Mulatu Astatke is a legend

Mulatu Astatke has achieved what most musicians could only dream of: he invented an iconic genre. In the 1970s, Astatke pioneered a fusion of western jazz with the traditional sounds…..

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1 min read

January 13, 2012

Nas’s Angola Blues

In “If I ruled the World,” Nas raps: “I’d open every cell in Attica send em to Africa.” Then in the 1998 Hype Williams feature film “Belly” (costar DMX), Nas’s…..

Less than a minute read

April 21, 2010

Timeless

This blog does not waste any opportunities to post visuals of Mulatu Astatke performing. Via Mochilla, where there is a lot of other videos of our favorite artists like Bilal…..

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April 5, 2010

Trailer: "Distant Relatives"

The new 5 minute trailer for the new Nas-Damian Marley collaboration, “Distant Relatives”–out next month–where they engage with the music of Africa. (I’ve blogged before about some of the leaked…..

3 mins read

April 2, 2010

Links

It’s Friday so here’s some links and stories I have managed not to give the proper treatment to this week. * What’s Jeffrey Gettleman problem? This week he has a…..

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Less than a minute read

March 22, 2010

Mulatu Astatke's 'Green Africa'

Updated: The Ethiopian jazz master has a new album. This is the first single. Maybe this is his blueprint for carbon emissions.

1 min read

March 2, 2010

Addis Swing

The Economist has a great little story on the revival of local jazz–including musicians like Mulatu Astatke (in the video above with the Heliocentrics in London)–a tradition that dates back…..