Hailu Mergia, The Walias

Biography

Hailu Mergia was born in 1946 in Debre Birhan, in the Shewa region of Ethiopia. Of mixed Amhara and Oromo descent, he absorbed traditional highland melodies in his youth before moving to Addis Ababa at age 10. A self-taught accordionist by age 14, he dropped out of high school to join the army's music department, where he formally learned to read and write music. He later mastered organ, piano, and early synthesizers, eventually becoming a fixture in Addis Ababa's nightclub circuit in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Mergia became the keyboardist and primary arranger for the Walias Band, one of Ethiopia's most celebrated groups of the era. The Walias secured a prestigious residency at the Addis Ababa Hilton and released what would become landmark records: Tche Belew (1977) and Wede Harer Guzo (1978). Operating under the repressive Derg military dictatorship, Mergia's strategy to avoid forced political lyrics was simple — record instrumentals only. In 1981, the Walias became the first modern Ethiopian band to tour the United States. Rather than return home, Mergia and three bandmates defected and stayed in America. He enrolled at Howard University, then recorded Hailu Mergia & His Classical Instrument: Shemonmuanaye (1985), a deeply personal solo cassette blending Moog synthesizer, Rhodes piano, and drum machine with traditional Ethiopian melodic structures. Distribution was almost nonexistent. For much of the 1990s and 2000s, Mergia worked as a taxi driver at Dulles Airport in Washington, DC — but never stopped composing, keeping a keyboard in his trunk and practicing in the backseat between fares.

His rediscovery came when Awesome Tapes from Africa founder Brian Shimkovitz found the 1985 cassette in a music shop in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, and tracked Mergia down via a cell phone number on his personal blog. Reissues in 2013–2016 ignited international critical acclaim. In 2018, Mergia released Lala Belu — his first studio album in over three decades, recorded as a trio with bassist Mike Majkowski and drummer Tony Buck — which Pitchfork named one of the best albums of the decade. Further releases followed (Yene Mircha, 2020; Pioneer Works Swing (Live), 2023), cementing his reputation as a foundational figure in Ethiopian jazz and a symbol of late-career artistic revival.

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Fun Facts

• The band name 'Walias' derives from the walia ibex (Capra walie), a critically endangered wild goat native only to the Simien Mountains of Ethiopia — a subtle assertion of fierce, independent Ethiopian identity.
• During his years driving a taxi at Dulles Airport in Washington, DC, Mergia kept a full keyboard in his trunk and practiced in the backseat between fares, composing through the entire period he was publicly invisible.
• Brian Shimkovitz of Awesome Tapes from Africa tracked Mergia down not through an agent or manager, but by finding a direct cell phone number listed on Mergia's personal blog — a call that launched his late-career international renaissance.
• Original vinyl pressings of Tche Belew (1977) were fetching over $4,000 at auction by the time Awesome Tapes reissued the album in 2014 — Mergia was reportedly stunned to learn what his out-of-print records were worth.

Musical Connections

Mentors/Influences

• Azmari Folk Tradition - Mergia absorbed the melodic and improvisational sensibility of itinerant Ethiopian highland folk musicians (azmari) in childhood — a foundational influence on his approach to melody and ornamentation.
• King Curtis - Western funk saxophonist whose hard, driving style influenced the Walias Band's rhythmic intensity and groove architecture.
• Junior Walker - Soul-funk saxophonist cited as a direct influence on the Walias Band's hard polyrhythmic funk sound.

Key Collaborators

• Girma Beyene - Co-founder of the Walias Band, principal arranger and pianist; composed the landmark instrumental "Musicawi Silt" and defected to the US alongside Mergia in 1981. [1970s–1981]
• Mulatu Astatke - The 'Father of Ethio-jazz' played vibraphone on the Walias Band's landmark album Tche Belew (1977), making it a direct collaboration between the two most important figures in Ethiopian jazz. (Tche Belew (1977))
• Mahmoud Ahmed - Ethiopian vocalist whom the Walias Band backed on their historic 1981 US tour — the first modern Ethiopian band to tour America.
• Moges Habte - Walias Band saxophonist and flautist who also defected with Mergia after the 1981 US tour. [1970s–1981]

Artists Influenced

• Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra - New York Afrobeat collective who covered the Walias Band's 'Muziqawi Silt', helping spread Ethio-jazz vocabulary into the global Afrobeat revival.
• Either/Orchestra - Boston-based jazz ensemble who covered 'Muziqawi Silt', engaging Mergia's work as a touchstone in the Ethiopiques revival.

External Links

• Spotify
• Wikipedia