Playing in London for the first time in 15 years Ethio-Jazz sound pioneer Mulatu Astatke, plays an exclusive live date at Cargo. His backing band will be made up of the fantastic Heliocentrics (Now Again / Stones Throw), who also provide a support set on the night. Host and DJ Karen P is also very happy to be joined by long-time friend, Gilles Peterson alongside NYC’s legendary party purveyor Karl Injex.

This is the third instalment of Karen P’s Broad Casting series at Cargo. It’s already established itself as an innovative, musically rich session, having pulled in a couple of Scandinavia’s hottest acts already, Little Dragon in February and Jimi Tenor in March. This month, Broad Casting sees Karen P hauling in one of the true godfathers of world music all the way from Ethiopia.

Born in Ethiopia in 1943, Mulatu Astatke is an innovative multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and originator of the Ethio-Jazz sound. Having studied music in London and then the US, he established himself as a vital vibraphone, conga and percussion player on both sides of the Atlantic before returning to his homeland to introduce Jazz, Soul and Latin to Ethiopia’s native musicians and artists. Included in the now legendary Ethiopiques compilations, Jim Jarmusch’s Broken Flowers soundtrack, and much sampled by Hip-Hop and Dance producers alike, his sound will be familiar to many even if his name isn’t.

These days Mulatu regularly lectures at Harvard and gave a memorable lecture at the Red Bull Music Academy in Toronto last year. Karen P’s Broad Casting is honoured to host Mulatu’s first UK performance in over 15 years.

The Heliocentrics are drummer Malcolm Catto’s collective and are signed to Stones Throw’s sister imprint Now-Again. Having performed and recorded as DJ Shadow’s backing band, they have individually played major parts in bands such as the Soul Destroyers, Quantic Soul Orchestra and the Herbaliser. Malcolm himself released a solo album on Mo Wax and has been sampled by none other than Madlib.

Pigeonholing the Heliocentrics sound is hard. Suffice to say that it takes in all manner of jazz, electronica, psychedelia and world music. While they inhabit the funk universe of James Brown, they also capture some of the disorienting asymmetry of Sun Ra, the cinematic scope of Ennio Morricone and the sublime fusion of David Axelrod.

Tonight sees a very rare live collaboration between Mulatu and this incredible collective of musicians, with the Heliocentrics also performing their own work in support.
*** On Friday 27th June Mulatu returns to London for a very special show at the Barbican, “Groove Nations – Ethiopiques”. He will be joined by some of his equally legendary Ethiopian contemporaries: Mahmoud Ahmed, Gétatchèw Mèkurya and Alèmayèhu Eshèté — all of whom feature on the highly acclaimed “the very best of éthiopiques” CD on Manteca.

RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY & KAREN P’S BROAD CASTING PRESENTS
LIVE: MULATU ASTATKE (Ethio-Jazz / Ethiopiques / Harvard University, USA)
THE HELIOCENTRICS (Now-Again, Stones Throw)
DJS: KAREN P + GILLES PETERSON + KARL INJEX
THURSDAY 17TH APRIL,
CARGO
83 Rivington St., Kingsland Viaduct, Shoreditch, EC2A 3AY
07800 600 100
7-1, £15 ADV

MORE INFO:
http://www.ethiojazz.com
http://www.myspace.com/heliocentrics
http://www.stonesthrow.com
http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com
http://www.rbmaradio.com
http://www.karenp.co.uk
www.cargo-london.com