LF "Ethiopian Jazz" Recs

[sidewinder]

Didn’t Mulatu with Heliocentrics play Glastonbury a few years back? Remember seeing it on the telly.

[Rabshakeh]

29 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

Didn’t Mulatu with Heliocentrics play Glastonbury a few years back? Remember seeing it on the telly.

The orchestra was certainly on the festival circuit. I saw it at Primavera in the mid teens.

One of his tunes was sampled in a track by the rapper Nas, so he is very popular among hip hop fans.

 

For anyone unfamiliar with Nas, he is Olu Dara's son, and frequently makes use of both jazz samples and playing (most notably by Stanley Cowell on Nas' most famous record) on his records. So the Mulatu sample is in good company.

Edited August 31, 2021 by Rabshakeh

[Alexander Hawkins]

1 hour ago, Rabshakeh said:

The orchestra was certainly on the festival circuit. I saw it at Primavera in the mid teens.

One of his tunes was sampled in a track by the rapper Nas, so he is very popular among hip hop fans.

 

For anyone unfamiliar with Nas, he is Olu Dara's son, and frequently makes use of both jazz samples and playing (most notably by Stanley Cowell on Nas' most famous record) on his records. So the Mulatu sample is in good company.

I *think* there are two separate things, here. With the Heliocentrics, he was a guest soloist (although playing his own tunes) with that band. Primavera in the mid teens was Mulatu leading his own band (I played the Barcelona gig, but not the Glastonbury one, for instance). [Unless Mulatu also played Primavera with the Heliocentrics? Possible, I guess, although I'd imagine that the bookers might space out his appearances a little more...] Actually - the setlist of the two bands at one point were pretty similar (I subbed on a couple of the Heliocentrics shows), but the sounds of the bands were pretty different - the Helios were/are the more 'electric' of the two (e.g. Mulatu's band uses 'cello instead of electric guitar).

[Rabshakeh]

That sounds correct. Pleased to hear that you were there.

[John L]

Mulatu is still playing and making music after all these years.   When I was in Addis Ababa before the pandemic, I would usually see him once a week at African Jazz Village.  Sometimes he would play.  Sometimes we would just watch others play.   He is a living legend.