113: Éthiopiques, Vol. 4: Ethio Jazz & Musique Instrumentale, 1969-1974, by Mulatu Astatke

Mulatu Astatke (Ethiopia)
Éthiopiques, Vol. 4: Ethio Jazz & Musique Instrumentale, 1969-1974 (1998)
14 tracks, 66 minutes
Spotify • iTunes

Ethiopian music from the 60s and 70s has perhaps been one of the most unexpected success stories in 21st century music. Prior to the turn of the century, the music from what is now known as ‘Swinging Addis,’ the golden age of Ethiopian music, was only really known to Ethiopians and a handful of international enthusiasts. Then the Éthiopiques album series began picking up steam; music from the series was used in films and as samples in hip-hop music, and then in 2007 there was the compilation The Very Best of Éthiopiques and suddenly it was everywhere. Every half-way hip city had its own handful of bands playing covers of Ethiopian golden age hits and composing in their own style, and all the old masters of that time were touring far and wide and collaborating with all sorts of different musicians.

The sound that encapsulated the boom was Ethiojazz. It became a buzzword that was used to refer to all of the myriad styles at play during the Swinging Addis period, but Ethiojazz only ever really referred to the music of one man, Mulatu Astatke. Until recently, Ethiojazz was a style all his own, his unique brand of jazz that took the grooves and instrumentation of post-bop and added the rhythms and percussion of the Latin Caribbean and turned it all to sheer magic by basing all the melodies and chords on the traditional five-note qeñet that makes Ethiopian music sound like nothing else.

This fourth volume of the Éthiopiques series reintroduced Mulatu’s Ethiojazz to the world, and it sent that world crazy. There are many different ensembles on this disc, and the tracks were recorded over many different sessions, in both Ethiopia and the US, but they’re all connected by Mulatu’s presence – by his vision, his compositions, his skills as an arranger and bandleader and his contributions on vibraphone, electric piano and percussion.

After this album came out, Mulatu had a proper resurgence that continues to this day. He’s worked with artists from all over the world and recorded several new albums, but as a compilation of his most fruitful period, Éthiopiques, Vol. 4 is basically perfect, and every track that it includes is infectious in its own way; it even created hits of several pieces including ‘Yègellé Tezeta’, ‘Yèkèrmo Sèw’ and ‘Yèkatit.’ Ethiojazz isn’t just for Ethiopians anymore, and that global appeal wouldn’t have been possible without the music of Mulatu Astatke.