Godfather of Ethiopian Jazz back in the studio

These days, one of the world’s great bandleaders is dedicating his energy and time to giving African traditional music its rightful place in the world

“I was doing world music 42 years ago, long before it became a genre,” says the Ethiopian composer and performer Mulatu Astatke during a recording session in Nairobi last week.

The 67 year old is credited with successfully fusing Western jazz and funk with traditional Ethiopian folk melodies, and elements of music of the ancient Coptic Church. “I became a student of jazz composition and combined that knowledge with Ethiopian music to give birth to Ethio-jazz,” he says.

For the last few years Mulatu has been producing an opera using ancient church music by the Ethiopian composer, scholar and pioneer of musical notation, St. Yared, who created chants for church services and celebrations.
“The composition includes choirs, strings, trombones and an ancient conducting stick called the mekwamia. It has been a big challenge but I want to see what people will say,” says Mulatu.

The plan is to have the opera eventually performed at one of Ethiopia’s holiest sites, Lalibela, famous for its rock-hewn Orthodox churches.

The first section of the opera premiered at Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre two years ago while Mulatu was attending an academic Fellowship to research and develop the krar, a bowl-shaped six-string lyre made of wood, cloth and beads

He says young African musicians tend to opt for the guitar because instruments like the krar are limited in range. This process of development increased the strings to 8 and ultimately to 12, offering a dramatic improvement to the versatility of the instrument.

However the successful upgrade of traditional instruments must be done in tandem with the acquisition of new skills. “ The musicians who have played these instruments for years also need to develop their mind and thinking so that they can be better suited to contemporary times,” says Mulatu.

Indigenous instruments
He is full of admiration for what the West Africans have accomplished with the kora music, whose score was adopted in the 1970s and is now widely used by modern players.

“As East Africans we must also follow the same trend,” says Mulatu. “I love to see indigenous instruments being appreciated.”

In the early days there was strong opposition when Ethio-jazz introduced piano, vibraphone on traditional styles played on centuries-old instruments. His view is that in fact, it is Africa that has given jazz its feeling and conception: “I never thought of jazz as American music. It was born in Africa and was then taken to other parts of the world. All I did was bring the music back home.”

Mulatu’s innovation with the begena, a ten-string instrument dating back to the 15th century, sometimes referred to as ‘David’s Harp’, drew an equally furious reaction.

“At one performance, the audience even walked out just as a show was beginning. But in no time, people had warmed up to the idea and look how far the music has gone today.”

This pursuit of Ethiopia’s role in the development of music in the world grew out of Mulatu’s sojourn at Berkelee School of Music in the US, where he was the first African student in 1958.

“When I first arrived in the U.K in 1957, I found musicians from Ghana, Nigeria who were already exposing European audiences to highlife and other styles. But I never heard music from my own country. So this became my challenge.”

His African contemporaries like Hugh Masekela and Fela Kuti, despite having different styles, all had the objective of modernizing African traditional music.

The research into the roots of the music has led Mulatu to various parts of Ethiopia where he has been astounded by the rich musical traditions of the people. He composed the score for an Ethiopian film called Lalumbe about the Hamer tribe in the south of the country, who hold drums on their back while jumping and dancing.

He also met the Derashe who play 12 different sizes of bamboos on an eight-note musical scale. “When I was at Berkelee College of Music I was told how Charlie Parker created this pattern for modern jazz. After my research I came back to the University and shared it with the head of jazz department who was completely amazed by this discovery.”

Mulatu also recorded with the Ari tribe who live along the Omo River and are famous for their body paintings and scars and the Dawro who play a bamboo wind instrument with a long wooden horn, that sound like a trumpet or baritone saxophone.

The composer brought musicians from the four different tribes together in a television studio in Addis Ababa and orchestrated a cross-tribal fusion performance.

Revival
“We added guitars, piano, bass and drums to this tribal music for the first time in a live recording. The music was so rhythmically rich. “

“These musicians are my heroes, their knowledge of music and instruments can only be compared to that of scientists, “ says Mulatu.

The man who was sent to the UK to study engineering calls for a paradigm shift in attitudes towards the arts. “In Africa, we always encourage our children to become engineers, pilots and doctors. So many great talents end up going to waste because they are not nurtured from an early age.”

According to him, upgrading traditional instruments without altering their original shape is a cultural revolution and can provide a lesson for the rest of Africa, which is rich in music but often very limited in scope.

As part of his research for Harvard University, Mulatu is also writing a book on the historical context of instruments used in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and their contribution to the development of world music.

His research reveals that the Ethiopian Orthodox Church priests conducted chants using a baton to maintain rhythm in much the same fashion that modern orchestras are conducted.

As the world embraces Ethio-jazz, with a host of musicians, like Somali -born K’Naan and US rapper Nas, sampling the sounds he recorded decades ago, the architect of the style has turned his attention to the revival and modernisation of Africa’s traditional instruments.

He is going about his current mission with every bit as much passion as he did to create a subgenre of jazz music.