse in a gabi and sunglasses reading an Amharic newspaper in a room papered with newsprint.

    Mentewab ምንትዋብ

    Single · music video 25 July 2025

    WatchSpotify

  3. 2023

    Sanqa Souq cover: Kassmasse holding a cardboard box of records and merch on a yellow ground.

    Sanqa Souq ሣንቃ ሡቅ

    EP · 2 September 2023 · Meedo Records

    1. Weg Nigat
    2. Sanqa Souq
    3. Rega Bilo Medeset

    DeezerSpotifyWatch

  4. 2022

    Mela Mela Remix cover: Kassmasse and Protoje in a wood-panelled room.

    Mela Mela (Remix)

    Single · feat. Protoje & Uno · 24 October 2022 · Meedo Records

    1. Mela Mela (Remix) feat. Protoje, Uno

    DeezerSpotify

  5. 2022

    Bahil | Weg cover: two figures of Kassmasse, one in white gabi and one in a jacket, facing each other on red with gold records.

    Bahil | Weg ባህል | ወግ

    Album · 17 February 2022 · Meedo Records · 10 tracks, 33 min

    1. Mela Mela feat. Danni Semma
    2. Yehagere Lij feat. Danni Semma
    3. Yeman Nat feat. Rass
    4. Sewasew
    5. Africa feat. Julian Marley
    6. Bado Ijen feat. Uno
    7. Simiminet
    8. Adershign
    9. Alem
    10. Yehagere Lij (Remix) feat. Danni Semma, Dagi

    SpotifyApple MusicDeezer

  6. 2021

    Buna Qurs (Live) cover: the Kassmasse monogram in white on black.

    Buna Qurs (Live)

    Live EP · 4 May 2021 · Choo Choo Promotions

    1. Ahadu Lenege
    2. Amelework
    3. Bado Ijen
    4. Tiru Amarigna feat. Uno
    5. Wubet

    DeezerSpotify

  7. 2021

    Eighteen Eighty Eight cover: Kassmasse in traditional dress with a kebero drum before a crowd at dusk.

    Eighteen Eighty Eight ፲፰፻፹፰

    Single · feat. Uno · 2 March 2021 · Choo Choo Promotions

    1888 in the Ethiopian calendar is the year of the Battle of Adwa. The single came out on Adwa Victory Day.

    DeezerBandcamp

  8. 2020

    Maleda EP cover: Kassmasse wrapped in a gabi, looking out over mountains at dawn.

    Maleda ማለዳ

    Debut EP · 31 December 2020 · Meedo Records

    1. Andegna (Intro)
    2. Maleda
    3. Amelework
    4. Negen Letizita
    5. Kena Libb
    6. Wubet feat. Uno

    DeezerBandcamp

Read the words

Half of Antsar is Amharic: the double meanings, the proverbs bent sideways. Here are the titles, opened up. Tap one.

ማለዳ

Early morning; dawn.

He calls the debut EP a message about taking your chance early, before the day gets going.

Literal glosses written by the site team, not Kassmasse’s own readings.

Watch

Mentewab · Music video · 2025

Everything on YouTube

Played with

AFRIMA 2022: Best Male Artist in East Africa, awarded in Dakar.

Your name, in his letters

Kassmasse started out writing letters on walls. Type your name and get it back in Ge’ez as a tag, in the colours of whichever mode you’re in. Save it, or post it to your story.

Paint & pressings

He paints as well as writes. Qena Lib makes small runs of physical work. Everything is by enquiry: write, and the studio replies with what’s available.

Qena Lib ቅን ልብ

“An upright heart for music, art and honest collaboration.”

Kassmasse co-founded Qena Lib with Befekadu Girma (Dub:Tera) and Rutha Teklehaymanot. It’s an independent label, studio and creative agency in Addis Ababa, and it handles his bookings, press and collaborations.

kassmassemusic@gmail.com

Bookings, press, partnerships and music submissions. Promoters and press: get the press kit. Label site: kassmasse.com