Soul is an Ethiopian musician and painter living in Paris. He considers Mulatu Astatke his spiritual father. He began writing songs at twelve years old when his father taught him to play the kissar, an ancient East African lyre. He works solely with a dusty 808 and traditional Ethiopian instruments in order to create melancholic folk house. Soul grew up in Addis Ababa, but left home for secondary school in Cairo. A series of personal setbacks led him to nearly quit making music