When the band QWANQWA takes the stage of the BU Global Music Festival on Saturday, Sept. 17, it’ll be making its Boston debut — as are five of the other groups playing the free event. But if the ...

At 9 p.m. on Thursday night in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the African Jazz Village is just coming alive as some quiet music plays in the background and a handful of people in the club sip their drinks.

Them Mushrooms band leader John Katana Harrison (centre) with son Kalume Katana Harrison (left) and brother Billy Sarro Harrison (right) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.(COURTESY.) Them Mushrooms Band is a ...

ADDIS ABABA: Mulatu Astatke struggled for decades before his name became associated worldwide with a musical genre and he was finally born as the father of Ethio-jazz. Now despite that long journey ...