Mulatu Astatke, vibraphone, percussion, and keyboard
James Arben, musical director, saxophonist, and flute
Adam O’Farrill, trumpet
Jason Lindner, keyboard
Tal Mashiach, bass
Daniel Freedman, drum
Known as the father of Ethio-jazz, composer and multi-instrumentalist Mulatu Astatke rose to international fame in the 1970s and 1980s with his unique mix of American jazz and Ethiopian music, drawing comparisons to jazz giants Duke Ellington and John Coltrane. Forced off the road for a time due to the political situation in his homeland, he came roaring back in the 1990s, recording and touring as never before.
Astatke’s music begins and ends with improvisation and is the product of fearless experimentation. Experience the sounds, rhythms, and textures of this pioneer of Ethiopian jazz in The Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing in a performance recorded on September 9, 2016, that "JazzTimes" called “a spirited and entrancing set that spanned his career and spotlighted his gift for shifting fluidly between intricate, sinuous melodies and airy, atmospheric grooves.”
Presented in collaboration with World Music Institute.
Photo by Stephanie Berger.
Subscribe for new content from The Met: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDlz9C2bhSW6dcVn_PO5mYw?sub_confirmation=1
#TheMet #Art #TheMetropolitanMuseumofArt #Museum
© 2021 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Digital Premiere—Mulatu Astatke in The Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing
Known as the father of Ethio-jazz, composer and multi-instrumentalist Mulatu Astatke rose to international fame in the 1970s and 1980s with his unique mix of American jazz and Ethiopian music, drawing comparisons to jazz giants Duke Ellington and John Coltrane.
1 hour 39 min. watch
More from The Met

My search for meaning in Black style began as a search through ancestry to reveal beauty and complexity over time and across traditions of expression.
Grace Wales Bonner
August 15

Video
Join curator Alisa LaGamma to celebrate the renovation and reopening of the Arts of Africa galleries in the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing.
Alisa LaGamma and Jenny Peruski
August 14

How do African dress traditions shape and inspire the possibilities of contemporary fashion and Black identity?
Idelle Taye
August 8