Experience and Wisdom

Mulatu Astatke - Yègellé Tezeta (My Own Memory)
Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo Sèw (A Man of Experience and Wisdom)
Mulatu Astatke - Tezeta (Nostalgia)

Diddy Wah will be a little quiet for the next few weeks as I'm taking a trip to Africa. I won't be going to Ethiopia but since Mulatu Astatke is my favourite African multi-instrumentalist/composer of right now I'm going to leave you with a light sprinkling of his music. Astatke studied jazz in the UK and USA before returning home to Ethiopia with some powerful influences, including Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Jimmy Smith. He, in turn, has become one of the most influential African artists with his pop-soul-jazz-afro-funk sound. I took these tracks from a stellar CD 'Ethiopiques, Vol. 4: Ethio Jazz & Musique Instrumentale, 1969-1974' but have since found out that 2/3 of them also appear on the 'Broken Flowers' soundtrack. Jim Jarmusch has great taste, you're going to love these tunes.

Mulatu Astatke interview on Public Radio (stream)