Mulatu Astatke

Mulatu Astatke (; French transliteration: Astatqé; born 19 December 1943) is an Ethiopian musician and arranger considered the father of "Ethio-jazz".

Born in Jimma, Mulatu was musically trained in London, New York City, and Boston where he combined his jazz and Latin music interests with traditional Ethiopian music. Mulatu led his band while playing vibraphone and conga drums—instruments that he introduced into Ethiopian popular music—as well as other percussion instruments, keyboards, and organs. His albums focus primarily on instrumental music, and Mulatu appears on all three known albums of instrumentals that were released during the Ethiopian Golden Age of Music in the 1970s.

Biography Early life

Mulatu Astatke is of Christian Amhara descent. Mulatu's family sent the young Mulatu to learn engineering in Wales during the late 1950s; he arrived in Britain in 1959, at the age of 16. Instead, he began his education at Lindisfarne College near Wrexham, and later at Bangor University, before earning a degree in music through studies at the Trinity College of Music in London, where he took piano, clarinet and harmony.

While living in the U.S., Mulatu became interested in Latin jazz and recorded his first two albums, Afro-Latin Soul, Volumes 1 & 2, in New York City in 1966. The records prominently feature Mulatu's vibraphone, backed by piano and congas playing Latin rhythms, and were entirely instrumental with the exception of the song "I Faram Gami I Faram," which was sung in Spanish.

Mulatu returned to Addis Ababa in 1969 and brought his new sound, which he called Ethio-jazz, back to his homeland while continuing to work in the U.S. He collaborated with many notable artists in both countries, arranging and playing on recordings by Mahmoud Ahmed, and appearing as a special guest with Duke Ellington and his band during a tour of Ethiopia in 1973. The tour was sponsored by the United States Department of State, and the two played together at a concert attended by Haile Selassie.

Mulatu recorded Mulatu of Ethiopia (1972) in New York City, but most of his music was released by Amha Eshete's label Amha Records in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, including several singles, his album Yekatit Ethio Jazz (1974), and six out of the ten tracks on the compilation album Ethiopian Modern Instrumentals Hits. Yekatit Ethio Jazz combined traditional Ethiopian music with American jazz, funk, and soul, and was the first Ethiopian album planned as a single work rather than assembled from earlier singles.

By 1975, Amha Records had ceased production after the Derg military junta forced the label's owner to flee the country. Mulatu remained, earning a living by teaching music, and played vibes for Hailu Mergia and the Walias Band's 1977 album Tche Belew (which included "Musicawi Silt") before the Walias also left Ethiopia to tour internationally.

On 1 February 2009, Mulatu performed at the Luckman Auditorium in Los Angeles with a band that included Bennie Maupin, Azar Lawrence, and Phil Ranelin. He released a two-disc compilation album to be sold exclusively to passengers of Ethiopian Airlines, with the first disc containing a compilation of styles from different regions of Ethiopia and the second consisting of studio originals. On 12 May 2012, he received an honorary doctorate of music from the Berklee College of Music. In September 2019 the French minister of culture, Franck Riester, travelled to Addis Ababa to present him with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres at the French embassy.

In 2015, Mulatu began recording with Black Jesus Experience for Cradle of Humanity, which premiered at the Melbourne Jazz Festival in 2016 and was followed by a tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Although not featured on the original soundtrack recording, his performance of his composition "Tezeta" is featured over the closing credits in the 2024 film Nickel Boys.

In 2025 Mulatu announced a farewell tour after six decades of performing, playing the Paradiso in Amsterdam in September and the Royal Festival Hall in London in November as part of the London Jazz Festival. The tour accompanied the album Mulatu Plays Mulatu, recorded in London and Addis Ababa with the producer Dexter Story, on which older compositions were rearranged around the krar, the masenqo and the kebero drum.

Mulatu is scheduled to headline We Out Here Festival in the UK in August 2026.

Discography As bandleader Maskaram Setaba, 7" (Addis Ababa, 1966) Afro-Latin Soul, Volume (Worthy, 1966) Afro-Latin Soul, Volume 2 (Worthy, 1966) Mulatu of Ethiopia (Worthy, 1972) Yekatit Ethio-Jazz (Amha, 1974) Plays Ethio Jazz (Poljazz, 1989) Assiyo Bellema Éthiopiques, Vol. 4: Ethio Jazz & Musique Instrumentale, 1969–1974 (Buda Musique, 1998) Ethio Jazz Vol. 1 (AZMARI, 2006) Mulatu Steps Ahead with the Either/Orchestra (Strut, 2010) Sketches of Ethiopia (Jazz Village, 2013) Timeless (Live) (Mochilla, 2022) Tension (Batov Records, 2024) Mulatu Plays Mulatu (Strut Records, 2025)

As a musician and collaborator Tche Belew with Hailu Mergia & The Walias Band (Kaifa, 1977) E così sia and "Ethiopia" with Baustelle (2008) Inspiration Information with The Heliocentrics (2009) Cradle of Humanity with Black Jesus Experience (2016) To Know Without Knowing with Black Jesus Experience (2020)

Compilation appearances Ethiopian Modern Instrumentals Hits (Amha, 1974) New York–Addis–London: The Story of Ethio Jazz 1965–1975 The Rough Guide to the Music of Ethiopia (World Music Network, 2004) Broken Flowers (Decca, 2005)