Hailu Mergia at YBG Festival

In the 1970s, when Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa entered a musical golden age powered by a cadre of brilliant musicians combining traditional song forms with American jazz, funk and soul music, keyboardist Hailu Mergia’s Wallis Band was at the center of the action. Even repression by a military regime didn’t slow him down, as he pivoted to writing and playing instrumental pieces so that lyrics wouldn’t give the authorities a pretext for offense. But by the early 1990s Mergia had settled in Washington, D.C. and was no longer performing. His return to the stage in recent years is one of world music’s great stories, and his band is a creative force, delivering ancient melodies set to state-of-the-art Ethio-jazz grooves. Moving from keyboard to organ to accordion to melodica, Mergia deftly switches instruments—often during the same song. At 77, he seems indefatigable, extending his legacy with intoxicating performances.

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