The Man Who Created Ethio-Jazz: Mulatu Astatke Wants the World to Respect Africa's Music

Mulatu Astatke is 82 years old, but he is not slowing down. The Ethiopian musician invented a style of music called Ethio-jazz, which mixes traditional Ethiopian sounds with jazz, funk, and Latin rhythms. He recently performed in London, England, and is now working on a new album. More than just a musician, Astatke is on a mission to make sure the world gives proper credit to Africa's indigenous, or native, artists and musical traditions.

Astatke grew up in Ethiopia and was sent to a boarding school in Wrexham, north Wales, when he was 16. His parents wanted him to study aeronautical engineering — the science of building aircraft. But at school, he picked up the trumpet and discovered his love of music. He later studied at Trinity College of Music in London and at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he became the school's first ever African student.

During the 1960s, Astatke spent time in London's jazz scene, making friends with famous musicians like Ronnie Scott and saxophonist Joe Harriott. He played music with them at clubs across Soho and connected with musicians from Africa and the Caribbean. All of these experiences helped shape the new sound he was building. When he brought this new music back to Addis Ababa, however, not everyone was impressed. At one early show, the audience told him to stop — but he bowed, said thank you, walked off, and quietly vowed to prove them wrong.

Ethio-jazz blends a five-note pattern called a pentatonic scale, found in traditional Ethiopian music, with western jazz and Afro-Latin rhythms. Astatke also weaves in traditional instruments like the krar, masenqo, and kebero, and even religious chants more than 1,600 years old. 'Ethio-jazz is a beautiful science,' he says. In the late 1960s, he recorded albums in New York with his group the Ethiopian Quintet and released singles in Ethiopia on Amha Records, the country's first independent music label. He says those years were about finding his identity: 'Once I created Ethio-jazz, I became myself.'

As his fame grew, Astatke performed in 1973 with Duke Ellington, one of the greatest jazz musicians in American history, who was touring Ethiopia and Zambia. When the saxophone section played Ethio-jazz, Ellington said he 'never expected this from an African.' Astatke remembers the moment with great warmth. The lively music era in Ethiopia ended the next year, in 1974, when Emperor Haile Selassie was removed from power by a harsh military government. Astatke says he survived by staying out of politics entirely: 'I live peacefully. That's how I survive.'

One of Astatke's biggest passions is ensuring Africa's indigenous communities get credit for their musical contributions. He points out that the scales used by famous American saxophonist Charlie Parker are the same ones played by the Derashe tribe in southern Ethiopia. He also notes that the five-note scale in Japanese traditional music matches Ethiopia's, and that a sixth-century Ethiopian composer named St. Yared created his own musical notation long before European composers became famous. 'We don't do any research,' he says. 'We go more to Europe instead of doing research on African people.'

In the 1990s, Astatke traveled to indigenous Ethiopian communities, spent time with them, had long conversations, and even brought some of their musicians into a recording studio. He says these communities are the true source of his inspiration. 'The bush people created Mulatu, because I became a musician by listening to the masenqo,' he says. Today he plans to return to the African Jazz Village in Addis Ababa — a venue he opened in 2013, now run by his son — and record a new album featuring both indigenous musicians and Addis Ababa artists. 'Promoting Ethiopia, promoting our cultural people to the world,' he says with a smile, 'that's what makes me so great and happy. Give respect to Africa and the bush people.'