With a legion of fans that includes Gilles Peterson, Switch, J-Rocc and Quantic, and especially after having been featured on the soundtrack of "Broken Flowers" by Jim Jarmusch, Mulatu Astatke has recently seen a revival of interest in his work, which he began in the late sixties. Mulatu combines his jazz and funk training with the roots of his Ethiopian heritage, and has created a sound that is both light and heavyweight, but which is above all undoubtedly Abyssinian. He has just released an album on Strut with The Heliocentrics, who will be his live band. They will show off their synergies by adding hip-hop, funk, jazz, psych rock and a touch of the cutting edge to the mix.

http://www.myspace.com/mulatuastatke

http://www.myspace.com/heliocentrics