1:50 PM EST February 13, 2024:

Mulatu Astatke - "Munaye (Stereo Master)" From the album Mulatu of Ethiopia (1972)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

File under: Ethio-jazz

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1969.

A soulful groove from Ethiopia.

Ethiopian Jazz Mix - Ethio Jazz Feat. music from: Mulatu Astatke, Getatchew Mekuria, Walias Band, Jonovan Cooper, Tukul Band, Kibrom Birhane, Girum Gizaw, Anbessa Orchestra, Akalé Wubé.. "From the traditional rhythms of Mulatu Astatke to the contemporary interpretations of Jonovan Cooper, this mix showcases Ethiopia's rich musical heritage and diverse artistic expressions in Jazz and traditional rhythms."

Listen/purchase: Inspiration Information 3 by Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics

Listen/purchase: Mulatu Of Ethiopia by Mulatu Astatke

Ethiopian Grooves

Ethiopian Grooves: Ethiopian Funk, Soul and Jazz. An unique fusion of ancient Ethiopian music with Afro-funk, jazz, soul, and Latin rhythms. Enjoy!

Ethiopian Grooves

Aynotchesh Yerefu - Samuel Belay (Aynotchesh Yerefu / Lebene Shiwshiw, 1973)

Beand Igir Lay Tchama - Tamirat Mola (Eswa Gin Yeletchim / Beand Igir Lay Tchama, 1974)

Chereka - Menelik Wossenachew (Mekaberene Liyew / Chereka, 1974)

Chiro Adarie Negne - Alèmayèhu Eshèté Tchero (Afer Yemegnshale / Chiro Adarie Negne, 1970)

Eswa Gin Yeletchim - Tamirat Mola (Eswa Gin Yeletchim / Beand Igir Lay Tchama, 1974)

Filagote - Bizunesh Bekele (Filagote / Min Neber, 1974)

Gara Ser New Batesh - Teshome Meteku / (Gara Ser New Batesh - Teshome Meteku ‎/ Meche Derische - Mulatu Astatke, 1969)

Kasalefkut-Hulu - Mulatu Astatke (Mulatu of Ethiopia, 1972)

Siin Baarbaada - Ali Birra (Ammalele, 1976)

Sintayehu - Hailu Mergia & Dahlak Band (Wede Harer Guzo, 1978)

Tche Belew - Hailu Mergia And The Walias (Tche Belew, 1977)

Temelese - Alemayehu Eshete & Hirut Bekele (Temelese / Teye Gidyeleshime, 1972)

More Soul Music Songs

Soul from South Africa: 18 tracks

African Funk from the Seventies

Funk from Africa in 20 tracks

The Invisible Session - People All Around The World, Can Make It (Studio Live Take)

After a long hiatus since the homonymous 2006 release on Schema Records, The Invisible Session is back with Echoes Of Africa to be released on the newly-launched Space Echo label. Initiated in 2006 by Schema Records’ co-founder and musician Luciano Cantone, The Invisible Session’s influences are rooted in Black music. Written in collaboration with trombonist and multi-instrumentalist Gianluca Petrella, and with lyrics by poet, rapper, and MC Martin Thomas Paavilainen (aka Benjamin “Bentality” Paavilainen), Echoes of Africa is an homage to African music. From a recording point of view, The Invisible Session embraces jazz as a constantly evolving mosaic - a fusion of musical influences that finds force and authenticity in the groove and cultural synergies. Part of the ensemble, are some of the best musicians on the international jazz scene: kora player Jalimansa Haruna Kuyateh, guitarist Riccardo Onori, singer Joyce Elaine Yuille, drummer & percussionist Abdissa “Mamba” Assefa, bassist Jukka ”Jukkis” Kiviniemi. Drawing influences from the rhythmic structures of Afro-beat and Ethio-jazz, the 11 compositions sparkle in various timbres by incorporating elements of funk, psychedelia, and modal music. But it is the intersection of ancestral melodies built on African pentatonic scales that gives the album its sustained flow and vibrant atmosphere. Under the influence of vibraphonist Mulatu Astatke’s music, “Journey To The East” incorporates sound studies on Ethiopian music with melodic structures built on the Bati Lydian major scale - a pentatonic scale with origins in the Middle East. Ethiopia is also celebrated in “Entoto” and “Breathe the Rhythm” - both entirely written by Gianluca Petrella. Although it may seem speculative after May 25’s event in Minneapolis, “Hearing The Call” was conceived and written in 2018, and expands on the themes present in Haki R. Madhubuti’s poem “Children”, released on Medasi’s 1984 album “Nation”. In “Hearing The Call”, ancestral sounds and percussions hypnotize the listener, while the performance of the poem written and interpreted by African-American/Finnish artist Benjamin “Bentality” Paavilainen, flows with naturalness. A theme already addressed by The Invisible Session with “To The Powerful’’ released in 2006 on the homonymous debut album on Schema Records is climate change. On Echoes of Africa, The Invisible Session’s “Ideas Can Make the World’’ and “People All Around The World Can Make It’’ are messages of hope and encouragement. Further reflections on this theme can be found in “Mother Forgive Us’’, with lyrics and interpretation channeled by Bentality, and Joyce Elaine Yuille.

An Ethiopian cultural surge – including a first national pavilion at the Venice Biennale and the rise of stars such as Ruth Negga and The Weeknd – is making the country’s calls for restitution of looted colonial-era artefacts harder to ignore, according to Lemn Sissay.

The poet and author, who is curating the country’s inaugural Biennale pavilion, where Tesfaye Urgessa’s work will be on show, said the event would be part of a significant cultural push from the east African country and its diaspora over the last two decades.

Sissay said the emergence of Ethiopians such as the Booker-nominated author Maaza Mengiste, the fashion model Liya Kebede, musicians such as Mulatu Astatke, and visual artists including Aïda Muluneh and Julie Mehretu was forming a critical mass that was forcing museums and governments to reassess looted Ethiopian items in their collection, such as those taken after the battle of Maqdala, fought between British and Abyssinian forces in 1868.

He said: “As Ethiopia articulates itself through culture around the world, it becomes less easy to ignore the battle of Maqdala. There were so many looted sacred objects, which means that part of the heart of what it means to be Ethiopian is missing.

“As Ethiopia rises, so does the discussion about what was looted in 1868.”

Sissay told the Guardian the Venice pavilion was also a significant moment for Ethiopia because of its relationship with Italy – a country that occupied it for five years but failed to colonise it. “Ethiopia was never colonised, so we don’t have that relative trauma as a memory bookmark,” he said.

Sissay made the comments in the same week the Guardian reported that Returning Heritage, a not-for-profit organisation, had accused the British Museum of withholding information about items looted from the battle of Maqdala.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) confirmed it was investigating the British Museum over claims that it has been secretive about a group of sacred Ethiopian altar tablets that have been in the collection for more than 150 years.

There have been calls for decades for the tablets, or “tabots”, to be repatriated to Ethiopia, and the country’s culture minister requested their return while on a visit to the museum in 2019. Some tabots have already gone back, such as one found in an Edinburgh church 23 years ago.

In February, the Ethiopian government successfully halted the auction of a shield taken from Maqdala in the UK, while Westminster Abbey agreed “in principle” to return to Ethiopia a sacred tablet it holds.

“[Maqdala] is not going away,” said Sissay. “More than ever, there is a much more sober conversation happening between the British and the Ethiopian authorities, and that’s happening because of the museums in Britain. These are the places where we are assessing what our role is in the world for the next 500 years.”

Nicholas Cullinan was appointed director of the British Museum last week, and the issue of restitution will be one of the biggest problems in his in-tray as he takes over from Hartwig Fischer, who resigned after news broke that hundreds of items had been allegedly stolen from the museum by a member of staff.

Sissay told Today on BBC Radio 4 that alongside a £50m revamp of the institution, “the reimagining of the British Museum may include restitution”, while he called for the 11 wood and stone tabots to be returned to the African country as a symbol of “friendship to the church in Ethiopia”.

PLAYLIST: Mondo Radio (03/20/24)

Here's the playlist for this week's edition of Mondo Radio, which you can download or stream here. This episode: "Bring You Love", featuring classic Afrobeat and more. If you dig it, don't forget to also follow the show on Facebook and Twitter!

Artist - Song - Album

Asiko Rock Group - Every Body Get Down - Asiko Rock Group

Asiko Rock Group - Solo, Mon, A Ndoan - Asiko Rock Group

Bokoor Band - Yeah Yeah Ku Yeah - Bokoor Beats: Vintage Afro-Beat Afro-Rock & Electric Highlife From Ghana

Victor Uwaifo - Ekassa 29 - Ekassa

Mangwana Stars - Atiadele - Bokoor Beats: Vintage Afro-Beat Afro-Rock & Electric Highlife From Ghana

Orchestre G.M.I - Groupement Mobil D'Intervention - Africa - Senegal 70: Sonic Gems & Previously Unreleased Recordings From The 70's

Ayalèw Mèsfin - Hasabé - The Rough Guide To African Rare Groove, Vol. 1

Victor Olaiya's All Stars Soul International - Let Yourself Go - The Rough Guide To Psychedelic Africa

Mulatu Astatke - Munaye - Mulatu Of Ethiopia

The Morells - Growin' A Beard - Shake And Push

Osibisa - Beautiful Seven - Woyaya

Pax Nicholas And The Nettey Family - Ataa Onukpa - Na Teef Know De Road Of Teef

Fela Kuti - Shakara - The Best Best Of Fela Kuti

Tony Grey & The Black 7 - The Feelings - Wake Up You!: The Rise And Fall Of Nigerian Rock, Vol. 2 1972-1977

The Believers - Life Will Move - Wake Up You!: The Rise And Fall Of Nigerian Rock, Vol. 2 1972-1977

Thony Shorby Nwenyi - No Wrong Show - Sweet Funk Music

Pat Thomas & Marijata - I Can Say - Coming Home: Original Ghanaian Highlife & Afrobeat Classics 1964-1981

Sahara All Stars Band Jos - Enjoy Yourself - Nigeria 70: The Definitive Story Of 1970's Funky Lagos

Geraldo Pino & The Heartbeats - Let Them Talk - The Rough Guide To West African Gold

Joni Haastrup - Greetings - Nigeria 70: The Definitive Story Of 1970's Funky Lagos

William Onyeabor - Body And Soul - Who Is William Onyeabor?

William Onyeabor - Heaven And Hell - Who Is William Onyeabor?

Ethiopia, a visual diary from Run for Water on Vimeo.

Last year we traveled to Ethiopia to shoot 'Letisha’s Well', a documentary by Run For Water - a non profit organization bringing clean water to communities in Ethiopia. This is a visual diary of some of the people we met and places we visited, but also the lasting impression it left on us.

You can donate at this link to help some of these communities: runforwater.ca/donate

Featured on: tv.booooooom.com/2018/07/26/premiere-ethiopia-a-visual-diary-matej-balaz-cole-graham/

Director: Matej Balaz Producer: Peg Peters, Matej Balaz Cinematographer: Cole Graham Editor: Cole Graham Colourist: Sam Gilling 1st AC: Mikael Bidard Sound Recording: Dasa Netikova Production assistant: Eyerusalem Abebe Production: Run For Water, Falling Frogs Media, Colla Films Music: Mulatu Astatke - Tezeta (Nostalgia)

Thank you to RAW Camera for helping us with camera equipment

5:29 AM EDT April 6, 2023:

Mulatu Astatke - "Kasalefkut-hulu (Stereo Master)" From the album Mulatu of Ethiopia (1972)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

File under: Ethio-jazz

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Mulatu Astatke - Mulatu of Ethiopia [album]

Former President Mulatu addresses Pan-Africanism, Ethiopia’s Peace Agreement in Astana Forum

http://dlvr.it/SqVg4q

MULATU ASTATKE / MULATU OF ETHIOPIA : STRUT(LP) #MULATUASTATKE#STRUT#international#lp#vinyl#record#stradarecords#dj#vinyljunkies#kobe#motomachi#strada#recordshop#recordstore#神戸レコード#元町レコード#レコード店#レコード#アナログ https://www.stradarecords.com/shop/item/28153/index.php (at Strada Records) https://www.instagram.com/p/CoPU9Lavz8-/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=