NOVEMBER 2006/INTERVIEW/MULATU ASTATQE

It was sometime in deep winter of '05 – '06 when we decided we wanted to interview Mr. Mulatu Astatqe. As we dialled the first few digits of the international code for Ethiopia we were taken by this feeling of dialling into another dimension. It felt like we were typing in the destination codes in the De Lorean and that we were about to land in Addis Ababa sometime in the 1970's. Our first attempt was a failure 'No, Mulatu is not here right now' replied a middle-aged silky female voice (we assumed Mulatu's wife). In our second attempt we caught him at home and hence the interview that follows.
Mulatu is a very polite and accommodating man, he is willing to talk about everyone and everything. He is warm and soothing just as the music that he creates. In Ethiopia he is widely recognised for his services in music and has had his own radio show for a number of years. Like many of his peers, however, he has waited years and years before he received worldwide recognition and he knows that after all these years he doesn't have to bargain with anyone. Sometimes all you need to know about a record is printed on the record itself. We get the feeling that in order to complete one's aural picture of Mulatu's music it is essential to get a feeling for the man himself.

“Soul Music Invades Ethiopia”
Addis Reporter


The Beginning

Unlike many of your peers you had the opportunity to study abroad in the US and England. How was this possible for you?

At that time, some of my family in England and cousins most went to England, so I had the chance to also go.


Having travelled to the states and the UK for your education how much did those experiences change your musical outlook?

It's the outlook of most third world countries - they are limited. My outlook amongst music became that way in high school, so in England that's where it changed


What were your influences? What music and what specific artists were you listening to while studying and composing?

Jazz, and I was listening to a lot of music from Africa, East and West and I had the chance to hear all kinds of music and producers, so in fact I love all kinds and listened to a lot.


During your time in England you played with Frank Holder and Edmundo Ross in Calypso and Latin bands respectively. During your time in the US you released two albums with the Ethiopian quintet. What are you memories from those sessions and collaborations? What did you take from these collaborations?

I went to school before doing these albums then I had the opportunity to study music at a college in England: the jazz scenes of England and the US, vibraphones etc, so I created this band after I finished my education at Berkley at the Music National Studios in NY, so I had all this background before I created the music that I called 'Ethiojazz music'.


You got to meet and chat to John Coltrane. How did that come about?

When I was in NY there was a jazz club called the 'Birdland Club' and it was named after Charlie Parker and is one of the top jazz clubs. At weekends all these cool musicians would come and play at that club, so as students we used to go with friends and other musicians and heard musicians we admired, loved and studied. One time at one of the breaks I had a chance to chat with Coltrane – so that’s where I met him. His wife was coming to Ethiopia and I had the opportunity to talk to her as well.


The Return

Tell us a bit about Amha Ashèté and Amha Records. What other record labels were around at the time? What labels did you record with?

Phillips Ethiopia mainly, there was also one called Axum, I kind of remember doing something for that company. We did quite a lot of compositions with Amha he was a major one because he used to do a lot of pressings, more than the other people. He did them in Athens in Greece in fact because the companies were there. You could probably find them around if you asked.


One of Black Athena's favourite Ethiopian tracks is Asmarina by Feqadu Amde Mesqel. Tell us a little bit about the singers and musicians that made up that scene in the 60s and 70s.

There were a lot of different musicians, most of them taught by themselves, but I was also teaching them while playing with them, every time they played with me I wanted to teach them something – I wanted my music to be really nice and to be played in a very certain way so I needed to teach things. Other composers had already worked with them so the melody was brought to me and Feqadu Amde Mesqel played the saxophone and the flute so I did the arrangement for the music for him, he then used the melody for a number of records.


What were your relationships with them, who were you closer to and who did you enjoy working with the most?

Plenty of them, I worked with a lot of major Ethiopian musicians, I haven't recorded with Mahmood Ahmed but I have toured with him with the Rocha band. We toured in Italy, then in Madrid and Barcelona. I have to sit down and show people what I want to do so it's not always about enjoying it, they are all great musicians but they had to learn and do exactly what I wanted them to do. I admire many of the musicians I worked with very much.


We are aware that military bands offered the basis on which the later groups were formed - how important was the role of the American Military base Radio station, transmitting from 1953 onwards, in influencing the Ethiopian youths of the time?

There was military bands and radio stations, you had teachers brought in from different parts of Europe (Germans, Italians and Romanian teachers of music mainly), that's how the marching bands and the modern bands learnt and how modern music came to Ethiopia. When I came back what I was doing and what they were doing were in totally different directions but that's how Ethiopian modern music developed, their conception of structures etc. I soon saw when I got back that I needed to change it, so that's how I created my direction and then there were two – mine, and the military one.


You played along Duke Ellington when he visited Addis Ababa in 1973. How did that come about? What are you memories from this meeting?

He was one of the heroes of jazz music and I'd never had any chance to meet him when I’d been in America. I had studied his music so to meet him was one of the greatest days of my life that I’ll always remember; to talk to him and make him meet other Ethiopian musicians was great. We talked about African music a lot; he really was a great musician and artist. I took him to listen to some live bands and we talked about the fusion of cultures. His ideas were so beautiful and accurate, and I never expected to meet him either.


During the dictatorship how was creativity stifled – how much did this change the development of the scene that had been flourishing?

The atmosphere changed when we got the Communist governments. They have their own styles of music, but the type of music was more about marching music, the creativity itself didn't stop, it's just that the atmosphere and the attitude towards music went in a different direction.

Music

Having listened to an interview you did recently in the states where a caller called the integrity of fusion music into question, we wanted to ask, whom do you want your music to reach? Is it made with an audience in mind or despite those who may hear it?

I don't think that particular guy had any experience of listening to African music, that's what his main problem was! Fusion is created mostly from an African source of music and so he was talking about the fusion of Latin – but there is no such thing as Latin music, it's all derived from African, so when I compose my music I dontt think of anything else, apart from African music, but we just call it fusion because it's become mixed up with other music over time, but the basis is African and Ethiopian music, with some elements of different ideas.


Is music for you a melange of different elements and different ingredients in different measures? Is this not part of what makes music so exciting and important?

Exactly, that's what I think also, but anyway I suppose it made for an interesting discussion, it's the radio and people enjoy that kind of thing.


What inspires your compositions? Many of them sound very romantic, is that real or imagined by the listener?

I'm inspired by African music, by serious playing; there is some romance but also a lot of different emotions across a lot of different compositions. Maybe it sounded a little bit romantic but also a little bit sad, or something else, it depends on what I wanted to do. I’ve made music for plays, for films, for marching, so many different things that I really depends.


What is Tezeta? What would be the reaction of a traditional Ethiopian audience to the sound of a Tezeta in a social gathering for instance?

Tezeta minor is something like the equivalent of blues for Africans so it's usually about the past and creates different moods depending on how the singer is feeling.
It also gets the same reaction as when people listen to the blues, they're remembering the old days and becoming nostalgic so it's the same. It makes you wonder about the past, that kind of thing. It puts you in a sad type of mood, it’s not music to get up and dance and move to, it’s really about reflecting.


How important is nostalgia and longing in Ethiopian music and how important is it for your music?

Nostalgia gives us an understanding of home cultures, remembering your country and your family and the beautiful sites, so invoking nostalgia in music is very important. Ethiopia is one of the richest countries culturally so there is a lot to remember and record. I’ve contributed a lot to the development of music here, it's so beautiful and untouched and there're things yet to be developed. It’s a challenge, the music and the culture here. It’s the same with many old world countries I think. I’ve attached music to my life because of this.


After a lifetime with music as your partner, what are your feelings about music? What is music for you? What is the position of music in the greater order of things?

As a musician you always research and it's an endless profession and I love it so much. I think it will never finish for me; I’ll always be searching for something, listening to different music, to different people from different cultures. I keep studying music from all over the world. To me music is a lifetime's work. It’s so beautiful and everyday music is part of my life. It makes life more interesting.


Broken Flowers

How did the collaboration with Jim Jarmusch come about?

The last two years I've been in New York, Boston, and Philly, so we had a conference in New York one day when I was staying. Somebody called me up out the blue and said that Jim wanted me for a project so they came over, him and the crew, they watched me in concert, which we had a full house and great musicians for and then afterwards Jim came over and talked to me a bit. I gave him some songs, which he liked and that was basically how it happened. All over the world, Internationally people admire Jim for what he does and he’s a great man and someone I always liked.


– When you saw the film in its finished state what was your reaction to the way the music complimented the imagery?

I was in New York again when I saw it, so I was asked to come and see the film. I thought it had a great atmosphere, great actors and the music works just beautifully in the film. It was really good, they really used the music well and what I've seen were some beautiful scenes that set the music. I was imagining how Addis would look like with such a fusion of sounds and images. I really enjoyed hearing my music in that form it gave it an exotic appeal I feel, and the film was excellent.