Mulatu Astatke
Mulatu Astatke (born in 1943) is the pioneer of Ethio-jazz. He is coming back to Nijmegen with his unique mix of traditional Ethiopian music, jazz and Latin influences. Back when he was a student, he combined his interest in jazz and Latin-American music with traditional Ethiopian music. It was this sound that was sampled a lot by hip hop artists like Nas, Damian Marley, Kanye West, Cut Chemist and Knaan.
Mulatu Astatke, musician and arranger, is best known as the spiritual figurehead of Ethio-jazz. Born in West-Ethiopian city Jimma, Mulatu studied in London, New York and Boston. This is where he laid the groundworks for his ground-breaking combination of jazz, Latin-American music and Ethiopian music. He was the first African student who enrolled at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. He received an honours degree in 2012 there.
Astatke led his band while playing vibraphone and congas, instruments he introduced in Ethiopian pop music, along with other percussion instruments, keys and organs. His albums focus mostly on instrumental music and he managed to collaborate with some remarkable artists. He arranged and played on recordings by Mahmoud Ahmed and performed as a special guest at a 1973 Duke Ellington tour through Ethiopia.
In 2006, Astatke toured with the American band Either/Orchestra and in 2008 he recorded an album with the Heliocentrics. In those days, he worked on modernising traditional Ethiopian instruments and, through that, managed to complete a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship at Harvard University.
This show is recommended to fans of Jungle by Night, Heliocentrics, Mahmoud Ahmed, Orchestra Baobab and legends like Sun Ra, Manu Dibango, Tony Allen, Fela Kuti, Donald Byrd and Pharaoh Sanders.
