Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics

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Best known for his contributions to the best-selling Ethiopiques compilation series and the patronage of artists as diverse as Shackleton and Peanut Butter Wolf, Mulatu Astatke is a giant of modern music who first rose to prominence in the 60s, fusing Western jazz and funk with traditional Ethiopian folk melodies, five tone scale arrangements and elements from music of the ancient Coptic church. If you've not explored this guy's formidable back catalogue before, what on earth have you been doing? The Heliocentrics are a London-based collective whose 2007 album Out There, released through Stones Throw offshoot Now-Again, is a psychedelic jazz odyssey that explicitly invokes the spirits of Sun Ra, David Axelrod and, of course, Mulatu Astatke himself. Inspiration Information finds the band collaborating at length with their North African hero; the hook-up came about in April 2008 when Karen P asked The Heliocentrics to back Mulatu on his first UK live date in over 15 years. The gig was a roaring success - and can still be streamed here - and it was decided that a studio session was in order. The bulk of recording took place at Quatermass Studios, an analogue set-up in East London, over the week of September 8th-14th, 2008. The Heliocentrics were joined not just by Astatke but by a bunch of London-based Ethiopian musicians including Yezina Nagash, Mesafnit Nagash and Dawit Gebreab, contributing traditional sounds coaxed from such instruments as the krar (six-stringed, five tone

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Inspiration Information

Inspiration Information 3

Live At Broad Casting, Cargo, London. 17 April 2008

Inspiration Information, Vol. 3

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Nova Tunes 2.0

The Heliocentrics

Inspiration Information Vol. 3

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Mojo Presents;Africa Rising

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Spex-CD #84

Inspiration Information, Volume 3

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Now Hear This! - June 2009

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Mojo-2009-08-Africa Rising

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