Most Americans got their first taste of Ethiopop from ‘Broken Flowers‘ the 2005 Jim Jarmusch film which featured a soundtrack by Ethiopian jazz legend Mulatu Astatke.
Trained in the UK and the US, Astatke’s unique style gave birth to a new type of Ethopian music, one that blended jazz and Latin music with his country’s signature sound, combining a sharp horn section with Astatke’s own vibraphone. To discover more music from Ethiopia pick up one of the discs in the ‘Ethiopiques‘ series from Parisian label Buda Musique. The series, begun in 1997, originally featured the best of Ethiopian music of the 1960s and 70s, and grew to include new performances and recordings. Fans of Astatke should check out volume 4 in the series, dedicated entirely to the artist.
Learn more about Ethiopop and Ethiojazz in Music+Travel Worldwide Museyon Guides, where Mikael Awake is your guide to the Swing Shifts in the Ethopian capital.