ethiopia

I’ve overlooked this Mulatu Astatke retrospective from Strut last year, mainly because I think I’ve heard most of his back catalogue and there was nothing that could surprise me. A deeper look unearthed two gems though, featuring two late Ethiophian giants, Menelik Wossenachew on one and Tilahun Gessesse on the other.

One of the things that will hopefully continue in 2010 is Strut’s magic streak. They hit bullseye this year with Mulatu & Heliocentrics and the 4th edition with Jimi Tenor & Tony Allen (feature coming soon). The shower continues with the Mulatu Astatke Career Retrospective released two days ago.

Thanks to our friends at Strut Records, we have the first single from the album Inspiration Information 3 for download 2 weeks before the release date alongside another tune from their upcoming 2CD reissue of the Nigeria 70 compilation Nigeria 70: The Definitive Story of 1970’s Funky Lagos which is to be released next week.

Any search through music blogs or on Youtube these days will show you that The Budos Band have been getting some attention this summer, much much more than is customary for an afrobeat band. They are an 11-strong horn-heavy, all-male, instrumental band from Staten Island, the New York suburb, and were initially, or so the official lore goes, formed through an after-school jazz community program and called “The Barbudos” until one of them got a shave and they had to do some urgent renaming.

Legendary Ethiopian composer and musician Mulatu Astatke has been one of the most influential musicians from Africa apart from the obvious Fela Kuti. His music is a lo-fi and more cinematique version of the Western African music, combining Caribbean funk with the African tradition.