#hailu mergia

[mywifeleftme]

357: Hailu Mergia & Dahlak Band // Wede Harer Guzo

Wede Harer Guzo Hailu Mergia & Dahlak Band 1970s, Ms Recording (Bandcamp)

I can’t 100% recall, but I’m pretty sure this was the first African record I ever bought (it was this or Nass El Ghiwane), and I wasn’t the only one—I’ve got a few friends with exactly one African record in their collection, and it’s this. When his music was rediscovered in 2016 after Awesome Tapes From Africa pressed this record (using Mergia’s own cassette copy as a source), Wede Harer Guzo became for western music nerds a part of that small company of gateway albums to the music of an entire continent. Let’s play a game of Remember Some Guys.

Remember Some Guys: That One African Record Edition

Expensive Shit Who is William Onyeabor? Wede Harer Guzo Nigeria 70 (The Definitive Story of 1970’s Funky Lagos) A dollar bin Miriam Makeba LP uh TEN$ION Remain in Light (honorary)

God I’m tired. Anyway, I’ve always had kind of an uncertain relationship with this record. Mergia’s organ can sound like a cool balm on my aching brain or… elevator music. Dahlak Band can sound like a perfect fusion of the floaty “intellectual highlife” of Celestine Ukwu and the grooves of Booker T. and the MG’s… or, what were we talking about? An entire side just past me by unnoticed, yet again. I think this has more to do with me than it does with the record… though at a cassette-length hour-plus run time, some ideas do get repeated.

(Three ellipses in one paragraph… I think that’s more than I’ve used in this whole series so far. I’m so tired of writing these things man. I’m not even really divorced, I can’t wait to leave.)

Anyway, again, at its best, the record is transcendently beautiful. The way Mergia’s organ expands and contracts like the shimmer of light on dark water on “Anchin Kfu Ayinkash,” guitarist Dawit Kassa answering his pauses with little soulful licks… there the ellipses go again. Sometimes the record feels like it’s insinuating I should go to the lobby for more popcorn. Maybe I’ll buy Raisinettes?

It’s very good I’m saying, obviously. See you tomorrow.

357/365

[jt1674]

[omegaplus]

# 4,414

Mahmoud Guinia: self-titled debut (1989)

Reading the Arabic on any given vinyl, disc, or cassette cover means it's serious business. It was only two years ago when Omega WUSB had a great concept and decided to compile its first-ever African sounds expo; a result of being fanatics of Brian Shimkowitz' Awesome Tapes From Africa label. Obvious artists such as Hailu Mergia, Fela Kuti, Oum Kassoum, and William Onyeabor along with the African Scream Contest records and Mogadisco: Dancing Mogadishu comprised a substantial deal of that broadcast. Then you have artists like Essaouiran gnawa musician Mahmoud Guinia, master of the sintir / guembri: a three-string log guitar partially covered in animal skin. His deep bass-like strings and tribal backing band brought literal straight-up Moroccan heat with his debut. I agree with Shimkowitz on this one: it's a great stoner record. I envisioned that notion with catchy rhythms, tempo changes, and other instrumental elements producing baking-hot sounds all throughout Guinia's shouts that could jump out of nowhere at any time. Of the cassette's four tracks, "سَاسْتْ دِيمَانْيُو " was the one we went with and stood out as one of the more memorable ones that stayed with us. The end result? The African finds we ended up with gave us some distinct feels we will never forget.

[burlveneer-music]

Hailu Mergia — Belew Beduby (Live) - teaser for forthcoming live album Pioneer Works Swing (Nov. 3)

Hailu Mergia — Keyboards, Accordion, Melodica, Vocals Alemseged Kebede — Bass Guitar Kenneth Joseph — Drums It’s been a little over ten years since 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 his flavor of Ethiopian jazz all over the world in the years since, including Radio City Music Hall and Montreal Jazz Festival. Finally, we have a recorded document of the keyboard player’s powerful DC-based trio—which practices each weekend in his basement—featuring Kenneth Joseph on drums and Alemseged Kebede on bass. Beautifully captured at one of their fiery live shows at the venerable Brooklyn non-profit cultural center Pioneer Works on July 1, 2016, the concert was recorded by PW staff and mixed by Ted Young with mastering by ATFA’s expert audio extraction collaborator Jessica Thompson. The performance clarifies what many people across the globe already know: in his fifth decade of music-making Hailu Mergia continues to push the boundaries of his remarkable abilities.

[ourladyofomega]

Hailu Mergia.

[paintgroove]

Paint Groove Playlist #114 “Down to the River”

1. Fou fou - Roedelius

2. Pineal Wave - HAPPY

3. I At Daybreak - K. Leimer

4. Moss Ⅱ - Elori Saxl

5. Sunset Village - Beverly Glenn-Copeland

6. Hari Meru Meru - Hailu Mergia

7. Quiblings Query - Rainbow Generator

8. Mamata (Affection) - Ananda Shankar

[radiophd]

hailu mergia and the walias -- tche belew

[soundgrammar]

Hailu Mergia: Master accordionist and veteran bandleader, arranger and keyboardist, originally from Ethiopia.

[automatic4theppl]

Really really really good album

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

It’s spring and y’all know what that means! Summer festival announcement time! So let’s get to it. Woodsist Festival is a collaboration between: Woodsist, an indie label founded back in 2006 by Woods‘ Jeremy Earl. Founded in Brooklyn, the label is currently based in Stone Ridge, NY. For more information on the label, check out: https://www.woodsist.com Impact Concerts, the Hudson Valley’s premiere concert and festival producer, creating carefully curated music and lifestyle events showcasing internationally renowned artists alongside local crafts, food, libations and cannabis. For more information on the production company, check out: https://www.impactconcerts.com.  Arrowood Farms, a Hudson Valley-based sustainably-minded farm, brewery, distillery, dining and event destination that regularly hosts concerts and festivals including Woodsist Festival, Dirt Farmer Festival, Felice County Fair and Follow The Arrow Festival. For more information, check out https://arrowoodfarms.com.  Ground Control Touring is a boutique booking agency based in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, offering international tour booking services to a tightly focused roster of artists. Their hands-on approach to the careers of their clients has taken the recent form of producing bespoke festival and curatorial properties alongside them, including both Woodsist Festival and Felice County Fair in the Hudson Valley and additional events elsewhere throughout North America. For additional information, check out: http://www.groundcontroltouring.com Started back in 2009, the inaugural Woodsist Festival took place in Brooklyn and featured a lineup of Thee Oh Sees, alongside acts like Beach Fossils, Real Estate, and Kurt Vile. Since then, the festival has taken place in several different locations including Big Sur, Point Reyes National Seashore and Pioneertown, CA. The festival has been presented at its current home of Arrowood Farms since 2019 in partnership with Ground Control Touring and Hudson Valley-based concert promoters Impact Concerts. The festival has played there annually since 2021. Woodsist Festival returns to Accord, NY‘s Arrowood Farms. Taking place September 21, 2024 – September 22, 2024, this year’s lineup, which was curated by Woods’ Jeremy Earl, features headliners Yo La Tengo, Real Estate and Jessica Pratt, along with Woods, Haliu Mergia, the acclaimed Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Jeff Parker, Ethan de L’Aïr, The Messthetics, 75 Dollar Bill Big Band, Rosali, Mystic 100s, Florry and Sylvia on two alternating stages. Arrowood Farms will also feature food from local Hudson Valley-based vendors and craft beer brewed directly on site. Tickets go on sale April 26, 2024 at 10:00AM ET and are available via www.woodsistfestival.com. 

[musicwithoutborders]

Hailu Mergia & The Walias Band, Atmealegnem Woi, 1975

[surfersilver]

at this point i’m just happy to be here

[paintgroove]

Paint Groove playlist #105 “My heart will weep for him all my life”

1. Tape 27 Track 5 - Ahmed Malek, Natureboy Flako

2. Can You Imagine Nothing? - Kikagaku Moyo

3. Mascaram Setaba - Mulatu Astatke

4. Shemonmuanaye - Hailu Mergia

5. What It's All About - Richard In Your Mind

6. Children of Clay - Deux Filles

7. ... Canzone D'Inverno - Tony Esposito

8. Quand La Mer Furieuse

Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guébrou

[soulmusicsongs]

Birtukane - Hailu Mergia And The Walias (Tche Belew, 1977)

[orangerosebush]

"It is a Soul: A Portrait of Hailu Mergia" Directed by Lorena Alvarado and Adam Golfer

In Amharic, the word “tezeta,” has 3 meanings. It describes the concept of, “...memory, or the memory of loss and longing.” The term is also the name of a musical scale in traditional Ethiopian music, and, simultaneously, the name of an Amharic folk standard or ballad, which evokes a feeling of loss.

The legendary Ethiopian jazz keyboardist Hailu Mergia’s story is intertwined with “tezeta.” The atmospheric tone poem, It is a Soul, tracks aspects of Hailu’s journey from an iconic bandleader in the club scene of Addis Ababa in the 1970s, his immigration to the US during a decade of political repression and brutality in Ethiopia, and his public re-emergence as a performer in 2014 after a music publisher in New York began re-releasing his music. It is a Soul is a collaboration with Hailu which expresses both the longing so evident in his performances, as well as the celebration of the now.

At the height of the second wave of the vibrant Ethiopian jazz music scene, Hailu Mergia was a famous and beloved multi-instrumentalist and bandleader in Addis Ababa, performing with the Walias Band, the Dahlak Band and others. The Walias had a residency at the famed Hilton Hotel in Addis, where all of the biggest acts of the time performed until dawn, sometimes playing 8-10 hour sets for ecstatic crowds of dancers.

In 1977, Mengistu Haile Mariam and the Derg seized power in Ethiopia, overseeing a murderous and oppressive regime that snuffed out all political opposition and dissent in a period that became known as the Red Terror. However, in 198, Hailu and the Walias had established such notoriety as performers that they were granted permission to tour the United States. After the tour, Hailu and a few of his bandmates declared asylum in the US and began new lives.

Hailu left Addis Ababa at the height of his popularity, fleeing the Red Terror to start a new life in Washington, DC, where no one outside of the small Ethiopian diaspora community was familiar with his music.

Settling in Washington, Hailu continued to make music for himself for over 30 years while driving a taxi, working at a gas station, managing a club and doing whatever he had to in order to make a living. In 2014, Brian Shimkovitz– a young music publisher from Brooklyn – discovered Hailu’s music in a cassette shop in Addis Ababa. He tracked Hailu down and began re-releasing his music (never heard outside of Ethiopia) on his label, Awesome Tapes from Africa, to great acclaim. The past 7 years have been a rebirth for Hailu, and at 73 years old, he is finally receiving international recognition for his contributions as a musician.

CREDITS Directed by Lorena Alvarado & Adam Golfer Producer: Jessica Beshir Editor: Lorena Alvarado Director of Photography: Adam Golfer Additional Footage: Abdullah Akçay & Leo Plunkett Sound Design: Luciana Foglio Colorist: Cédric von Niederhäusern Translations: Menbere Awoke, Jessica Beshir Title Design: Ghazaal Vojdani Music by Hailu Mergia, Courtesy of Awesome Tapes from Africa 2021