The multi-instrumentalist faced resistance when he premiered his sound in the 60s but audiences have fallen in love with it since. Now aged 82, he\u2019s still finding new directions \u2013 and wants recognition for Africa\u2019s indigenous artists<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you know the Metro club?\u201d I feign recognition to the 82-year-old father of Ethio-jazz, Mulatu Astatke, who knows the UK capital\u2019s vanished haunts better than I do (the Soho venue closed down decades ago). By then, he had immersed himself in the city\u2019s 60s jazz\u00a0scene, befriending Ronnie Scott and the saxophonist Joe Harriott, with whom he occasionally jammed across Soho\u2019s clubs, as well as musicians from Africa and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n
But when he returned to \u201cSwinging Addis\u201d years later with the new genre he\u2019d innovated in England and the United States, the audience at one of his first performances weren\u2019t so taken by his fusion of jazz riffs with the harp-like begena<\/em>. \u201cStop,\u201d Astatke was told. \u201cNo more!\u201d He didn\u2019t say a\u00a0word. Instead, he bowed, said his thanks and walked off. \u201cI said: \u2018I\u2019ll show you,\u2019\u201d recalls Astatke in his smoky voice. \u201c\u2018One day, I\u2019ll come back and show you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/8d9aa47b20d5055e0f3c33244fa89b33811fee60\/1264_0_6880_5504\/master\/6880.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=fdfce66f276a3a9fee6ab6b0d6eae086\" "\\"\u2018Give")
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