Mulatu Astatke
Mulatu Astatke is an Ethiopian musical arranger and musician. Astatke was born on December 19, 1943.
He is best known as the originator of Ethio-jazz music; a genre of music associated with the unique sounds emanating from the regions in Ethiopia.
In the 1960s, Astatke was the first African to be enrolled in the Berklee College of Music.
As a Radcliffe Fellowship at Howard University, he concentrated on modernizing traditional Ethiopian instruments. As an Abramowitz Artist-in-Residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Astake headed-up musical workshops and speeches.
Inspiring the masses, Astatke’s work has been sampled by rappers/producers such as Kanye West, Damian Marley and Nas.
