Mulatu Astatke is best known for changing the face of Ethiopian music during the ‘Swinging Addis’ era of the late 1960s and 1970s.
At 82, the Ethiopian composer and multi-instrumentalist is considered the ‘father of Ethio-jazz’, a movement born in the late 1960s that fused jazz, Latin music and traditional Ethiopian music.
This year he has announced a new studio album, Mulatu Plays Mulatu, for Strut, his first major studio album in over 10 years. The album features his full big band performing alongside Ethiopian cultural musicians and stands as a fitting climax to an incredible career.
‘Throughout my life, I wanted to bring Ethio-jazz to all corners of the world for people to enjoy and I feel that I have succeeded in that,’ says Astatke. The world of music would definitely echo those sentiments.
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