Most of us don’t think of music as a science. Mulatu Astatke, the Ethiopian vibraphonist who created the style known as “Ethio-jazz,” says he’s never thought of his invention as anything else. “I’ve ...

Admas draws from and rearranges “golden era” Ethiopian music with then-fairly-new synthesizer and drum-machine rhythms. Steve Kiviat Admas. From left, clockwise: Abegasu Shiota, Henock Temesgen, ...

TO WESTERN EARS, the music seems both foreign and familiar. Its mood stretches from sultry and haunting to upbeat and vibrant. Soulful Western undertones are audible, yet the overall impression is ...

The multi-instrumentalist faced resistance when he premiered his sound in the 60s but audiences have fallen in love with it since. Now aged 82, he’s still finding new directions – and wants ...

Terms like Ethio-jazz and Ethio-groove seem common currency today even in the most vaguely world-inflected corners of the music market. We hear the familiar pentatonic modes, laid-back keys and vibes, ...

If only one name comes to mind when you think of Ethio-jazz, it’s almost certainly that of Mulatu Astatke. A vibraphone and percussion virtuoso, Mulatu has also been prolific on the keys, releasing ...

On Nov. 9, around 200 people packed into the Signet Society for the second annual Ethio-Jazz Soiree, hosted and organized by Harvard’s Eritrean and Ethiopian Students Association (EESA). Enlivened ...

Complex rhythms and relentless grooves are what set music from the so-called golden era of Ethiopian jazz apart, and it's that essential and even hypnotic energy that guitarist and composer Jay Danley ...

Ethio-jazz was the thrilling sound of 1960s and ’70s Ethiopia, blending traditional music with funk and soul before a dictatorship killed off the genre. Now, it's making a comeback. Ethiopia’s jazzmen ...

The overthrow of Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie in 1974 led to violent conflict that had a particularly heavy impact on musicians. Sing and Sing On: Sentinel Musicians and the Making of the ...

During the second half of the 20th century, cosmopolitan Ethiopians were delighted to see jazz giant Duke Ellington receive their country’s Medal of Honor from Emperor Haile Selassie. At the same time ...