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Ethiopia's Hailu Mergia announces dates for Europe tour

14 sep 2016 - 13:36

Published under the Creative Commons Licence

Ethiopian keyboardist, army accordionist and synth pioneer Hailu Mergia is set to hit the road with a series of performances in Europe. He will stage performances in the Netherlands and Belgium before he makes a stop at the Stockholm Jazz Festival in Sweden on 10 October. He will then proceed to the UK, France, Germany and Switzerland for more performances.

Ethiopian keyboardist Hailu Mergia. Photo: www.nytimes.com

Hailu Mergia was among Ethiopia's leading artists of the 1970s. He spent three decades carving out a national reputation both as solo artist and as member of groups like the Addis Ababa funk outfit, the Walias Band.

In 2013, Mergia, who has lived in America, made a comeback at a pub in Brooklyn after a 22-year musical hiatus.

Although his musical career slowed down with Mergia ending up driving a taxi in Washington DC where he lives, Mergia's music has invited interest over the years. In June 2016, for example, Awesome Tapes From Africa re-issued his third album, Wede Harer Guzo.

For many years this album was considered lost—until an accidental discovery of the last original cassette allowed its re-release this year. The album includes two of Mergia’s own compositions: ‘Sintayehu’ and ‘Minlbelesh’.

The full dates of Mergia's Europe tour are as below: