Believe me when I say Mulatu was single-handedly responsible for introducing his experiences of Latin music in New York and London back into Ethiopian rhythms. But of course you know that Latin rhythms originate from West Africa so he was taking something West African over the Atlantic to Cuba and on to New York and then took it back to Africa but to the Eastern side. These are the sort of stories that fascinate me, the movement and transplantation of rhythm around the world. Note that the Ethiopian sound is a very Middle East sound too, it’s a country in between the Middle East and Africa, which reflects in its very African music but Middle Eastern vocals. In the end it’s all Ethiopian. (laughs)
Some might have picked up the news by now, but I thought it was about time to bring all things together and make us look forward just a bit more.
Late September, Ethiopa’s capital Addis Ababa will be the backdrop of an ambitious project. When on a given day Will Holland (aka Quantic), Monk One (Wax Poetics) and Miles Cleret (Soundway Records) sat together the wild idea arouse of recording an album together with Ethiopian and beyond legend Mulatu Astatqé. Miles Cleret, who travelled all over compiling ‘Afro Baby’, ‘Ghana Soundz’ and other pure gold and exclusive (West-) African to Caribbean music, had been to Ethiopia before and this project couldn’t but take place under the warm & experienced Soundway umbrella. Will and Miles already went over to Adis last October to check with Mulatu, talk through the project and - of course! - return with a bag of records.
First a Mulatu Retrospective will be released on Soundway late September. This will be the first time that many of these tracks will be available on CD, and the first time ever that some of these tracks have been issued outside of small run 45’s in 70s Ethiopia recordings by Phillips etc. As always with this quality label, the music will be accompanied by in-depth liner notes packed with photos and interviews, giving the music of Mulatu Astatke the exposure it deserves and see him join the pantheon of Jazz greats. [More info & tracklisting soon]
Then the new recordings and a concert at Addis follow late September/October, to be released early 2006. Included in the new recordings are: Mulatu Astatqé, Will Holland, Max Weissenfeldt (drums, Poets Of Rhythm), Todd Simon (trumpet, Breakastra and many others), Showboy (Egypt 80 horn player) and a whole lot of Ethiopian musicians. Young and old.
On board as well on the artistic, journalistic tip: Monk One from Wax Poetics, LA based artist B+ (involved in Keepintime project) and Gilles Peterson is to do a documentary and record some radio bits.
Joined: 09 Sep 2003 Posts: 2123 Location: san francisco Age: 37
"First a Mulatu Retrospective will be released on Soundway late September. This will be the first time that many of these tracks will be available on CD, and the first time ever that some of these tracks have been issued outside of small run 45’s in 70s Ethiopia recordings by Phillips etc"
i have 3 different mulatu releases, two of which are on l'arome recordings, the other on worthy recordings. to my knowledge, these are the only songs available on vinyl. note to mulatu beginners: it is THIS particular volume you want to buy as an intro to mulatu's oeuvre: http://www.budamusique.com/product_info.php?products_id=469
it is a CD-only release.
good lookin' out hans, will the mulatu retrospective contain songs not on these three vinyl releases? and will it be released on vinyl as well?
very, very, very much looking forward to this project. if there was any possibility of going to ethiopia, hanging with these cats, sipping on mint tea, and smoking some kif, i would!
Well.. you're definitely on it Routes! I only got to know about Mulatua a couple of months ago to be honest, but enjoying the Ethiopian sounds ever since. Mind you that he's got production credits on a whole lot of other Ethiopiques volumes as well!
Concerning the Retrospective, there will be a couple of stand out tracks on there that already been released before but simply can't be left out neither, think 'Tezeta' for example; but as said, tracklisting follows in the coming weeks - hang on! And in good soundway tradtition, the booklet is going to be something to look forward to (I hope) ___________________ http://www.myspace.com/hansdebock
from soulstrut.com:
So it seems Mulatu's music will feature promimently in the new Jim Jarmusch film "Broken Flowers" starring Bill Murray.
On defining "Broken Flowers'" through its music:
"Music often leads me. I discovered Mulatu Astatke's music maybe seven years ago, and I was blown away by a few things I found that he had recorded in the late sixties. I was on a hunt for a number of years: I bought some vinyl; some of his jazz stuff; some Latin jazz recorded in the states; other Ethiopian stuff. And then I was like, "Oh, man, how can I get this music in a film? It's so beautiful and score-like." Then when I was writing, I was like, "Well, this neighbor [Jeffrey Wright] is Ethiopian-American, I can turn him on to the music." ___________________ http://www.myspace.com/hansdebock
Joined: 09 Sep 2003 Posts: 2123 Location: san francisco Age: 37
just saw 'broken flowers'. a very subtle film; yet also a very boring film. it has all the ingredients for a classic, but it simply doesn't gel. very disappointing experience.
the only interesting character is an ethiopian rasta, who smokes grass and lends mulatu CDs to bill murray......and they play his best 3 songs throughout the film.
