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"I have never attended a better concert" Tagesspiegel (Berlin)
It is easy to understand the return of the Hailu Mergia to the world of
music as one of the most unlikely comebacks of the last few years:
The keyboardist was a major star in 1970es..
"I have never attended a better concert" Tagesspiegel (Berlin)
It is easy to understand the return of the Hailu Mergia to the world of
music as one of the most unlikely comebacks of the last few years:
The keyboardist was a major star in 1970es Ethiopia, presiding over the
country's leading instrumental ensemble Walias Band, which worked
restlessly on the Addis Ababa hotel circuit and jamming with luminaries
like Duke Ellington and Manu Dibango. In 1981 a good part of Walias
including Hailu used the first ever US tour of an Ethiopian music group
to escape the dictatorial Mengistu regime. Since then Hailu has been a
resident of the Washington DC area, spending most of his recent years
as a cab driver at the capital's Dulles Airport and playing only privately.
Enter Brian Shimkovitz, operator of the acclaimed blog-turned-record
label Awesome Tapes From Africa, who came across "Hailu Mergia &
His Classical Instrument", a somehow obscure 1985 cassette, in a
music store in Ethiopia, tracked down the old maestro and reissued it:
This charming tape has both a nostalgic feel (in its attempt to revive the
accordion, once East Africa's leading instrument before electrified
"western" rock style instrumentation took over) as well as a futuristic
dimension (recorded by the exiled Hailu all by himself in multi-track it
features a host of synthesizers and drum machines). On the back of
Shimkovitz' reissue of "Classical Instrument" (which came out June 25
2013), Hailu started to play live again - in the US with the New York
based Afrobeat band Low Mentality and in Europe with a hard-tobeat
rhythm section made up from two leading Australian improvisors
living in Berlin: Tony Buck (drums) has been involved in a highly diverse
array of projects but is probably best known around the world as a
member of the genre-bending trio and cult band The Necks. Mike
Majkowski (*1983) on double bass has come to acclaim with his
imaginative solo performances and for his sideman work for Peter
Brötzmann and Han Bennink.
Together the trio explores the deep, liquid and hypnotic qualities of
Hailu Mergia's music, while not forgetting to throw in some defty bits of
funk now and then.
It is easy to understand the return of the Hailu Mergia to the world of
music as one of the most unlikely comebacks of the last few years:
The keyboardist was a major star in 1970es..
"I have never attended a better concert" Tagesspiegel (Berlin)
It is easy to understand the return of the Hailu Mergia to the world of
music as one of the most unlikely comebacks of the last few years:
The keyboardist was a major star in 1970es Ethiopia, presiding over the
country's leading instrumental ensemble Walias Band, which worked
restlessly on the Addis Ababa hotel circuit and jamming with luminaries
like Duke Ellington and Manu Dibango. In 1981 a good part of Walias
including Hailu used the first ever US tour of an Ethiopian music group
to escape the dictatorial Mengistu regime. Since then Hailu has been a
resident of the Washington DC area, spending most of his recent years
as a cab driver at the capital's Dulles Airport and playing only privately.
Enter Brian Shimkovitz, operator of the acclaimed blog-turned-record
label Awesome Tapes From Africa, who came across "Hailu Mergia &
His Classical Instrument", a somehow obscure 1985 cassette, in a
music store in Ethiopia, tracked down the old maestro and reissued it:
This charming tape has both a nostalgic feel (in its attempt to revive the
accordion, once East Africa's leading instrument before electrified
"western" rock style instrumentation took over) as well as a futuristic
dimension (recorded by the exiled Hailu all by himself in multi-track it
features a host of synthesizers and drum machines). On the back of
Shimkovitz' reissue of "Classical Instrument" (which came out June 25
2013), Hailu started to play live again - in the US with the New York
based Afrobeat band Low Mentality and in Europe with a hard-tobeat
rhythm section made up from two leading Australian improvisors
living in Berlin: Tony Buck (drums) has been involved in a highly diverse
array of projects but is probably best known around the world as a
member of the genre-bending trio and cult band The Necks. Mike
Majkowski (*1983) on double bass has come to acclaim with his
imaginative solo performances and for his sideman work for Peter
Brötzmann and Han Bennink.
Together the trio explores the deep, liquid and hypnotic qualities of
Hailu Mergia's music, while not forgetting to throw in some defty bits of
funk now and then.
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