Awesome Tapes from Africa may have moved on from his Berlin respite, but his label’s influence lives on and one-man-band Hailu Mergia is the latest Éthiopique to be rescued from the Eraser Magnet of History, with his rhythm box-driven keyboard meanderings leaving him halfway between Sun Ra and The Space Lady. Currently a cab driver in Washington DC, senior citizen Mergia plans to pick the fuzz off the accidentally proto-techno sweater that Charanjit “Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat” Singh neglected to pluck. Falko Teichmann DJs. Beep beep!
Originally published in issue #122, December 2013.