It is easy to affirm that composer and orchestra leader Mulatu Astatke is the central figure in Ethio-jazz, still active at the age of 76. For a second time, he shares an album with the Australian band Black Jesus Experience (listen also to the album Cradle of Humanity, released in 2016). Let’s also remember that Ethio-jazz had its heyday in the ’60s and ’70s, until revolutionary violence put this singular movement on the back burner. Expatriated to Europe and North America, these visionaries from Addis Ababa gradually resumed their service and Ethio-jazz has regained its status since the beginning of the millennium. Let us also affirm that the work of composer and multi-instrumentalist Astatke is among the most important in jazz from Africa, along with those of South Africans Abdullah Ibrahim (Dollar Brand) and Hugh Masekela. Here is further striking proof of this. Astatke and his antipodean colleagues offer here a wonderful experience of modern jazz with melodic inflections of the Nile, at the confluence of the musical traditions of East Africa and the Levant. Hip hop and R&B ornaments, and poetic declamations expressed in English and Amharic language, fit perfectly into this context. Everything flows from the source on this second collaboration, the communion is perfect between the musicians – keyboards, guitar, vibraphone, percussion, trumpet, flute, saxophones, vocals, and rap. This fusion is no less typical of the Afro-jazz crossbreeding that illuminated the ’80s, with the fervour and cohesion of the ensemble that one should expect. Let’s take advantage of it while Astatke is still in full possession of his means.
Latest 360 Content
Album review Rock/expérimental / contemporain/Instrumental/métal progressif 2024
Hybreed Chaos – Subliminal Abyssal Carnage
By Laurent Bellemare
Album review Experimental / Contemporary/expérimental / contemporain 2024
Senyawa – Vajranala
By Laurent Bellemare
Interview Indigenous peoples
International First Peoples’ Festival 2024: let’s chat about the programming
By Frédéric Cardin
Concert review Africa/latino/Americana
PAN M 360 at Nuits d’Afrique 2024 | Final Evening With a Congolese and Colombian Flavour
By Jacob Langlois-Pelletier
Concert review Africa/Caribbean/Reggae/Soul/R&B
PAN M 360 at Nuits d’Afrique | A Look Back at Rutshelle Guillaume’s Closing Triumph
By Rédaction PAN M 360
Album review Jazz 2024
Domas Žeromskas – Meditations on Providence and Perseverance, Vol.1
By Frédéric Cardin
Album review expérimental / contemporain/Jazz/Spoken Word 2024
Catharine Cary – AIR CAKE and other summery occupations
By Frédéric Cardin
Interview Classical/classique/trad québécois
Festival de Lanaudière 2024 | Tribute to Mémoire et Racines against a backdrop of trad/classical reunion
By Frédéric Cardin
Concert review Africa
PAN M 360 at Nuits d’Afrique – Les Aunties, from Ndjamena to Montreal
By Sandra Gasana
Concert review Africa/Hip Hop
PAN M 360 at Nuits d’Afrique – Fredy Massamba Was Blessed with Some Rain
By Sandra Gasana
Concert review Classical/classique
Festival de Lanaudière 2024 | OSM/Levanon : game saved in the second half
By Frédéric Cardin
Concert review Africa/Indian Ocean/Maghrebi
PAN M 360 at Nuits d’Afrique 2024 | Sofaz Grooves!
By Keithy Antoine
Concert review Africa/Caribbean
PAN M 360 at Nuits d’Afrique 2024 | Birth of a Haitian star
By Keithy Antoine
Concert review Africa/Sacred Music/Hip Hop/Reggae
PAN M 360 at Nuits d’Afrique 2024 | Joyce N’sana On The Rise
By Keithy Antoine
Concert review Africa/Caribbean