Mulatu Astatke

Mulatu Astatke upended outdated ideas about what African music could or should be when the Ethiopian musician and arranger pioneered the cosmopolitan sound of Ethio-jazz. Born in Jimma in 1943, Astatke originally came to the UK to become an engineer before studying vibraphone and percussion at music schools in London and Boston. His immersion in jazz and Latin music inspired his own fresh hybrid when he meshed them with traditional Ethiopian sounds. Mulatu Of Ethiopia (1972)—which stood out from the pack by being recorded in the U.S. instead of his homeland—established the supple and subtly funky sound he dubbed Ethio-jazz. Though Astatke’s career was negatively affected by the wars and political conflicts that blighted Ethiopia through the late ‘70s and ‘80s, international interest in his work surged in the ‘90s with the reissue of his albums in Europe and the U.S. Making the most of this well-deserved second wind, Astatke brought Ethio-jazz to a new generation of listeners and musicians via his recordings and tours with London band The Heliocentrics and Melbourne’s Black Jesus Experience.