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# How an Ethiopian engineer became jazz's bridge to Africa
- URL: https://adjacent.media/signals/how-an-ethiopian-engineer-became-jazzs-bridge-to-africa/
- Published: 2026-04-07T01:25:28.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-07T01:33:19.000Z
- Description: Mulatu Astatke, an Ethiopian engineer born in Jimma in 1943, abandoned aeronautical engineering studies in North Wales to pursue jazz at Trinity College, becoming a bridge between African and Western jazz traditions.
- Author: Jonathan Greene
- Tags: #signal, theme-culture, music

Source: [Flowstate](https://www.flowstate.fm/p/mulatu-astatke?ref=adjacent.media)

Mulatu Astatke, an Ethiopian engineer born in Jimma in 1943, abandoned aeronautical engineering studies in North Wales to pursue jazz at Trinity College, becoming a bridge between African and Western jazz traditions. This matters because it documents how individual artistic migration shaped the global jazz canon and African musical representation in Western institutions.