Far Off Sounds Ep 5 - Hailu Mergia Takes Off

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Hailu Mergia was the leader of one of the biggest jazz funk bands in Ethiopia in the 1970′s. His band, The Walias Band, reached the pinnacle of success in Ethiopia, eventually being invited to play for the president. Their sound, a mixture of traditional Ethiopian melodies and American-inspired jazz and funk, struck a chord with Ethiopians across the spectrum. Having achieved celebrity status in his home country, Hailu wanted his band to grow. He arranged a U.S. tour for the Walias band, hoping to find international success. The tour did not match his vision of quick American success, and, met mostly with indifference in the States, the band fizzled.

Hailu decided to stay in Washington DC, where they had originally landed in the States. And there he has remained. More recently, Hailu Mergia has been driving a taxi, shuttling visitors from the airport to their hotels and houses. What most of his passengers don't know is that the friendly Ethiopian chatting with them about the weather or the Washington Monument has a full-sized electronic keyboard stashed away in his trunk, and when he's waiting for customers, he sits in the back seat and practices. He has practiced every day since he came to the United States, not necessarily out of a nostalgia for lost glory, but because his love for music is at the level of a vital need. He cannot go a day without playing.

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Main credits

Hurwitz-Goodman, Jacob (filmmaker)
George, Nick (filmmaker)
George, Nick (film producer)
Mergia, Hailu (on-screen participant)

Other credits

Shot & edited by Jacob Hurwitz-Goodman.

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

Hailu Mergia; The Walias Band; Ethiopian; Ethiopia; music; art; jazz; keyboard; biography; bio; documentary; doc; Means TV; "Far Off Sounds Ep 5 - Hailu Mergia Takes Off";

WEBVTT

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I wish you drink coffee, but.

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Yeah.

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I love this airport, especially

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at night when you see it with with

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light. It\'s so

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beautiful.

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So.

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I never stop playing music just

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for the taxi business is good about

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it. I have a keyboard in my car,

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which is working with a six

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battery body.

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And then after I

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drop somebody or oral after

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I finish, what is?

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I do I just grab my keyboard

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and sit down behind my

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back seat and then practice

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I play, you know, so because

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I don\'t feel good if I don\'t play

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music.

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And after I left the army, I went

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to like any

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small club, like a night,

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so I just performed

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in.

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No payments, sometimes even they

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just people they don\'t like the way,

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how I do things and I start

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playing with a group.

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We form a group

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like the local guys, but

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my fame starts when the when

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we form what is band, which

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is a I\'m in the best band

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sort of out in the country.

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When I was with White House band,

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I started recording in organ

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for the first time.

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And then people there love us what I

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was doing. So that was

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a new idea.

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There was an instrumental pieces

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like with the saxophone or was part

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of it before me, but an

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organization.

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I was the one who started it in the

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60s.

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It just I have to do

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something I didn\'t think of

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to be famous or something

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I didn\'t know.

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I never thought about Jack or

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ever. I go.

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People always say, Oh, hello, my

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guy. And like, having like an

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already on TV, that\'s how I

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find out.

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We start getting real.

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More payment, more popularity.

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We were just eager

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to do

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more. Our problem was when we

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came here

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to have like a good

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agent became like

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a internationally

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known band.

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That was our dream.

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But when we gave when he came here,

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that\'s because that didn\'t work

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well.

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We don\'t get the right people.

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There are so many things that I

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miss.

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So in general, it\'s better to pour

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it. I miss a lot of things from

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home.

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Sometimes sometimes my customer

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wanted to see my name.

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They say, Oh, that you the one who\'s

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playing organ is

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all. They asked me a question Why

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wouldn\'t I have talked

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rather the word

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God? I love the business.

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Also planned.

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Surprised I was asking

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myself.

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You know, just how it happened.

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That\'s what is the first question I

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was going to.

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A brand, how it happened

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as a way, Brown told me

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he went to Tupaea two

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for visiting, he found

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he went to some smaller

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music store and then he

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found this cassette.

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He emailed me from Germany.

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He was actually one of the cassette.

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So we started from there.

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When Brown had released it

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again, now the

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audience, white

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Europeans, Americans,

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Africans, Asians,

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everybody, no one was

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to listen to me.

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Now I have a more audience than

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before.

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It\'s actually a good

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one.

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You never get broke.

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We always have some money in your

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pocket and two,

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I have my oldest kids on.

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So that means I don\'t be I

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don\'t want to be ordered by somebody

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to come into go out one over

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three because

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of that schedule.

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Is good for me.

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I can do practice,

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I can practice my music or I can

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make recording what I can do

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anything on my time.

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What am I going to start to

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in Europe, like I said an hour,

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maybe six or seven countries,

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then when I finished that, I\'m

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going about our comeback here

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and then I\'m going to have another

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show in New York

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and December and January.

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Then we\'ll see after that,

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I guess. Surprise.

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After maybe almost after three

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years when it\'s come

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back again and became

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like a new,

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that\'s when I get a surprise

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and I don\'t have any answer

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why it happened.

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And.