Hailu Mergia's new album Yene Mircha ("my choice" in Amharic) departs from the fiery acoustic trio jazz of 2018's Lala Belu, his first new recording in over 15 years. That album clarified Mergia as a living legend making vital contemporary music. It was hailed by international press, including the New York Times , BBC and Pitchfork, which called his music, triumphantly in the present. Mergia is in no way stuck in nostalgia for the "golden age" of 1970s Ethiopian music. Yene Mircha enters a new field of sound with expanded instrumentation and a focus on Mergia's own compositions and arrangements. His DC-based trio is the highly stable nucleus. They've burned a path across three continents playing this hard-to-categorize approach to jazz, funk and a rainbow of Ethiopian styles at more than 40 shows last year. The Regent Theater is located in DTLA at 448 S Main Street Los Angeles, CA 90013.
Kibrom Birhane opened the show with seven other musicians -witj song from his new album "Here and Now". See clip below from the show.
