The Addis Jazz Festival 2026 brought Ethio-jazz legends and new voices together for three days at the Ghion Hotel. Over 3,000 daily attendees proved the genre’s enduring power.
ETUK UBONG – MAWAZINE RYTHMES DU MONDE
June 2, 2025Born in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Etuk Ubong tours the world’s biggest festivals of the genre, proudly representing the talent of his native country.
Inspired by the fervor of his idol Fela Kuti, Etuk Ubong began playing the trumpet at age 14 and has developed a hybrid funky jazz filled with groove, rooted in afrobeat, highlife, and ekombi ritual rhythms.
Founder of The Truth club in Lagos, which in just a few years has become one of the most creative hotspots of the Nigerian underground scene, he champions a music he calls Earth Music – free, fierce, introspective, and deeply pan-African.
His album “Africa Today” (2020) is a sonic manifesto against corruption and for the renaissance of the continent.
In 2024, he released the track “Ikwö Ufan Ikwö Ima” with rapper-philosopher DOTTi the Deity, blending spoken word and modal funk in the same breath.
