Worldwide
Ethiopia
Hailu Mergia
About Hailu Mergia
Hometown
Debre Berhan, Ethiopia
Born
1946
Genre
Worldwide
An innovative Ethiopian keyboardist, accordionist, and bandleader, Hailu Mergia rose to prominence in the early '70s fronting the Walias Band, an instrumental funk and jazz ensemble and fixture of the Addis Ababa hotel circuit. Immigrating to the U.S. in the early '80s, Mergia issued a series of homemade solo releases while working as a taxi driver, later rediscovered by the Awesome Tapes from Africa label, whose reissues in the 2010s helped him mount a successful late-career surge that resulted in the 2018 comeback album Lala Belu.
Hailu Mergia has also released music as a member of Shebele's Band.
Similar to: Hailu Mergia
Discover more music and artists similar to Hailu Mergia, like Mulatu Astatke, Getatchew Mekurya, Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru
