Meklit Hadero: The unexpected beauty of everyday sounds
Meklit Hadero: Neočekivana ljepota svakodnevnih zvukova
Meklit Hadero is an Ethiopian-American singer-songwriter living the cultural in-between, both in her own luminous compositions and as a co-founder of the Nile Project. Full bio
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or, as I like to call them,
ili kako ih ja volim zvati,
and hip hop that I grew up with,
i hip hopom uz koji sam odrasla,
on my childhood radio stations.
na radio stanicama mog djetinjstva.
there is another question:
influence the music that we make?
utječu na glazbu koju pravimo?
inspiration for songwriting,
nadahnuće za skladanje,
a little bit more closely,
about three things:
of true silence.
a sense of a world
svijest o svijetu
as active participants,
aktivni sudionik,
but before we do that,
of an opera singer warming up.
operni pjevač zagrijava.
of an opera singer warming up.
opernog pjevača.
recognizes as its own.
prepoznaje kao svoju.
1987 Hungarian recording
Petera Szöke iz 1987. godine
and slows down their pitches
njihov visok ton
were inspired by birdsong.
inspirirane ptičjim pjevom.
to be our musical teachers.
kao naše glazbene učitelje.
are considered an integral part
sastavnim dijelom
was born in the Empire of Aksum,
u Carstvu Aksum
of the ancient world.
antičkog svijeta.
his father died,
otac mu je umro,
with an uncle, who was a priest
ujakom, koji je bio svećenik
of scholarship and learning,
učenosti i učenja,
and study and study,
i učiti i učiti,
became his teachers.
učitelji.
-- ljestvici, zapravo.
recognized as Saint Yared,
priznat kao Sv. Yared;
five volumes of chants and hymns
pet volumena napjeva i himni
to compose and to create
i stvaranje
into what is known as kiñit,
poznato kao kiñit,
modal system that is very much alive
modalni sustav koji je živ
in Ethiopia today.
se u Etiopiji i danas.
it's true at multiple levels.
istinita na više razina.
povjesna ličnost,
can be our musical teacher.
glazbeni učitelj.
tune their instruments
in the forest around them.
expert Bernie Krause describes
Bernie Krause opisuje
has animals and insects
and high-frequency bands,
visoko frekventni raspon,
as a symphony does.
were inspired by bird and forest song.
su nadahnuta pticama i pjesmom šume.
can be our cultural teacher.
biti naš kulturni učitelj.
human world of language.
ljudski svijet jezika.
with pitch to varying degrees,
visine tona različitih stupnjeva,
gives the same phonetic syllable
daje istom fonetskom slogu
at the end of a sentence ...
of Amharic, Amhariña.
Amhariña.
the language of my parents,
jezik mojih roditelja,
to fall in love with this language:
zaljubiti se u ovaj jezik:
its double entendres,
dvostruko značenje,
the wisdom and follies of life.
mudrost i glupost života.
a musicality built right in.
ugrađena muzikalnost.
emphatic language --
zvati izražajni jezik --
to highlight or underline
ili naglasiti
in the audience,
something like "No!"
ili "Ne, nije valjda."
this was my very favorite word,
to mi je bila najdraža riječ,
to što ima visok ton.
as it springs from someone's mouth.
dok se stvara na nečijim ustima.
when I hear that word,
kad čujem tu riječ,
is floating through my mind.
for "It is right" or "It is correct" --
"Ispravno je" ili "Točno je" --
through my mind.
what I did was I took the melody
of those words and phrases
to use in these short compositions.
u ovim kratkim skladbama.
kind of as bass lines.
linije za bas.
of Jason Moran and others
Jasona Morana i ostalih
with music and language,
in my head since I was a kid,
u glavi otkad sam bila dijete,
to each other and to us.
drugim i s nama.
and from Amhariña that I learned
every sentence that we speak,
svakom rečenicom koju kažemo,
that we receive.
čujemo.
in the words I'm speaking even now.
vam govorim upravo sada.
of 20th century avant-garde composition:
avangardnog skladanja:
or combination of instruments.
ili kombinaciju instrumenata.
to walk onto the stage
na pozornicu
by the Museum of Modern Art --
kupio --
a single note written
notu zapisanu
when there are no strings
or hands hammering piano keys,
ruku koje kuckaju po tipkama glasovira,
still there is music,
još uvijek postoji glazba,
that arises from the audience themselves:
koja dolazi od samih slušatelja:
their whispers, their sneezes,
šaptanje, kihanje,
of the floors and the walls
zidovima koje se
creaking and groaning
and even controversial though it remains,
i kontroverzna misao ostaje,
such thing as true silence.
istinska tišina.
we still hear and feel the sound
još uvijek čujemo i osjećamo zvukove
with musical expression.
let's say, remixing John Cage
recimo, remiksa John Cagea
in front of the stove cooking lentils.
and it was time to stir,
i bilo je vrijeme za promiješati,
the kitchen counter next to me,
clanking against a counter)
na kuhinjskom stolu)
that cooking pan lid has."
ima taj poklopac."
of the lid, and singing)
wasn't instructing musicians
for sonic textures to turn into music.
teksture koje bi pretvorili u glazbu.
and human hearing expert Charles Limb
i stručnjak za ljudski sluh Charles Limb
actually evolved to hear music,
zapravo evoluirao da čuje glazbu,
than it needs to be for language alone.
sam jezik.
as a musical desert,
glazbena pustinja,
hanging out at the oasis,
but it's already playing.
ali ona već svira.
and enjoy that exploration.
podrijetla i uživajte u tom istraživanju.
to which we all belong.
svi pripadamo.
percussion inspiration,
inspiraciju za udaraljke,
as they roll over the unusual grooves
dok se kotrljaju preko neobičnih utora
štednjaka
and dusk avian orchestras
ptičjeg orkestra
of emphatic language.
izražajnog jezika.
and we are the composers
or language or soundscape,
jeziku ili zvukovlju,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Meklit Hadero - Singer-songwriterMeklit Hadero is an Ethiopian-American singer-songwriter living the cultural in-between, both in her own luminous compositions and as a co-founder of the Nile Project.
Why you should listen
Meklit Hadero's music is imbued with poetry and multiplicity, from hybridized sounds of Tizita (haunting and nostalgic music) drawing from her Ethiopian heritage, to the annals of jazz, folk songs and rock & roll. Hadero describes her music as emanating from “in-between spaces,” and the result is a smoky, evocative world peopled by strong bass, world instruments and her soothing voice.
In the Nile Project, founded along with Egyptian ethnomusicologist Mina Girgis, Hadero set out to explore the music of the Nile basin, pulling influences from countries along the river, from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, and finally to Egypt. The project brings together hip-hop, traditional and contemporary music, with instruments and traditions old and new. As she says, "My work on a lot of levels is about multiplicity." Their new record is Aswan.
About her own music, here's what people say:
“Soulful, tremulous and strangely cinematic, Meklit’s voice will implant scenes in your mind — a softly lit supperclub, a Brooklyn stoop, a sun-baked road. Close your eyes, listen and dream." -- Seattle Times
"Meklit… combines N.Y. jazz with West Coast folk and African flourishes, all bound together by her beguiling voice, which is part sunshine and part cloudy day.” -- Filter Magazine
Meklit Hadero | Speaker | TED.com