Ethio-jazz

Ethio-jazz is the fusion of Ethiopian music with jazz, funk and soul developed in Addis Ababa in the 1960s and 1970s. Its foundation is the kiñit system of Ethiopian pentatonic scales, whose melancholy, unresolved melodies are played over jazz harmony and American rhythm-section grooves. *Mulatu Astatke*, trained in London and New York, arranged the style for vibraphone, congas, brass and electric instruments, creating instrumental music that is simultaneously Ethiopian in melody and Afro-American in rhythm. Suppressed after the 1974 revolution, it survived on the #Éthiopiques# reissue series and now anchors a worldwide revival.