Ethio-American Singer Meklit Illuminates SFJAZZ 2021-2022 Season
By Shelah Moody
Ethiopian American artist Meklit Hadero, who goes by the stage name, Meklit, is just one example of the wealth of diverse musical talent in the Bay Area. Meklit became known for embracing the genres of world music and jazz and often fusing the two. Meklit gained worldwide popularity via her vibrant videos such as “Kemekem: I Like Your Afro” (https://youtu.be/qC8feW4gomo) and her TED Talk on the unexpected beauty of everyday sounds (https://youtu.be/NAkkckxE9i8). The vibrant singer/songwriter is also a community organizer, activist, and Chief of Program at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Meklit performs Saturday, October 16 at SFJazz Center. https://www.sfjazz.org/tickets/productions/meklit-2122/
Streetwise Radio: What challenges have you faced as a new mother and working artist living in a pandemic?
Meklit: This time is all things. It’s been amazing, it’s been challenging, it’s been a learning experience; a growth experience. It’s everything all at once. My son is two years old. He was about six months old when the pandemic started. It’s been quite a ride. On the other hand, it’s been a blessing, because if I hadn’t been working from home during the pandemic, I would have been going to work everyday and missing so many moments with my son. We are coming out of an incredibly challenging experience, even though we’re not out of it yet. I’m grateful for the ability to return to music; for the fact that performances are happening, the fact that our vaccination rates are high and our (COVID-19) infection rates are falling. I’m grateful to be living in the Bay Area, where we have been able to care for each other through mask-wearing and so many collective care measures that were put into place. SFJAZZ Center has a new ventilation system; and masks are required indoors. There are a lot of protocols that they are putting together to make sure that folks stay safe. That’s how we can have live music right now; so I’m grateful.
Streetwise Radio: I love your video,“Kemekem: I Like Your Afro.” What inspired that song?
Meklit: Yes! So, that’s a traditional song from Ethiopia, and “kemekem” is a slang term for the perfect Afro. It literally means, freshly mowed grass, you know, when that Afro is just perfect, done just so. I learned the song in 2010. I knew it was a traditional song that could have real Pan-African resonance. African Diaspora resonance. The video went viral in Ethiopia and ended up being played on TV every day. The last time I was in Ethiopia in 2019, people would recognize me everywhere and sing that song to me back on the street! It was really special. It was a super fun video to shoot, and we did it in an Oakland space. It was recorded in Oakland.
Streetwise Radio: Describe the Ethiopian aesthetic and how you incorporate it into your music.
Meklit: I use a lot of traditional elements in the music I make, whether I’m singing in Amharic, one of the languages in Ethiopia, or working with the pentatonic melodies, the five-tone scales, or whether I’m working with the traditional rhythms.
I use them as jumping-off points, as foundational points, but I’m always bringing them together in conversation with jazz and singer/songwriter music as well.
Streetwise Radio: How did you first connect with SFJAZZ?
Meklit: I did my first show with SFJAZZ in 2010. I have a long relationship with them. We started working together before they had a space. I’m very excited to be performing on Saturday, October 16 at SFJAZZ. It’s my first live performance in almost two years since the pandemic began, so this is really my return to the stage. It’s beautiful to do it in a space that I know so well; a space that’s held me so beautifully as an artist in the Bay Area.
Streetwise Radio. What can we expect at your upcoming SFJAZZ performance?
Meklit: I’m actually bringing in an amazing Ethiopian pianist from Los Angeles, Kibrom Birhane. He’s a special musician who’s able to add so much color and power. We will be a seven-piece band; it’s my full ensemble; the band I’ve been playing with and singing with for years. They’re my people; my family. It’s going to be a 90-minute show, and we’ll be singing our hearts out for the people.
Streetwise Radio: Tell us about some of the songs you’ll be performing.
Meklit: We’ll be doing traditional songs like “Kemekem.” We’ll be doing traditional songs that really bring in Ethiopian scales, like the song, “Ethio Blue,” which is forthcoming off a new record called “Antidote,” which will be coming out next year. We’ll also be doing songs from my last full-length album, “When the People Move, the Music Moves, Too.” I play guitar and I play krar, an Ethiopian harp. Sometimes I don’t have an instrument in my hand, so I can also move around the stage and be free. My band is Kibrom Birhane, keyboards, Howard Wiley, tenor saxophone, Prasant Radhakrishnan, tenor saxophone, Marco Paris Coppola, percussion, and Sam Bevan, bass.
Streetwise Radio: Tell us about your leadership role at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts?
Meklit: I’m the Chief of Program at YBCA. It’s a role that I started about two months before the pandemic began. It’s been a beautiful time of transition though; being able to move in a role of supporting artists who work in service of their communities— artists of all disciplines. Throughout my career; I’ve always been involved in projects and initiatives that promote community building and culture power into the questions of: what kind of world do we want to build, and how do we do it together? How are music and the arts and culture at the center of those questions? My role as Chief of Program has allowed me to be of service in a time when it’s a challenge to be a working musician. It’s a blessing to be able to support other artists in this role.
Streetwise Radio: What is the key to getting heard and noticed as a world music/jazz artist living and working in San Francisco?
Meklit: I’m very grateful for the success that I’ve had; I think staying humble is important. You have to be grateful for every audience and every listener. The purpose of music is to bring us together; and so every time that we can build community with music, we have to be grateful. For me; it’s about being a songwriter and having a perspective that is a unique sound. And, that sound has come through learning. A lot of times, people ask me who my biggest influences are. There are so many traditional artists, like Mulatu Astatke; and jazz singers like Billie Holiday, who have been a great inspiration. I also recognize that my community has been my biggest teacher. That’s part of why I don’t see my work as an organizer as different from the work that I do as a musician. There’s no difference between building yourself as a musician and working for the health and well-being of your community. I think that working towards both of those goals simultaneously has helped me build an audience, and it’s helped me to grow the space for my music to blossom in the world.
For more information on Meklit and to hear her music, go to: https://www.meklitmusic.com/.
