Although not the only musician to have contributed to l’age d’or (the golden age) of Ethiopian music in the 1960s and 70s, Astatkue is rightfully hailed as its central architect or ‘The Godfather’, as defined by the laudatory reference on Sons Of Kemet’s album Burn. Their leader Shabaka Hutchings, as well as drummer Tom Skinner, have been playing with Astatke for some years, and this is very much an album stamped ‘Made In Britain’, given the presence of messieurs Hawkins, Edwards, Wallen and Baker, one half of the ever interesting Eardrum. There has been no radical overhaul of the signature style that made Astatke’s music so appealing in the first place – the serpentine modes that sound right on the cusp of African and Arab culture; the sensual, often haunting melodic lines; the tightly drilled extended vamps – but there are two things that make this album a breath of fresh air. Firstly, the players are deployed with absolute focus and cohere as an ensemble (they are indeed billed as the Step Ahead band) rather than a string of capable soloists. Edwards and Hawkins in particular display a superior touch and beauty of tone on their respective instruments rather than dishing out attention-seeking improvs. Secondly some of Astatke’s arrangements have a structural finesse that rivals his classic work, the most notable of which is ‘Motherland Abay’, where a lengthy prelude of languid tone poetry wafts into understated but potent funk. Of the featured guests, Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara is majestic on ‘Surma’ while the jagged, rasping attack of Messale Asmanow’s krarr fiddle also blends effectively with the ensemble sound.