CLUB CLANDESTINO | MAY 26 | OCEANEN

In the seventies, Hailu Mergia played with Walias Band, along with Ethio-jazz father Mulatu Astatke. The political climate soon got more difficult to deal with in Ethiopia  and when Walias Band toured the US in the early eighties, part of the group decided to stay and seek their fortune as musicians in Washington DC. Hailu Mergia started working as a taxi driver while he continued to write and play music on his own. Amhara, Tigrinya and Oromo melodies floated lightly over his futuristic rhythmic landscapes. A drum machine, an electric piano and a Yamaha DX7 were his tools, along with the accordion – an instrument which constituted a kind of emotional direct connection with the ancient Ethiopian music for him.

“Hailu Mergia and his Classical Instrument” became the name of one of many cassettes recorded in his home. A jazzy collection of instrumental songs and at the same time a musical report from the other side of the Atlantic, but it could just as well be from a desolate star far away in outer space. Hailu Mergia’s music spread among the Ethiopian minority in the US, while its composer continued to drive taxis in the capital. Not until 2013 did “Hailu Mergia and his Classical Instrument reach a wider audience when the label Awesome Tapes From Africa re-released the album. He started touring again and played at the Clandestino Festival in Göteborg (2013) and Bottna (2014). In February, the album Lala Belu is released – the first new album from Hailu Mergia in over fifteen years! For this show at Club Clandestino, he is in stellar company by Ethiopian bassist Alemseged Kebede and Trinidadian drummer Kenneth “Ken” Joseph from the legendary roots rockers Culture.