Photo by Petri Anttila
Photo by Petri Anttila
Photo by Ryan Lash
Photo by Tessa Shimizu
Meklit
“At the shining crossroads of two cultures, making truly moving music.”— POPMATTERS
Meklit Hadero is an Ethiopian-American vocalist, songwriter, composer and cultural activist. She makes music that sways between cultures and continents, including a body of deeply personal Ethio-Jazz songs. Her touring band includes the intimate strums of an Ethiopian krar, the wails of a Jazz saxophone, the multi-tones of a drum kit mixed with the snappy rhythms of a Turkish tupan, the fluttering of pentatonic keyboard melodies, and the backbone of a grooving bassline that just makes you want to dance. Her lyrics in English and Amharic connect to our shared humanity, reminding us that “everything that we are was made in a supernova.” Meklit’s performances have taken her around the world, from Addis Ababa—where she is a full-blown star—to San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, Nairobi, Cairo, Montreal, London, and beyond.
Performance Program
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