Mulatu Astatke – Mulatu Of Ethiopia

Description

Strut present the official reissue of a landmark album in the field of African music, Mulatu Astatkes Mulatu Of Ethiopia from 1972. Recorded in New York, the album arrived at a time when Astatke had begun to master the delicate fusion of styles needed to create Ethio jazz. I left the UK for America and studied at Berklee College in Boston. I learnt the technical aspects of jazz and gained a beautiful understanding of many different types of music. Thats where I got my tools. Berklee really shook me up.

Journeying regularly to the Big Apple to play and watch live shows at the Cheetah, the Palladium and the Village Gate, Astatke met producer Gil Snapper on the circuit. Gil was a nice and very interesting guy. He produced music and worked with all kinds of musicians. The meeting would lead to a series of albums on Snappers Worthy label, Astatke began to hone his sound, infusing funk and Azmari chik- chikka rhythms into the mix. Returning to a downtown Manhattan studio with Snapper and working with some of the citys top young jazz and latin session players, Mulatu Of Ethiopia began to take shape. We rehearsed for 3-4 weeks, remembers Astatke. it took them a while to get the right feeling in the music.

The resultant album represented the first fully formed document of Astatkes trademark Ethio jazz sound. It features Kulunmanqueleshi, Dewel, and Kasalefku-Hulu, tracks that Mulatu would return to regularly on singles and in live shows, the Ethio- Latin workout Chifara and the self-titled groover Mulatu (I wanted to make a track for…. myself!).

Tracklist:

A1 Mulatu
A2 Mascaram Setaba
A3 Dewel
B1 Kulunmanqueleshi
B2 Kasalefkut-hulu
B3 Munaye
B4 Chifara