It’s been a little over ten years since Hailu Mergia re-emerged on the international music scene

Strut present the first official reissue of a landmark album in the field of African music, Mulatu Astatke’s ‘Mulatu Of Ethiopia’ from 1972.

Recorded at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano, in September 2020, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

The details of the music are beautifully realized in this recording made in the highly responsive acoustics of the Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI in Lugano and produced by Manfred Eicher.

Proof yet again that “fusion” is a misnomer. This is simply wonderful music that need be nothing else.

As so often with this record label, a “first encounter” trails a network of associations and interwoven histories….

Michael Mantler apparently conceived Alien as a kind of concerto for trumpet and orchestra but with ex-Mothers of Invention keyboardist Don Preston substituting for the orchestra on various synthesizers and drum machines.