Meklit Hadero
Meklit Hadero is an Ethio-American vocalist, songwriter and composer, known for her electric stage presence and innovative, deeply personal Ethio-Jazz songs. Her music has made her a star in her home country of Ethiopia, and most recent album was named amongst the best records of the year by Bandcamp and The Sunday Times UK, climbing to the top of the iTunes, NACC, and European World Charts. She is the host of Movement, a podcast, radio series and live show that tells stories of global migration through music.
Describe your podcast, but use the format of a Hollywood logline.
Maybe “Parts Unknown” meets “Tiny Desk.” It’s music discovery meets larger cultural context.
This new season of Movement with Meklit Hadero is a bit different from Season 1. I feel like you’ve unlocked your combined superpowers as a musician, culture curator, storyteller and activist. What’s your origin story as a podcaster? Further, what was the cause for the shift in format?
I came to this work in 2017. The genius producer Julie Caine is the one who brought me me and Ian Coss together to develop the show. It took us a while to find a home, but we’ve been super happy with our broadcast partnership with PRX’s The World, all while releasing episodes on our feed as well.
The shift in format came because I wanted to be more active in telling personal stories as part of the show. Music and migration is deeply personal to me as an Ethiopian- American, Ethio-jazz singer songwriter. And throughout my career, I’ve grounded myself in telling bigger stories together with other artists than I am able to do by myself. So it all made sense. Also - We were super lucky to snag Megan Tan as our senior editor and she has helped so much in developing the concept of Season 2.
You also have a new EP out Ethio Blue, the storytelling and instrumentation are just as rich in sound as the stories heard on your podcast. How do you tap into your “artist brain” vs. your podcast “host brain” when you are creating? In some ways I’m sure they are related - but can you break down the differentiation (For instance how do you prepare to go into the studio to record music, versus recording an episode of your podcast? OR How does researching play a part in both? OR How does intention strike you for either?)
I think the place where they are connected is really through the process of listening. There’s this funny thing that no one tells you about being a musician. Learning to listen and hear differently, more subtly, with bigger ears… it’s as much a part of the artist journey as being able to produce exactly the sound you want with your voice or your instruments. Interviewing is like that as well. Not only are you spending time listening to the music of the artist that you’re about to talk to, but within the interview, you’re listening for the inflection in their tone, you’re trying to figure out when there is more of a story underneath what they’re saying. Then, you ask follow-up questions that unleash unexpected moments. It’s the same as when you’re listening to a bandmate improvise. When they hit an electrifying phrase, your head turns on its own and you make the stank face, and they feed off that and dig deeper. Both are a conversation. And when people know they are truly being listened to, they open up. All that said, performance itself is super different than the process of interviewing. On stage, my job is to be completely free and go into a dream. I have to bring the audience into that dream with me so we can feel something ethereal together. in an interview, I’ve got to know what the next question is and we’re trying to get to. It’s more earthbound.
What does “home” mean to you?
Home is a process home. Home is a journey. Home is the stories we tell ourselves about who we are. Home is really a poem. It’s not easily definable, but everyone’s trying to find it.
You shared a beautiful story about moments with your grandfather and how you both were able to communicate in joy without words; how does your family and upbringing have an effect on your work on Movement with Meklit Hadero?
A lot of my creative work has been based in life on two sides of the hyphen, Ethiopian-American. I’ve talked a lot about that throughout my journey. Especially the experience of coming to the United States as a refugee in my youth. But I think the other important thing about this podcast is that it’s really born out of love. I have an enormous amount of love for the music and the cultural power coming out of immigrant communities. I wanted a space to share that so that I could shine that love out into the world and create new ways of feeling and hearing our way into belonging.
You get to time travel back to speak to your younger self, but you only have a 30 second window, what would you say?
Trust your instincts. Music is as magic and as important as you think!
You’ve spoken on TED stages, at the UN, at various institutions and universities around the globe, what is the one message that you carry with you no matter the platform, and why?
It’s not one message, it’s a few. There are more than this, but for now…..
Music is an ancient technology that we have for bringing people together. We should be using it with more intention.
Cultural power is necessary for building new narratives, as well as for finding our way through the multiple intersecting crisis were all facing.
The world is a musically alive place if we are listening.
Sonic joy comes from opening your ears to sounds from all over the globe. In other words, decenter western (musical) traditions.
A little rapid fire…
Favorite Country to visit? Come on now, Ethiopia!
Favorite food? Peaches
You get to listen to ONE album on a deserted island for eternity, what is it? Songs in the Key of Life
Top 3 podcasts in your queue right now? Wiser Than Me, How to Survive the End of the World, Object of Sound.
Most memorable concert? Lord that’s a hard one! Mark Cary at the Red Poppy Art House in 2007. He’s a genius jazz pianist and I spent the whole concert crouched behind the piano taking in the physical vibrations of the instrument. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a musical experience like that. It was remarkable. But obviously there are too many to name.
You get to put together a super band, who’s in the crew and why? Easy, that’s my band. They are literally the best ever!
Mp3 or vinyl? Why? Vinyl. It just sounds better.
Tell us more about Meklit’s Movement Immigrant Orchestra…
This project is more than a podcast. We also have live performances and community building initiatives. We bring immigrant musicians together in the bay area, where I live, as well as across the United States. We are building solidarity between immigrant communities and making sure that sharing cultural power with each other is at the center of this project. The best way to do that with musicians is just to play together. So we made a platform for that and the Yerba Buena Gardens festival invited us to share that platform with others.
If the person reading this interview leaves with one thing today about Movement with Meklit Hadero (or Ethio Blue), what’s the THING?
We are answering a question. What do global movements of people sound like… and we are shining that love for our own communities out into the world and to each other. The soundtrack to a radically diverse world is bumping.
Where do you see your podcast expanding to after this season? Are more in-person lives on the way? Tell us something that we don’t know yet.
Next year, I’ll be a visiting artist at the Stanford Institute for diversity in the arts and I’m super excited to be bringing together immigrant musicians with policy and advocacy organizations on campus and beyond. We are modeling what it might look like for immigrant musicians, who are incredible storytellers, to be more core to advocacy campaigns for rights and justice for immigrant communities. This project goes deep!
Thanks, Meklit!