David Dalle
Thursday April 16th, 2020 with David Dalle
Hailu Mergia's new album "Yene Mircha"; the new Sahel Sounds Music from Sahran Whatsapp vol. 4; music from South Africa, Cameroon, Algeria, Congo, Cuba and more.

Hailu Mergia is back with a brand new release on Awesome Tapes From Africa: "Yene Mircha" recorded with a new trio featuring Kenneth Joseph on drums and Alemseged Kebede on bass and of course Mergia on keyboards, accordion, and melodica. This new recording also features some guests including Setegn Atenaw on the mesenqo (a traditional Ethiopian single string bowed instrument), Moges Habte on sax, Ben Hall on trombone, and a couple others. Some really mellow, cheerful vibes for these stressful times. The second new album is the April edition from Sahel Sounds' Music from Saharan WhatsApp. This project has the musicians from the Sahel (in Niger, Mali, Mauritania primarily) record themselves, usually at home using phones and transmitted to Sahel Sounds using WhatsApp. Every month's edition is only available for a month on Sahel Sounds' Bandcamp site. The results are terrific homegrown tracks exemplifying how the music sounds "in situ". For April, the release is from Alkibar Junior, a band from Niafunke, hometown of Ali Farka Toure, they were originally apprentices to Afel Bocoum's band Alkibar before striking out on their own. Four great songs of really upbeat Songhai blues. https://alkibar.bandcamp.com/