Ethio-Jazz: My Newest Obsession

As a lover of all types of music, I experience a certain type of thrill when I come across a whole new genre, sub-genre, or type of sound that I haven’t really had a chance to dig into. That thrill is taken up a notch once the new sound I dig into becomes one of my obsessions. As a music writer, I feel like it is my duty to share these obsessions with anyone that comes across my page so I want to dive into the latest music obsession: Ethio-jazz or Ethiopian Jazz.

Although I have recently honed in on this genre, I actually discovered Ethio-jazz towards the end of 2021 and intended to take that listening a step further but got distracted with other music. However, over the last couple of months, I circled back to that sound and really gave it my full attention.

For some back story into the genre, Ethio-jazz came about in the 1950s in Ethiopia by artists blending Western jazz instrumentation with traditional Ethiopian music. Although the genre originated from Armenian artist, Nerses Nalbandian, the genre was revolutionized by Mulatu Astatke towards the later 1950s, with many considering him to be the father of Ethio-jazz.

Mulatu Astatke was born in Ethiopian and was encouraged by his family to study engineering in Wales, but later chose to study music in London at Trinity College of Music. From there he then decided to study music in the United States at Berklee College of Music in Boston, specializing in percussion and the vibraphone. While in the U.S., he started to become interested in Latin jazz other Western music. He started messing around with the various genres and playing with different sounds, then later went back to Ethiopia in the 1970s to share this new sound of his.

He continued to collaborate with other notable Ethiopian artists, such as Mahmoud Ahmed, another well known Ethiopian artist who gained popularity in the 1970s. Mulatu Astatke also played with Duke Ellington while he was on tour in Ethiopian, which was a huge accomplishment for Ethiopian music in general at the time. Following the overthrow of Emperor Selassie in Ethiopian, the nightlife and music scene drastically changed with added suspension and censorship laws, making is harder for artists like Mulatu Astatke and Mahmoud Ahmed to expand the music scene in Ethiopian. Because of the many issues involved with the political environment in Ethiopia, many Ethiopians decided to seek refuge oversees, where the sounds of Ethio-jazz had a chance to blossom in the Western world and many European countries. In the late 1990s, a record label called Buda Musique decided to release a series recognizing a collection of these Ethio-jazz records from the 1970s, titled Éthiopiques, giving the genre a bit more international recognition.

Now that we have a little more background into the genre and the artists that made it what it is, I want to dig into the sound and what makes it so enjoyable. The main characteristics of Ethio-jazz include a fusion of traditional Ethiopian music mixed with Western jazz and occasionally having a twist of soul, funk, and Afrofunk. Many songs in this genre don’t feature many lyrics and seem to be focused on the instrumentals, likely due to the censorship issues in Ethiopia during the 1970s. Despite not having many lyrics, you can still feel the emotions in the music, leaving the listening experience up to interpretation based on each listener, which I find pretty special. What initially drew me into the sound was how all of the songs seemed to provide such an easy listening, yet groovy experience. You can really hear the influence of Western 70s music but the added Ethiopian twist gives it just a bit more pizazz to keep you hooked.

The best way I can describe this type of music is that when you listen to it, you immediately feel a sensation of peace fall over you, while also acting as the perfect background music. I even take it a step further and will expose my weird side and say that when I listen to Ethio-jazz, I feel like a character in a movie just going about the plot set forth for me. The sound is smooth, groovy, a bit funky, and overall uplifting in an easy listening way. I have also found that although this music helps me relax, it also makes me feel productive. I would recommend putting this on to accompany studying, working, or even doing simple tasks around the house.

I know it sounds a bit different than the music I usually write about but I am BEGGING you to please give it a listen! It really is a shame that this genre doesn’t have as much recognition as I think it deserves. I would recommend starting with the following songs to welcome you into the genre: “Anchin Kfu Ayinkash” by Hailu Mergia, “Tezeta (Nostalgia)” by Mulatu Astatke, and “Yegelle Tezeta” by Mulatu Astatke. These three songs are what immediately got me hooked and I honestly listen to “Anchin Kfu Ayinkash” almost every day now and you can give it a listen down below.

Let me know what you think about Ethio-jazz!