Moses Habtezghi | Photo by Breonny Lee
By Taylor Adams Cogan
Talk to a venue owner in Deep Ellum about booking live acts on the neighborhood’s stages, and there’s a strong chance you’ll hear the name Moses Habtezghi.
There’s a chance you’ve known him from his many years at Three Links, but he’s a man many creatives just love to work with.
Moses’s family immigrated to Dallas from Eritrea in East Africa in 1980, and after living in Austin for a bit, he settled back into the North Texas city in 2005, meeting a group of guys he still works with today.
“I was doing spoken word and standup in Austin. I met musicians and hosted musicians, and eventually got on stage with them,” he says. “That led me to playing with CoLab.”
You can make your way to Three Links on Tuesday to see CoLab, Dallas’s longest-running live freestyle hip-hop band experience. As the Dallas Observer put it, it’s a “band that offers a Tuesday night that you can’t experience anywhere else in this city. … attending CoLab’s performance is like going to church, and it’s hard not to understand their sense of worship. While the music brings fans together, it’s the fellowship that keeps them coming back to CoLab’s shows.”
While he still gets on the mic, much of his focus over the last 15 years has been on curating and booking acts. He’s passionate about helping musicians get work, and his experience in both the creative and management sides helps make that happen.
“When I was young, I loved basketball and was a point guard. Now, I kind of see myself the same way: these days, I’m a facilitator trying to distribute the rock, make sure I put people in places to succeed,” he says. “It’s given me a front row for the best, from the young cats coming up to the old heads.”
Just before his 44th birthday in 2024, Moses was calling this season of his life his “bridge years,” finding it easy to relate to both people 15 years younger and 15 years older than him. Something that’s not just nice on a relational level, but good for business.
“It has helped in this industry, learning from the young ones, learning from OGs, and teaching them,” he says. “I really hope one day we can really tell the story of what’s happened out here. I’ve been able to really become friends with people I really look up to, like guys such as RC Williams, Shaun Martin, Bernard Wright, and countless others. I really want someone to tell the story, that’s why I get up every day.”
It’s with that in mind that he continues pushing forward in his work, especially for creatives in the next generation. After all, he can both get them on stage and teach a thing or two; he’s been active in the creative space of Deep Ellum for more than 20 years.
In 2002, “this dude,” as he put it, let the then 21-year-old Moses throw a party.
“It was a lot of fun back then; clubs were open until 4 in the morning. I’ve been chasing that ever since,” he says. “It really is a labor of love. Fortunately, I’ve been able to do alright, but it’s more than any kind of financial gain: I can hang my hat on everything that we’ve done.”
And that “we” is intentional there. Moses has worked with countless talented people.
“My family immigrated here, and the city welcomed us with open arms. I’ve felt the same way about the music scene,” he says. “It means something when you say, ‘I’m from Dallas,’ so I’m trying to do my part.”
Supporting the creative minds that bring energy to a stage is about more than keeping the culture vibrant in our city. For Moses, the industry requires people to encourage each other, keeping the door open for one another to be heard.
“The reason I feel like Dallas has done so well in the last two decades is because the guys at the top, the way they approach things is how I tried to, that’s how I learned: always stay open, being present in the room, supporting each other,” he says.
Through those twenty years, he’s kept his focus on CoLab, which has helped open doors for him and kept him together with his people
“My friends put together this band so we could all have a place to jam, and everything we’ve done since has been a collab,” he says. “We’re always making sure we’re collabing still. It’s a band, but it’s really a brand. But, if anything, it’s a mission statement.
“We still try to keep that going, and it’s a lot of fun. In addition to that, it’s something you do because it’s like a medicine.”
Scott Beggs, formerly of Three Links, has always been a friend of his, Moses says, advocating for him when he wasn’t in the room, saying, “This is cool, I should pass this on to Moses.” A simple sentence, but one that brought him to the conversation, and an act he wouldn’t forget.
“I think that’s one of the things I do well and enjoy doing: ‘I got somebody for you,’ and nowadays, more so on a daily basis,” he says. “I’m still helping out, trying to connect the dots. I don’t book at Links like I used to, but I’m still connecting people.”
He connects, and he continues to be that person behind the curtain for artists, to be their sounding board and helping them succeed.
“I love being able to get those people, take them to the side, and ask, ‘What is it that you want to do?’ The next thing you know?” he says. “Once you give somebody a mic, so to speak, and let people hear how their creative voice is, you never know what you’re going to get. It might be the next best thing, or a beautiful thing for that person.”
