Music
From shoeshine boy to Ethiopian legend: Mahmoud Ahmed and Erè Mèla Mèla
Mahmoud Ahmed, born in Addis Ababa's Mercato district in 1941, worked as a shoeshiner and a handyman at…
Éthiopiques
Arts + Culture
The records Ethiopia almost lost: how the Éthiopiques series brought “Swinging Addis” to the world
In 1997, the Paris label Buda Musique, with producer Francis Falceto, began the Éthiopiques series, reissuing Ethiopian popular…
Arts + Culture
Mulatu Astatke mixed Ethiopian scales with jazz and Latin grooves. Jim Jarmusch put Ethio-jazz in Hollywood
Mulatu Astatke, the father of Ethio-jazz, blended Ethiopian modes with jazz and Latin rhythms in the 1960s and…