The records prominently feature Astatke's vibraphone, backed up by piano and conga drums playing Latin rhythms, and were entirely instrumental, with the exception of the song "I Faram Gami I Faram," which was sung in Spanish. While living in the US, Astatke became interested in Latin jazz and recorded his first two albums, Afro-Latin Soul, Volumes 1 & 2, in New York City in 1986. His albums focus primarily on instrumental music, and Astatke appears on all three known albums of instrumentals that were released during Ethiopia's Golden 1970s. Astatke led his band while playing vibraphone and conga drums-instruments that he introduced into Ethiopian popular music-as well as other percussion instruments, keyboards and organ. There, he studied vibraphone and percussion.He was musically trained in London, New York City, and Boston where he combined his jazz and Latin music interests with traditional Ethiopian music. In the 1960s, Astatke moved to the United States, where he became the first student from Africa to enroll at Boston's Berklee College of Music. He collaborated with jazz vocalist and percussionist Frank Holder. Instead, he began his education at Lindisfarne College near Wrexham before earning a degree in music through studies at the Trinity College of Music in London.
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Mulatu was Born in the western Ethiopian city of Jimma, Mulatu Astatke's family sent the young Mulatu to learn engineering in Wales during the late 1950s. The father of Ethio-jazz, brought his new sound back to his homeloand while continuing to work in US.