Mulatu Astatke (ሙላቱ አስታጥቄ) is the Ethiopian vibraphone player, pianist and arranger known as the father of Ethio jazz. He was born in Jimma on December 19, 1943. His main albums are Afro-Latin Soul (1966), Mulatu of Ethiopia (1972), Yekatit Ethio Jazz (1974), the collection Éthiopiques 4 (1998), Mulatu Steps Ahead (2010), Sketches of Ethiopia (2013) and Mulatu Plays Mulatu (2025). His best known songs include Yekermo Sew, Tezeta, Yegelle Tezeta, Netsanet and Mulatu.
Mulatu mixed Ethiopian scales with jazz and Latin rhythms. He also brought the vibraphone and the conga drums into Ethiopian popular music. Most of his records are instrumental.
Who Is Mulatu Astatke?
His family sent him to Britain in 1959, at the age of 16, to study engineering, according to his Wikipedia biography. He studied music instead. He earned a degree at the Trinity College of Music in London, where he took piano, clarinet and harmony.
In London he played in Soho clubs with African and Caribbean musicians. In 1963 he moved to Boston and enrolled at the Berklee College of Music as its first African student. There he studied vibraphone and percussion.
The New York Years: Afro-Latin Soul
In New York, Mulatu became interested in Latin jazz. He recorded his first two albums there in 1966. Both came out on the Worthy label as Afro-Latin Soul, Volume 1 and Volume 2. The first was credited to Mulatu Astatke and His Ethiopian Quintet.
The records are instrumental, with his vibraphone over piano and conga drums. The one exception is “I Faram Gami I Faram,” which is sung in Spanish. Other tracks on the first volume include “Mascaram Setaba,” “Almaz” and “Playboy Cha Cha.”
His third album, Mulatu of Ethiopia, was also recorded in New York and came out on Worthy in 1972. It has seven tracks, among them “Mulatu,” “Dewel,” “Kasalefkut Hulu,” “Munaye” and the seven minute “Chifara.”
Back in Addis Ababa: Amha Records and Yekatit
Mulatu returned to Addis Ababa in 1969. He worked mostly as an arranger for Amha Records, the first independent record label in Ethiopia, owned by Amha Eshete. Many of his instrumentals came out as the second side of vocal singles. He also arranged and played on records by Mahmoud Ahmed.
In 1973 he appeared as a special guest with Duke Ellington and his band during their tour of Ethiopia. The two played together at a concert attended by Emperor Haile Selassie.
In 1974 Amha Records released Yekatit Ethio Jazz, with saxophone and flute player Fekade Amde Maskal. The Discogs entry for the original Amha pressing lists nine tracks, including “Yekermo Sew,” “Gubelye,” “Asmarina,” “Yekatit” and “Netsanet.” A 2015 reissue prints the title in Amharic as የካቲት, the name of the Ethiopian month.
Wikipedia describes Yekatit as the first Ethiopian album planned as one complete work, not put together from earlier singles. Discogs credits Giovanni Rico on guitar. Rico was also the bass player of the Ibex Band.
The Derg Years
Amha Records stopped work by 1975, after the military government known as the Derg forced its owner to leave the country. Mulatu stayed in Ethiopia and earned a living by teaching music.
He played vibraphone on Tche Belew, the 1977 album by Hailu Mergia and the Walias Band. Later, ties between the Derg and Cuba allowed him to visit Havana, where he studied Latin music.
Éthiopiques and a New Audience
In the 1990s, record collectors began to look for his 1970s records. The French producer Francis Falceto found Amha Eshete, and the master tapes were restored. In 1998 the Paris label Buda Musique released Éthiopiques 4: Ethio Jazz and Musique Instrumentale, 1969 to 1974, the first volume of the series given to a single musician.
That album has 14 tracks. It opens with “Yèkèrmo Sèw” and also includes “Tezeta,” “Yègellé Tezeta,” “Munayé,” “Asmarina,” “Yèkatit” and “Nètsanèt,” spelled in the French style of the series.
A wider audience came in 2005, when the Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers used seven of his songs. Wikipedia lists Nas, Damian Marley and Kanye West among the artists who sampled his music.
Later Albums
In 2009 he released Inspiration Information with the London band The Heliocentrics on the Strut label, the third album in the label’s studio collaboration series. Its 14 tracks include “Masenqo,” “Addis Black Widow” and “Dewel.”
Mulatu Steps Ahead followed on Strut in 2010, with tracks named “Radcliffe,” “Assosa” and “Motherland.” In 2008 he had completed a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. Sketches of Ethiopia came out in 2013 on the Jazz Village label, with tracks such as “Azmari,” “Gamo,” “Gambella” and “Surma.”
In September 2025 Strut released Mulatu Plays Mulatu, which the label called his first major studio album in over 10 years. He recorded it in London and Addis Ababa and gave new arrangements to older pieces, including “Yekermo Sew,” “Netsanet” and “Yekatit.” According to the label, the new versions use traditional instruments including the krar, the masenqo and the kebero drum, alongside jazz arrangements. Wikipedia notes that the album came with a farewell tour.
Berklee gave him an honorary doctorate in music on May 12, 2012. In September 2019 the French culture minister, Franck Riester, presented him with the Order of Arts and Letters in Addis Ababa.
Mulatu Astatke Albums in Order
| Year | Album | Label | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Afro-Latin Soul, Volume 1 | Worthy | With His Ethiopian Quintet; recorded in New York |
| 1966 | Afro-Latin Soul, Volume 2 | Worthy | Second New York album |
| 1972 | Mulatu of Ethiopia | Worthy | Recorded in New York; seven tracks |
| 1974 | Yekatit Ethio Jazz (የካቲት) | Amha Records | With Fekade Amde Maskal; nine tracks |
| 1989 | Plays Ethio Jazz | Poljazz | Polish LP; nine tracks, with Polish jazz musicians |
| 1994 | Assiyo Bellema | Ethio-Grooves Records | Cassette album; ten tracks |
| 1998 | Éthiopiques 4: Ethio Jazz and Musique Instrumentale, 1969 to 1974 | Buda Musique | Collection of Amha era recordings; 14 tracks |
| 2009 | Inspiration Information | Strut | With The Heliocentrics |
| 2010 | Mulatu Steps Ahead | Strut | With Either/Orchestra on several tracks |
| 2013 | Sketches of Ethiopia | Jazz Village | Eight tracks |
| 2016 | Cradle of Humanity | BJX | With Black Jesus Experience |
| 2022 | Timeless (Live) | Mochilla | Live album |
| 2024 | Tension | Batov Records | With Hoodna Orchestra; six tracks |
| 2025 | Mulatu Plays Mulatu | Strut | New arrangements of older pieces; 11 tracks |
Mulatu Astatke Songs to Know
- “Yekermo Sew” (Yèkèrmo Sèw), on Yekatit Ethio Jazz, 1974, and the first track on Éthiopiques 4.
- “Tezeta” and “Yegelle Tezeta,” both on Éthiopiques 4. Tezeta, also spelled Tizita, is one of the four main Ethiopian modes, and its name means memory or longing.
- “Netsanet” (Nètsanèt), on Yekatit Ethio Jazz and again on Mulatu Plays Mulatu.
- “Mulatu,” the opening track of Mulatu of Ethiopia, 1972.
- “Kasalefkut Hulu” and “Munaye,” both on Mulatu of Ethiopia and on Éthiopiques 4.
- “Yekatit,” the title track of the 1974 album.
- “Asmarina,” on Yekatit Ethio Jazz and Éthiopiques 4.
Spellings of song titles differ from one release to another.
