Best known for his contributions to the best-selling Ethiopiques compilation series and the patronage of artists as diverse as Shackleton and Peanut Butter Wolf, Mulatu is a giant of modern music who first rose to prominence in the 60s, fusing Western jazz and funk with traditional Ethiopian folk melodies, five tone scale arrangements and elements from music of the ancient Coptic church. If you've not explored this guy's formidable back catalogue before, what on earth have you been doing?
The Heliocentrics are a London-based collective whose 2007 album Out There, released through Stones Throw offshoot Now-Again, is a psychedelic jazz odyssey that explicitly invokes the spiris of Sun Ra, David Axelrod and, of course, Mulatu Astatke. Inspiration Information finds the band collaborating at length with their North African hero; the hook-up
came about in April 2008 when Karen P asked Heliocentrics to back Mulatu on his first UK live date in over 15 years. The gig was a roaring success - and can still be streamed here - and it was decided that a studio session was in order.
The bulk of recording took place at Quatermass Studios, an analogue set-up in East London, over the week of September 8th-14th, 2008. The Heliocentrics were joined not just by Astatke but by a bunch of London-based Ethiopian musicians including Yezina Nagash, Mesafnit Nagash and Dawit Gebreab, contributing traditional sounds coaxed from such instruments as the krar (six-stringed, five tone thingy), washint (bamboo flute) and Begena (15th century 10-string). Joel Yennior of Boston's Either Orchestra scored the evocative horn lines and the Heliocentrics overdubbed and arranged the tracks after the main recording had taken place.
The results, a mix of standards and new compositions, are genuinely astonishing - representing a remarkably fluent, expressive clash of Heliocentrics gritty funk and spaced-out, avant-garde style with the earthy, virtuoso grooves and effortless melodic panache of Astatke. Says the band:
"We haven't tried to recreate an Ethiopiques LP, this is more a collision of both our musical worlds, complete with the diverse influences and experiences that the alliance encompasses, a true exchange of ideas and influence. Something new, grounded in something old."
Usually when people say something like that, it's patently untrue; in this case, it really is not. Inspiration Information is a genuinely thrilling listen, even though it's of secondary importance to Mulatu's landmark 60s recordings. It will be available on CD, vinyl and digital, and will be supported by a full tour over Spring/Summer 2009.
Tracklisting:
1. Masenqo
2. Cha Cha
3. Addis Black Widow
4. Mulatu
5. Blue Nle
6. Esketa Dance
7. Chik Chikka
8. Live from Tigre Lounge
9. Chinese New Year
10. Phantom of The Panther
11. Dewel
12. Fire in the Zoo
13. An Epic Story
14. Anglo Ethio Suite
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