Between 1936 and 1941, Emperor Haile Selassie I lived in exile at Fairfield House in Bath, having fled Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia. Decades later, a vibrant Ethio-Jazz scene flourished in Addis Ababa under musicians like Mulatu Astatke and Hailu Mergia. Bath Ketema — which means ‘city of Bath’ in Amharic — brings those two histories together. Led by musical director Ross Hughes, the Fairfield Ethio-Jazz Project gathered some of the South West’s finest musicians — including Portishead’s Adrian Utley on guitar and Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory on saxophone and synth — to recreate the simmering, psychedelic Ethio-Jazz sound in the very city the Emperor called home.
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