Born in the western Ethiopian city of Jimma, Mulatu was musically trained in London, New York City, and Boston, where he was the first African student at Berklee College of Music. Later he combined his jazz and Latin music influences with traditional Ethiopian music.
In 2008, the Embassy of Norway facilitated a workshop and a concert in Addis Abeba where Mulatu Astatke collaborated with the Norwegian jazz-group “The Core”.
Tonight's venue for Mulatu Astatke, USF Verftet in Bergen.The “Nattjazz” festival (meaning Night Jazz) has been arranged yearly in Bergen since 1972, and is one of Norway’s largest jazz festivals. The main venue is “USF Verftet”, an old shipyard turned into an art and culture centre.
Click here to read more about his concert.
Read more about Mulatu’s cooperation with The Core.
Read the interview from the Ethiopian newspaper The Reporter in English from May 15th.