Posts Tagged by Mulatu Astatke

Ethiopia’s Mulatu Astatke honored at Boston music school

BOSTON — The largest independent college of contemporary music in the world has awarded honorary degrees to the Eagles and Grammy Award-winning country singer Alison Krauss at a ceremony in Boston. The city’s Berklee College of Music also has honored influential Ethiopian musician Mulatu Astatke, an alumnus. The artists were honored during the school’s commencement… Read more

Ethiopia’s Mulatu Astatke spreads jazz around the world

Ethiopian musician Mulatu Astatke is gaining global recognition for his work. He is known as the godfather of Ethio Jazz – a term he coined when studying music in the United States. BBC East Africa Correspondent, Will Ross, tracked him down in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. Watch Video: Mulatu Astatke spreads jazz around the… Read more

Ethiopian Jazz: Thrilling Music That You Should Hear

Contemporary Ethiopian musicians reinvigorate traditional jazz stylings for new audiences in America and Addis Ababa. By: Salamishah Tillet During the second half of the 20th century, cosmopolitan Ethiopians were delighted to see jazz giant Duke Ellington receive their country’s Medal of Honor from Emperor Haile Selassie. At the same time, by contrast, a Berklee College… Read more

Ethio-Jazzman

Ethiopian music legend Mulatu Astatke invented Ethio-Jazz. With a whole new generation of fans and collaborators he’s just as innovative today. Master musician and composer, Mulatu Astatke, is fresh from Addis Ababa. He has flown into London from Ethiopia to do press on his forthcoming album Mulatu Steps Ahead and to attend DJ Gilles Peterson’s… Read more

Golden Age of Ethiopian Jazz is coming back

ADDIS ABABA (The Economist)- Aficionados are hoping for a revival of the golden age of Ethiopian jazz, as players who emigrated westward a generation ago, especially to America, come home amid the global recession. Tafari Assefa now plays his drums in a band at the bar of the Jupiter Hotel, one of the fancier newer… Read more

A Conversation With Mulatu Astatke: On Heliocentrics, Ethio-Jazz and Ellington

Rivaling Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, Franco, Tabu Ley Rochereau, and a handful of others, Mulatu Astatke ranks among the most influential African musicians of all-time. The father of Ethio-Jazz, the Berklee-trained Mulatu was the first of his countryman to fuse American jazz and funk, with native folk and Coptic Chuch melodies. The leading light… Read more