With his band The Walias and his fellow musician Mulatu Astatke, Hailu Mergia is regarded as a pioneer of Ethio-Jazz, in which the musical tradition of Ethiopia was combined with Western jazz music from the 1970s. In the early 1980s, he fled from the Ethiopian dictatorship to the USA, where he worked for years as a taxi driver, but, equipped with a drum machine and synthesiser, he continued to work on his music. 30 years later, cassette digger Brian Shikowitz happened to get his hands on a tape and released it on his label Awesome Tapes from Africa, and the rest is history. In the meantime, Hailu and his fantastic band have released several new albums (most recently Yene Mircha in 2020). At the Theaterfestival Basel, Hailu Mergia and his band will present a cross-section of his work to date. Afterwards, the Konzeptlos DJ team will extend the evening into a summer night. Anyone who has experienced them before knows: they can do that VERY well!