IT IS A SOUL: A Portrait of Hailu Mergia

2021

13:51

In Amharic, the word “tezeta,” has 3 meanings. It describes the concept of, “...memory, or the memory of loss and longing.” The term is also the name of a musical scale in traditional Ethiopian music, and, simultaneously, the name of an Amharic folk standard or ballad, which evokes a feeling of loss.

The legendary Ethiopian jazz keyboardist Hailu Mergia’s story is intertwined with “tezeta.” The atmospheric tone poem, "It is a Soul," tracks aspects of Hailu’s journey from an iconic bandleader in the club scene of Addis Ababa in the 1970s, his immigration to the US during a decade of political repression and brutality in Ethiopia, and his public re-emergence as a performer in 2014 after a music publisher in New York began re-releasing his music. "It is a Soul," is a collaboration with Hailu which expresses both the longing so evident in his performances, as well as the celebration of the now.

Directed by Lorena Alvarado & Adam Golfer

Producer: Jessica Beshir

Editor: Lorena Alvarado

Director of Photography: Adam Golfer

Additional Footage: Abdullah Akçay & Leo Plunkett

Sound Design: Luciana Foglio

Colorist: Cédric von Niederhäusern

Translations: Menbere Awoke, Jessica Beshir

Title Design: Ghazaal Vojdani

Music by Hailu Mergia, Courtesy of Awesome Tapes from Africa