Ethio-Jazz Singer & Activist Meklit Releases “Tizita” & More
The world-renowned vocalist, Ethio-Jazz singer, songwriter, composer, and cultural strategist Meklit will release her new album and Smithsonian Folkways debut, A Piece of Infinity, on September 26th. Meklit is a former refugee born in Addis Ababa and based in San Francisco who has collaborated with everyone from Andrew Bird to the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Music animates Meklit’s life even outside of her performances: she currently lectures as a visiting artist at Stanford University and hosts the Movement podcast, a multi-platform storytelling initiative that explores the intersection of migration and music, airing on PRX’s The World. Her music has been praised by The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and NPR, who described her songs as “a unique blend of jazz, Ethiopia, the San Francisco art scene and visceral poetry; it paints pictures in your head as you listen.”
On A Piece of Infinity, Meklit takes listeners on a journey into the Ethiopian music “galaxy.” Every song on the album has roots in traditional Ethiopian folk music, and Meklit’s process of arranging and recording the album’s nine tracks included researching, translating, re-composing, and juxtaposing a selection of folk songs into reimagined contemporary works. Musically, she veers from exuberant, romantic Ethio-jazz on opener “Ambassel,” to synth and vocal-driven indie rock, augmenting the pieces with a vast array of instrumentation from billowing harp to the krar, an Ethiopian six-stringed bowl-shaped lyre instrument. Over the course of the album, Meklit sings these traditional Ethiopian songs in multiple native languages, including Kembata, Amharic, and Oromo, along with two songs in English. They come together to form a complex body of work that communicates a core spirit of Ethiopian music and its diversity while acknowledging that no piece of art can fully encompass or capture a culture of over 80 languages, 300 dialects, and millions in diaspora worldwide.
Today, Meklit has shared a dreamlike original video for “Tizita” featuring Brandee Younger and directed by Sophiyya Nayar. The video follows two flower-headed figures (Ahon Gooptu and Mihika Miranda densely cloaked in living foliage), and reflects on the passage of time. “The flower heads are like seeing through a memory itself or through a dream,” Meklit describes, “where emotion and sensation are in charge, and we let go of the logic of everyday life.”
About the song, Meklit writes: “‘Tizita’ is one of the most beloved traditional song forms of Ethiopia, expressing passionate longing and nostalgia. There have been so many versions of ‘Tizita,’ and I have been brewing mine for nearly a decade. I nurtured it by singing softly to myself while driving, walking, and living life. I knew this album would be the place for my ‘Tizita’ to bloom. Thanks to the brilliant Brandee Younger for bringing the glittering dreaminess of the harp to this much-loved tune.”
In addition to its musical innovation, A Piece of Infinity is also a work of cultural activism, showing that “tradition is alive and not a static object.” Meklit says that her interpretations of these songs bloom from her experiences as an immigrant, a poignant statement at a time when immigrant communities face peril and displacement. On her podcast, Meklit asks, “What do global movements of people sound like? Through solidarity, through music, we can come to a greater understanding.”
Getting at the spirit of community that the album seeks to foster, A Piece of Infinity includes guest appearances by Black women collaborators and musical friends like harpist Younger and flutist/saxophonist Camille Thurman. Meklit worked on two of the pieces – “Geefata” (a synth-driven track inspired by Ethiopian communal celebration songs), and “Stars in a Wide Field” (with original lyrics based on translations of traditional Kembata children’s riddles and Meklit’s dreams) – with her father. “Stars in a Wide Field” includes a line inspired by Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, the late musician/activist and founding member of The Freedom Singers.
A Piece of Infinity highlights songs and stories, exemplified by “Tizita,” that are traditionally performed by women and girls, celebrating the role they play in music and culture at large. The album was recorded entirely at the Bay Area’s Women’s Audio Mission, and much of its sound was inspired by Meklit’s newest chapter in life: as a mother to a six-year-old son. The album received funding from the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative, and was originally conceived through a grant from the Creative Work Fund.
Watch this space for more media to come from A Piece of Infinity leading up to its release on September 26th.
Meklit Hadero (photo credit: Alexa Treviño)