Ethiopian jazz, also referred to as Ethio-jazz, is a blend of traditional Ethiopian music with jazz, combining the pentatonic scale-based melodies of Amharic music with the 12-tone scale and instrumentation of western music. Over time the genre has grown to include elements from other genres such as afrofunk, soul, Armenian jazz, and Latin rhythms.[1] The genre originated in the 1950s with Armenian refugees such as musician Nerses Nalbandian, who created a fusion of Ethiopian and Western music while working at the National Theatre.[1] Ethiopian jazz was revolutionized by Mulatu Astatke in the late 1950s. Astatke is considered the father of Ethio-jazz music.
The origin of Ethio-jazz can be traced to the 1950s with Nerses Nalbandian, a musician of Armenian descent whose family migrated to Ethiopia in 1915.[2] Nalbandian became the leader of Ethiopia's National Opera after his uncle, Kervok Nalbandian, retired.[3] When Emperor Haile Selassie commissioned Nalbandian to compose music for the Ethiopian National Theatre, he created a fusion of traditional Ethiopian music and Western instrumentation. This was considered the basis of the evolution of Ethio-jazz music.[3]
Mulatu Astatke is considered the father of Ethio-jazz music
Multi-instrumentalist Mulatu Astatke has been considered the father of Ethio-jazz.[4][5] He was born in 1943 in Jimma and developed an interest in music while studying aeronautical engineering in Wales.[3] He went on to pursue a formal education in music at Holy Trinity College in London. Astatke was interested in promoting traditional Ethiopian music to Western audiences. Beginning in 1958, he also studied jazz at Berklee College of Music in Boston. There, he successfully combined Ethiopian music with Western jazz and rhythms, conceiving "Ethio-jazz".[3]
