Ethiopian Jazz & Grooves Mix

More African goodies for you all, this time we travel to East Africa, Ethiopia to be precise. Legendary Ethiopian musician and composer/arranger Mulatu Astatke studied music in England and the USA in the 60s and started fusing jazz, funk and latin music with traditional Ethiopian music. He then took what he learned back to his homeland and spearheaded a Golden Age of independent Ethiopian music throughout the late 60s and early 70s. He recorded a number of instrumentals albums and composed many works for other artists including the great vocalists of the time, such as Mahmoud Ahmed, Tilahun Gessesse, Menelik Wossenachew, Alemayehu Eshete and others. Another very important composer/arranger from this time was Girma Beyene, who worked with many of the same artists as Mulatu, and indeed composed more titles then Mulatu. Much of this music was released on domestic independent labels, the most important of which was the legendary Amha Records run by Amha Eshete. Eshete was just as important in shaping the Ethiopian music scene as Mulatu and Girma.

Unfortunately, the 1974 revolution resulted in many artists fleeing the country and those who remained were forced to perform nationalist military music, and although some great tracks were made in the following few years the Golden Age of Ethiopian music was at an end and slowly but surely many of these great artists became a fading memory. The wonderful Ethiopiques series on French label Buda Musique has done wonders to revive interest in classic Ethiopian music and now Mulatu and other artists are international stars touring the world and even recording new material, Mulatu recorded 2 new albums in 2009 and 2010. Indeed, there even seems to be a new Ethio-jazz scene happening as this nice article about 2 Irish guys searching modern Addis for Ethio-jazz illustrates.

This is my attempt to pay tribute to this wonderful music scene and I’ve included a few tracks that have yet to be compiled/reissued.

01 Mulatu Astatke – Maskaram Setaba (1)
02 Menelik Wossenachew with Mulatu & All-Star Band – Fikratchin (1)
03 Mulatu Astatke – Yekerme Sew (1)
04 Mahmoud Ahmed with Dahlac Band – Yalem Baytewarnegn (3)
05 Tesfa Mariam Kidane – Heywete (1)
06 Alemayehu Eshete – Kochen Messasate (2)
07 Bahta Gebre Hiwot – Gizie (2)
08 Ibrahim Mahmoud – Gual Aboy Reda (5)
09 Mulatu Astatke – Hooha (1)
10 Aselefech Ashine And Getenesh Kebret – Meche New (4)
11 Tilahun Gessesse with Mulatu & All-Star Band – Lanchi Biye (1)
12 Girma Beyene – Yebekagnale (2)
13 Mulatu Astatke – Emnete (1)
14 Getatchew Mekuria – Yegenet Muziqa (6)
15 Menelik Wossenachew with Mulatu & All-Star Band – Beluw Bedubaye (1)
16 Alemayehu Eshete with Girma Beyene & All-Star Band – Addis Ababa Bete (2)
17 Tilahun Gessesse – Tchuheten Bitsemu (4)
18 Menelik Wossenachew – Chereka (2)
19 Walias Band – Musika Silt (2)
20 Mahmoud Ahmoud with Dahlac Band – Yefikir Wuha Temu (3)
21 Mulatu Astatke – Tezeta (1)

Arranged By;(1) Mulatu Astatke;(2) Girma Beyene;(3) Tezera Haile Michael;(4) Teshome Sissay;(5) Ghermaie Solomon;(6) Getatchew Mekuria

Link