In review--Serpentine Fire from Exotic Lands
World/Jazz Mulatu Astatke Sketches of Ethiopia Jazz Village When I first started listening to world music, I heard a few Ethiopian jazz and sacred music recordings. Right away, I felt enticed by the exotic modes, scales, and polyphonic rhythms. The music of Ethiopia possesses a distinct sound even when it’s melded to jazz, funk, and Latin music. And it’s not the easiest music to describe either! Pianist/Vibraphonist Mulatu Astatke gives listeners a music puzzle to solve and I even looked up traditional Ethiopian instruments featured on the recording (the Ethiopian flute, washint, traditional lyre, krar and the 1-string fiddle, masinco). While the wildly delicious Sketches of Ethiopia falls into exoticism, any listener of world music will recognize echoes of Nigerian funk, American soul, Cuban beats and Ethiopian jazz because it’s all here and then some. The opener, Azmari warms up the ears with polyphonic beats, exotic ...