ethiopia

Mulatu Astatke (surname also spelled Astatqé; Ethiopic: ሙላቱ አስታጥቄ) is an Ethiopian musician and arranger. He is known as the father of Ethio-jazz. Born in 1943 in the western Ethiopian city of Jimma, Mulatu was musically trained in London, New York City, and Boston, where he was the first African student at Berklee College of Music. He would later combine his jazz and Latin music influences with traditional Ethiopian music.

Mahmoud Ahmed (born May 8, 1941) is an Ethiopian singer of Gurage ancestry. Born in Addis Ababa, Mahmoud shined shoes in that city before becoming a handyman at the Arizona Club, where he first sang professionally in the early 1960s. He sang for the Imperial Body Guard Band until 1974, and recorded with other bands for the Amha and Kaifa record labels throughout the 1970s. He opened his own music store in Addis Ababa's Piazza district during the 1980s while he continued his singing career.

Idan Raichel (עידן רייכל) of Kfar Saba, Israel, is a singer and a musician who reached enormous fame and popularity in Israel with his Project (הפרוייקט של עידן רייכל), distinctive for its fusion with ballads, electronics, and incorporation of the voices of the new Ethiopian immigrant community in Israel. (SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idan_Raichel)