EFG Jazz Fest - Mulatu Astatke, London

Mulatu Astatke biography

Mulatu Astatke [ሙላቱ አስታጥቄ] (born on December 19, 1943; surname sometimes spelled Astatqé on French-language releases: Mulatu Astatqé) is an Ethiopian musician and arranger best known as the father of Ethio-jazz. In 2008, Mulatu completed a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship at Harvard University, where he worked on modernizations of traditional Ethiopian instruments and premiered a portion of a new opera, The Yared Opera. Mulatu also served as an Abramowitz Artist-in-Residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, delivering lectures and workshops, as well as advising MIT's Media Lab on creating a modern version of the krar, a traditional Ethiopian instrument. On February 1, 2009, Mulatu Astatke performed at the Luckman Auditorium in Los Angeles with a band that included such notable jazz musicians as Bennie Maupin, Azar Lawrence, and Phil Ranelin. Mulatu also released a two-disc set to be sold exclusively to passengers of Ethiopian Airlines, with the first disc being a compilation of the different styles from different regions of Ethiopia and the second being studio originals. On May 12, 2012, Mulatu received an honorary doctor of music degree from the Berklee College of Music.

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