About the event
Hanzas Perons is inviting everyone to summer concerts, where artists from popular foreign bands will perform their solo projects; there will also be a trio and unseen unions of musicians. It is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear new music that is worth being heard live in Latvia.
A virtuoso, an Ethiopian legend, instrumentalist, accordion player with more than 60 years of experience on stage, Hailu Mergia with the jazz trio at Hanzas Perons on 9 July.
His music has been recognized and appreciated by international press, like New York Times, BBC and Pitchfork, describing his music as “triumphantly in the present”.
His career started in 1960s in Addis Ababa, in the 1970s he was in his golden age of dance music bands. While in the 1990s he moved to the U.S., where he was probably the most talented taxi driver. He was playing keyboard instruments while waiting for his passengers at the airport. And now Hailu Mergia is returning with his classic hits that draw attention to the role of his talent in Ethiopian music history. He has returned on stage and playing for big and small audiences.
Mergia has been staying relevant through all these years, changing his music as the time goes. He views these changes positively yet keeps his plans for the future in secret: “I believe the music changes. The audience feels good when it hears a different mix every time they listen to my music. Maybe in my next album, I will do something completely different”.