You’d expect a conversation with Mulatu Astatke to be about music. He is, after all, the father of a musical genre: Ethio-jazz. But when he talks about the art form, he tends to focus on its ...

On this week's Rhythm Planet, Tom Schnabel explores popular bands in the U.S. and U.K. that have been influenced---or rather, smitten—by the classic 1960s and 1970s Ethiopian pop music covered on our ...

Renowned Ethiopian singer Muluken Melesse died on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., after a long illness, according to his family. He was 73 years old. The vocalist rose to fame at a time of enormous ...

In Ethiopia, Mergia’s music has never been forgotten. In the 1960s and ‘70s he led the Walias Band, one of the country’s best-known groups and a guiding force in Addis Ababa’s freshly invigorated ...

Left: Ayalew Mesfin [Photo by Hannah Brooks]. Right: Hailu Mergia [Photo courtesy of the artist] For many people outside of the Habesha community, their first experience with Ethiopian music came from ...

Originally drawn to Ethiopia because of its historical uniqueness and non-western music, a Ph.D. student is now researching how music and conflict intersect in the country. Sarah Bishop, a Ph.D.