Some compositions were important steps for me: ‘Mascaram Setaba’ (‘Summer Is Coming’) ‘Shagu’ and ‘Almaz’. On the first recording, I played an adaptation of an ancient Ethiopian warrior song, ‘I Faram Gami I Faram’ - the lyrics were translated so that the singer could sing it in Spanish. In the mid-‘60s, I formed a band called The Ethiopian Quintet in New York comprising Ethiopian, Latin and Afro-American musicians - the band included trumpeter and pianist Rudy Houston who later played with Yambu and Felix Torres who played with La Sonora Poncena.” Supported by Worthy Records’ Gil Snapper who offered to record the quintet,Īstatke began to experiment during two separate sessions: “We created a different feel and different arrangements.

“I travelled to Cuba and listened to their musicians the tempo, rhythm and feeling was very similar to different African forms. “I have always felt a deep connection between Latin and African music,” he explains.

“Strut continue their essential work with the “Godfather Of Ethio Jazz”, Mulatu Astatke, with the first official reissues of his early classics ‘Afro Latin Soul’ Volumes 1 and 2 from 1966, recorded as The Ethiopian Quintet.Īrriving after Astatke’s life-changing years studying at Berklee College in Boston, the albums were the first experiments in his pioneering sound, fusing Ethiopian cultural music with Afro Latin and jazz forms. Seriously, if you aren’t taken by the swinging mix of Elephant calls, sizzling claves and call ’n response vox in ‘I Faram Gami I Faram’, the swingeing drums on ‘Soul Power’, or the suave hustle of ‘The Panther (Boogaloo)’ and ’Girl From Addis Ababa’, we can't help you!!! The venerable Ethio-Jazz composer turned his hand to Afro-Latin fusion in 1966, resulting the perfect balance of slinky sensuality from both ends of that spectrum in ‘Afro Latin Soul (Vols.

Mulatu astatke afro latin soul rar