Hailu Mergia (Live) & Awesome Tapes From Africa Dj Set
Donnerstag 24.Mai // Einlass: 20.00Uhr - Start: 21.00Uhr
Hailu Mergia(Awesome Tapes From Africa, Washington)
&
Awesome Tapes From Africa(DJ Set)
Hailu Mergia (Awesome Tapes From Africa, Washington)
Many times we enjoyed telling this amazing story: It is about the triumphant return to the music biz of the leading performers of an East African country - an instrumentalist who was forced into exile by a dictatorial regime hostile to the arts and ended up driving cabs for almost 30 years.
Early in 2018, Hailu Mergia's amazing account is finally coming full circle: After the blogger, DJ and label owner Brian Shimkovitz had tracked down Mergia in Washington DC (by far the biggest Ethiopian community outside of the motherland), he brought out three fantastic reissues of the keyboardist's older materials. The maestro started to perform publicly again late in 2013 with sold out venues and amazed fans over three continents. Now Awesome Tapes From Africa, Shimkovitz' imprint, is releasing "Lala Belu", Mergia's long-expected comeback album of all new music.
To celebrate this amazing achievement, Mergia will be on the road again to present more elegant excursions in Ethio-Jazz.
Awesome Tapes From Africa
Since 2006, Brian Shimkovitz's Awesome Tapes From Africa blog has been shedding light on obscure and wonderful sounds from across the continent. As a DJ he brings the blog to life with 2-3 hour sets blending folkloric pop, left-field dancefloor gems and hip-hop bangers he's collected on African marketplace finds. Travelling from club to festival to DIY space, Awesome Tapes From Africa DJ sets celebrate the music and musicians whose cassettes Shimkovitz has collected over the years.
In 2011 ATFA developed into a critically acclaimed vinyl label, re-releasing records by African artists including Bola, Dur-Dur Band, Hailu Mergia and Penny Penny. The label plays an essential role in furthering Brian's mission to build an international audience for African music through touring and re-issues.
Drawing on his vast African cassette archive—which includes highlife, fuji, benga, tsonga disco, soukous, hip-hop, rhumba and ethio-soul, among countless other genres—his role now combines that of educator, promoter and selector, finding him DJ across the world. HIs DJ sets on twin tape decks explore deep, regional sounds using analog-anchored agility not heard/seen anywhere else.
https://hailumergia.bandcamp.com/
https://www.awesometapes.com/