Hailu Mergia (Ethiopia)

It’s been a little over ten years since keyboard and accordion-player Hailu Mergia re-emerged on the international music scene. Following the first in a series of his classic recordings reissued in collaboration with Awesome Tapes From Africa, Mergia assembled a band and began performing live again after many years driving a cab in Washington, DC. His first show back appeared on the front page of the New York Times along with a stellar review and he took off from there performing all over the world in the years since, including Radio City Music Hall and Montreal Jazz Festival.

The Ethiopian keyboard player and accordionist started playing in Addis Ababa in the sixties, and made his mark on the golden age of ethio-jazz and dance bands in the seventies with Walias Band, the house orchestra at Addis Hilton, and many other collaborations. In the eighties, he recorded the dreamlike cult solo album Hailu Mergia & His Classical Instrument on accordion, drum machines, different synths and keyboards.

Now in his fifth decade of music-making, Mergia continues to push the boundaries of his remarkable abilities. His most recent album is Pioneer Works Swing (Live), which captures a powerful 2016 performance in Brooklyn. Now that Mergia has released two new recordings along with four classic reissues, he is eager to let everyone hear what he’s been doing on the road since he re-took the global stage.