On the title track, Mergia channels the bright, Ellington-inspired horn lines of Stevie Wonder’s Sir Duke, before hitting a swampy reggae dub on Bayne Lay Yihedal and rounding off with the organ-funk of Shemendefer.Īll of this in just a 35-minute runtime might sound like a chaotic mix, especially alongside Mergia’s spangly David Frank-style synths, which tend to cut through his compositions like a strobe on a wedding dancefloor. Opener Semen Ena Debub artfully pairs a one-string lute, the masenqo, with Mergia’s accordion to create a hip-swaying shuffle that slowly builds into a joyous double-time motif. ![]() Where that album’s trio setup showcased a groove-laden, deep-swinging side to Mergia, his latest offering, Yene Mircha (My Choice), finds him taking a more meandering, sonically adventurous path. The result was his first solo album in two decades, 2018’s Lala Belu. ![]() ![]() Of course, in his many years of relative obscurity Mergia continued to noodle away at his keyboard, honing his talent for skewed, ear-worming arrangements.
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