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Witness History

The father of Ethio-Jazz

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.41.6K Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For more than 50 years, Mulatu Astatke has been performing at venues around the world, inspiring audiences with his original genre of music known as Ethio-jazz.

He recorded the volumes of ‘Afro-Latin Soul’ with his band, The Ethiopian Quintet, in 1966. They were the first experiments of this new sound, fusing Ethiopian traditional notes with Afro Latin and jazz forms.

Mulatu Astatke tells Vicky Carter how he created the genre of Ethio-jazz.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Mulatu Astatke. Credit: BBC)

Transcript

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0:00.0

He tells her that she will be sent to France as a secret agent, and if she's got, she's

0:07.9

going to be shot.

0:09.2

I'm Helen Obalam Carter, and this is history's secret heroes, where I shine a light on

0:14.9

extraordinary stories from World War II.

0:17.6

What they wanted was someone to get themselves arrested and sent to Auschwitz.

0:22.0

Tales of deception and incredible acts of resistance and courage.

0:26.2

She was a born soldier. She's a freedom fighter in its widest sense.

0:29.8

The brand new series of History's secret heroes. Listen first on BBC Sounds.

0:39.1

Hi, you're listening to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Vicki

0:44.4

Carter.

0:45.3

This is a story about how a new genre of music was created by a man from Ethiopia in the

0:51.2

clubs of New York, leading to worldwide fame and Hollywood film soundtracks.

0:57.7

Dr. Moulartu Astak is known as the father of Ethio Jazz.

1:03.3

He recorded this original music with his band in 1966.

1:08.8

This ethio jazz almost being played, performed all over the world for about now 40 years.

1:17.5

And it's being very popular and people seem to love it, to enjoy it.

1:22.3

I've been speaking to him for witness history.

1:24.6

He's now in his 80s.

1:27.3

Milatu was born in 1943 in the Western Ethiopian city of Jima, and as a child, he was sent to

1:33.4

school in Wales in the UK. He was set for a career in engineering, but the teachers at the

1:38.2

college had another path in mind for him.

1:40.7

I was good in physics and maths when I was a kid. My dream was to become an engineer, a pilot,

...

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