# The 7 Best Ethio-Jazz Tracks of All Time

Mulatu Astatke's invention: Ethiopian pentatonic modes and Amharic song set against soul-jazz arrangements, made in Addis Ababa in the years before the 1974 revolution closed the clubs and the studios.

- **Origin:** Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1969
- **Tempo:** 70–130 BPM
- **Also known as:** ethiopian jazz, ethiopiques, swinging addis
- **Tracks:** 7
- **Updated:** 2026-08-30
- **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/genre/ethio-jazz/

## The list

### 1. [Mulatu Astatke](https://waxonia.com/artist/mulatu-astatke/) — [Yèkèrmo Sèw](https://waxonia.com/track/mulatu-astatke--yekermo-sew/)

*1969 · Amha*

A vibraphone, a fuzz guitar and a mode that refuses to resolve. Jim Jarmusch later used it in Broken Flowers and introduced the whole tradition to a generation who had never heard of Addis.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Mulatu%20Astatke%20Y%C3%A8k%C3%A8rmo%20S%C3%A8w) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=2qIJv6XGejc)

### 2. [Mahmoud Ahmed](https://waxonia.com/artist/mahmoud-ahmed/) — [Ere Mela Mela](https://waxonia.com/track/mahmoud-ahmed--ere-mela-mela/)

*1975*

Recorded with the Ibex Band as the political weather turned. Ahmed sings with an ornamentation that has no equivalent in soul, over a band that is unmistakably playing soul.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Mahmoud%20Ahmed%20Ere%20Mela%20Mela) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=eO7JJGwPTq0)

### 3. [Mulatu Astatke](https://waxonia.com/artist/mulatu-astatke/) — [Tezeta](https://waxonia.com/track/mulatu-astatke--tezeta/)

*1972 · Amha*

Tezeta is both a mode and a word for nostalgia, which tells you how the two are related here. The most purely beautiful thing in the Ethiopiques series.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Mulatu%20Astatke%20Tezeta) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=te9CHZCKWkU)

### 4. [Mulatu Astatke](https://waxonia.com/artist/mulatu-astatke/) — [Yègellé Tezeta](https://waxonia.com/track/mulatu-astatke--yegelle-tezeta/)

*1969 · Amha*

The organ line is the hook and the bass never settles. Astatke's own tezeta, and the one most often lifted by hip-hop producers who found the reissues.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Mulatu%20Astatke%20Y%C3%A8gell%C3%A9%20Tezeta) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=TDfadvkNfIg)

### 5. [Girma Bèyènè and the Walias Band](https://waxonia.com/artist/girma-beyene-and-the-walias-band/) — [Musicawi Silt](https://waxonia.com/track/girma-beyene-and-the-walias-band--musicawi-silt/)

*1977*

A riff so strong it became the standard every Addis band had to play. Rhythmically closer to Lagos than to New York, which is the point.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Girma%20B%C3%A8y%C3%A8n%C3%A8%20and%20the%20Walias%20Band%20Musicawi%20Silt) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=r9pLeol6A9s)

### 6. [Tlahoun Gèssèssè](https://waxonia.com/artist/tlahoun-gessesse/) — [Almaz](https://waxonia.com/track/tlahoun-gessesse--almaz/)

*1973*

The great male voice of the era, backed by the Imperial Bodyguard Band — literally a state orchestra playing dance music. The scene's institutional strangeness in one record.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Tlahoun%20G%C3%A8ss%C3%A8ss%C3%A8%20Almaz) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=haDNhXyrJ4M)

### 7. [Alèmayèhu Eshèté](https://waxonia.com/artist/alemayehu-eshete/) — [Heyweté](https://waxonia.com/track/alemayehu-eshete--heywete/)

*1972*

Ethiopia's answer to James Brown, and not much interested in being dignified. Proof the scene had range beyond Astatke's cool.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Al%C3%A8may%C3%A8hu%20Esh%C3%A8t%C3%A9%20Heywet%C3%A9) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=xkmj2WF3tA0)

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