Caresses from the origin of humanity

 

Mulatu Astatke (Amharic: ሙላቱ አስታጥቄ, born 19 December 1943) is an Ethiopian musician and arranger considered as the father of Ethio-jazz; During the 1960’s, he studied music abroad in London, Boston, and New York. He then returned home to Ethiopia armed with a love for jazz and Latin music. There he blended Ethiopian traditional music with the Latin-jazz he was so fond of to create a unique hybrid he called “Ethio-jazz”.

Mulatu Astatke is first and foremost a composer but also a multi-instrumentalist, playing the vibraphone, keyboards and organs. He is further credited as having established congas and bongos, instruments normally central to Latin styles, in Ethiopian music. However, as Ethiopian songs traditionally focused on vocals his greatest contribution to the music of his country was introducing a new focus on instrumentation.

Mulatu Astatke - Mulatu Steps Ahead