As a young man living in Addis Ababa during the swinging 60s, Hailu Mergia was a superstar. The Ethiopian capital city was a bustling cosmopolis where art and culture flourished amid the countryâs uneasy quest for independence.His jazz and funk band, the Walias, performed for the domestic and international elite at the then-prestigious Hilton Hotelâs music club, which granted residencies to Ethiopiaâs hottest bands. Crowds of dignitaries and foreign diplomats, Hollywood movie stars, famous musicians like Duke Ellington and Alice Coltrane, and important African figures like Manu Dibango would flock to the hotel to dance and jam until sunrise.
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âWhen we played in the Hilton Hotel, the audience was full of people from around the world, so everybody had requests for different kinds of music. Sometimes weâd play Indian melodies, sometimes weâd play Arabic music. Weâd pick up American soul, blues, and jazz melodies and then improvise on them in our own music,â Mergia remembers.Born in the Ethiopian countryside in 1946, Mergia spent much of his childhood working as a shepherd, but began learning to play music as a boy scout at age 14. When his band rose to prominence in the 60s and 70s, they werenât just kings of Addis Ababa nightlifeâthey were a beacon to Ethiopiaâs revolutionaries. Under the Derg regime, constant warfare, famine, and brutal political oppression plagued Ethiopia.The Waliasâs seminal album Tche Belew features the single âMusicawi Silt,â one of the most famous songs of all time in Ethiopia. It conveys messages of heroism through well-known references to Ethiopian battle songs. âEthiopian music is like most art: in every piece thereâs a message. Everyone is trying to explain what they know through music. Tche Belew is a heroâs song. It means âgo for it,ââ says Mergia.
The albumâs call for bravery proved apt. During the âRed Terror,â over a half million Ethiopians were killed and countless more displaced. The constant state of crisis led to the nationâs first major diaspora into the Western world, with the United States experiencing a surge in refugees.
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In 1981, as his country entered one of the worst famines it had ever endured, Mergia made the painful decision to leave Ethiopia, abandoning his fame to move to the United States. He eventually settled in Washington, DC, where heâs been driving a cab for the last 20 years. âTo give up fame and music was hard, but I always had a feeling that one day Iâd make my way back to it again,â Mergia says.
Over the years in the States, Mergia managed to intermittently self-release a few tapes and CDs, but little of it reached his fans in Ethiopia. âEvery once in a while someone in my cab sees my license and they know my name. Usually they have no idea I was famous,â he says.Though Mergia is far from his home country, he keeps music close to him as he navigates the streets of DC. âI have a keyboard in the trunk of my taxicab,â he says. In between fares, Mergia pulls it from his trunk to practice in the backseat. âMy keyboard works with batteries, so I always have music.â
In 2013, music scholar and archivist Brian Shimkovitz was in Ethiopia digging through cassettes in the back of a record shop when he found one of Mergiaâs old tapes. âI was super excited about it, and I listened to it over and over,â Shimkovitz says. âSo I tracked [Mergia] down on the internet.âShimkovitz runs Awesome Tapes from Africa, a blog and record label he started in his Brooklyn apartment in 2006. âThe label grew out of the blogâs attempt to show what African music really sounds like in various regions, not a packaged world music version of it,â Shimkovitz explains. âThe label tries to put out music other labels wouldnât release, while doing 50/50 deals and advocating for the artists. Sending them money and opportunities as much as possible is the central mission. [Our] fans are people all over the world who are adventurous or curious listeners or music collectors or African expats.â
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Like many of his fans, Shimkovitz was surprised to hear that Mergia was driving a cab. âI used to live in DC, so I was aware of the large Ethiopian community and their role in making that city work. So I guess I was surprised that a famous musician was doing a day job. But I canât say I was shocked, as the live music scene is difficult as hell for any musician in the US, especially someone playing instrumental music,â says Shimkovitz.
Shortly after they met, Shimkovitz signed Mergia with Awesome Tapesâ label and began booking him shows around the world. âWe never have any big disagreements, and the work has been successful so I guess that helps make things really fun. Heâs my dadâs age. Not the age of someone I typically hang with and get along with so effortlessly. We have had beautiful times just goofing around while driving through the desert in Texas, or hanging on a boat backstage at a show in Germany, or watching him play Radio City Music Hall opening for Beirut,â Shimkovitz says.This February, Mergia will release his first album in more than 15 years. âLala Belu has been a long time coming,â Shimkovitz notes.âAll of it feels like a big comeback,â says Mergia. âA different kind of audience, playing with a different kind of band and working with a different kind of record company. The album is very different from all the albums I did after I left Ethiopia.âWhen asked why he decided to release a new album, Mergia replies, âArt is a lifetime commitment. The more you play the more you know.â
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After so many years out of the spotlight, Mergiaâs drive to keep playing musicâeven if it meant practicing in the backseat of his taxiâperhaps reminded him of the message he sang in 1977: that one must âgo for it.â
Preorder Hailu Mergiaâs new album Lala Belu here.Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of VICE delivered to your inbox daily.See more of Avery White's work on her Instagram.