I have been thinking a lot about Ethopia recently especially as two special friends from Belgian have just returned from there and were 'singing its praises' when we met for a little tete-a-tete at a wine bar in Dublin recently. They regaled us with accounts of majestic landscapes and fascinating and friendly people. However, my own very limited knowledge of the country is confined to the accounts of the exploits there by Wilfred Thesiger in the book by Michael Asher who describes Thesiger as 'the last of the great explorers'. (I would recommend this book as per photo but disregard the bust on top which is only my catalyst for reflection, a sort of bare headed Buddha!)
While awaiting my opportunity to visit this country,(where there's life there's hope), I was very pleased recently to come across the wonderful jazz music of Mulatu Astatke. The Sunday Times describes him as combining 'the modes and pentatonic scales of Ethiopian music with a western sense of swing' (see article on him in the Sunday Times on line with reference on one of my recent tweets). I see from Amazon.com, where a number of his works are listed and can be sampled, that he is best known to date for the music from the film 'Broken Flowers' by Jim Jarmusch but I myself would much prefer his own Cd's and would recommend 'Ethiopiques,Vol4:Ethio Jazz & Musique in Instumentale' as a starting point. Enjoy!!
PS. This blog is especially dedicated to Marie-Therese and John from Belgium, who although having travelled extensively in many parts of the physical world from the Moroccan desert to the forests of Vietnam without any difficulty have yet to take a voyage in the Cyber world of twitter! Hello!! Hello!! Can you hear me calling!!
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