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 Mulatu
Astatke (var. Astatqé) is an Ethiopian musician
and arranger. He is known as the father of Ethio-jazz.
Born in 1943 in the western Ethiopian city of Jimma,
Astatke was musically trained in London, New York City,
and Boston, where he was the first African student at
Berklee College of Music. He would later combine his jazz
and Latin music influences with traditional Ethiopian
music.
He
has worked with many influential jazz artists such as
Duke Ellington during the 1970s. After meeting the Massachusetts-based
Either Orchestra in Addis Ababa in 2004, Mulatu began
a collaboration with the band which continues today, with
the most recent performances in Scandinavia in summer
2006.
In
2005, his music appeared on the soundtrack to the Jim
Jarmusch film Broken Flowers. Also, Volume 4 of the Ethiopiques
series is devoted entirely to his music.
He
has recently released an album sold exclusively to passengers
of Ethiopian Airlines. It is a 2-disc set, the first one
being a compilation of the different styles from different
regions of Ethiopia, and the second being studio originals.
Astatke
has recently been selected among several candidates in
different fieldas, and invited to Harvard university to
work on his musical work.
Source:
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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