Maybe we’re just in a really maximalist era for music, but hitting play on the newly reissued Tezeta by Hailu Mergia and the Walias Band feels like an instant vacation a trip to a beach of swaying wistful palm leaves, a single chord washing up onto the shore and receding.
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Capital: What made you decide on a music career and how did you kick start your career?
Dawit Senbetta: I loved listening to Walias Band on the radio as a child around the time that I was 8. Hailu Mergia on the keyboard was talented. His skills mesmerized me every time I listened to him and I got hooked to music ever since. I later fell in love with the piano notes in 8th grade when the school purchased a piano and left it in one of the classrooms. I felt as though the piano was calling me and I and the musical instrument were inseparable since. Often I would be caught playing the piano during class hours and would get in trouble with our Caucasian principle at the time. One notable time I fell at the principal’s feet so that he doesn’t report my skipping of class to my parents. Touched by my gesture I was allowed to play after class and on Saturdays. This in conjunction with my first live show that I attended at school by performances by Dereje