Meklit Hadero: The unexpected beauty of everyday sounds
梅克里特· 哈德洛: 发现平凡声音中的不平凡之美
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,
或者我更喜欢称作,
and hip hop that I grew up with,
on my childhood radio stations.
深深地影响并塑造了我。
there is another question:
还有另外一个问题:
influence the music that we make?
是如何影响我们创作的音乐的?
inspiration for songwriting,
a little bit more closely,
about three things:
of true silence.
是一种不可能的真正寂静。
a sense of a world
让大家感受到这个世界,
as active participants,
but before we do that,
但在这之前,
of an opera singer warming up.
of an opera singer warming up.
热身的练习片断。
recognizes as its own.
1987 Hungarian recording
1987匈牙利专辑中的一个选段
and slows down their pitches
并放慢它们的音高
were inspired by birdsong.
就是受到鸟叫的启发。
to be our musical teachers.
将鸟视作我们的声乐老师。
are considered an integral part
was born in the Empire of Aksum,
阿克苏姆帝国,
of the ancient world.
his father died,
with an uncle, who was a priest
of scholarship and learning,
and study and study,
became his teachers.
实际上是音阶。
recognized as Saint Yared,
five volumes of chants and hymns
五章圣歌和赞美诗,
to compose and to create
into what is known as kiñit,
modal system that is very much alive
有五个音符的模态系统,
in Ethiopia today.
活跃至今并仍在不断发展。
it's true at multiple levels.
在很多层面它很真实。
真实存在的历史人物,
can be our musical teacher.
tune their instruments
身边大森林中各种鸟的音高
in the forest around them.
expert Bernie Krause describes
伯尼·克劳斯
has animals and insects
and high-frequency bands,
as a symphony does.
were inspired by bird and forest song.
鸟和森林声音的启发。
can be our cultural teacher.
成为我们的文化老师。
human world of language.
人类独特的语言世界。
with pitch to varying degrees,
gives the same phonetic syllable
就会赋予一个相同的音节,
at the end of a sentence ...
of Amharic, Amhariña.
the language of my parents,
我父母说的语言,
to fall in love with this language:
its double entendres,
它有很多双关语,
the wisdom and follies of life.
生活中的智慧和愚昧。
a musicality built right in.
一种语言自有的音乐性。
emphatic language --
to highlight or underline
in the audience,
something like "No!"
this was my very favorite word,
这是我最喜欢的一个词,
as it springs from someone's mouth.
从你口蹦出来的形态。
when I hear that word,
当我听到这个词时,
is floating through my mind.
for "It is right" or "It is correct" --
”这样可以“或”这是正确的“的词组---
through my mind.
what I did was I took the melody
我做的仅仅是利用这个旋律
of those words and phrases
to use in these short compositions.
然后写成短小的曲子。
kind of as bass lines.
of Jason Moran and others
with music and language,
in my head since I was a kid,
就回荡在脑中的,
和对我们讲话时
to each other and to us.
and from Amhariña that I learned
从阿姆哈拉语中我学到了
every sentence that we speak,
that we receive.
in the words I'm speaking even now.
20世纪50年代的美国,
of 20th century avant-garde composition:
or combination of instruments.
to walk onto the stage
他们打开乐谱,
by the Museum of Modern Art --
现代艺术博物馆购买了---
a single note written
when there are no strings
没有手指拨动琴弦,
or hands hammering piano keys,
still there is music,
音乐仍然存在,
that arises from the audience themselves:
那些不能再平常的声音:
their whispers, their sneezes,
以及他们的低语声,打喷嚏的声音,
of the floors and the walls
creaking and groaning
发生延伸和收缩时
and even controversial though it remains,
而且现在仍然是,
such thing as true silence.
根本不存在真正寂静这一说。
we still hear and feel the sound
我们仍然可以听到或感到
with musical expression.
let's say, remixing John Cage
in front of the stove cooking lentils.
and it was time to stir,
到了该搅拌的时间了,
the kitchen counter next to me,
clanking against a counter)
that cooking pan lid has."
一个炒锅盖翻滚的声音多么奇妙啊!
of the lid, and singing)
和演讲者的演唱)
wasn't instructing musicians
for sonic textures to turn into music.
并将这些音乐元素转化为音乐。
and human hearing expert Charles Limb
兼人类听觉专家查尔斯林波
actually evolved to hear music,
为听到音乐而进化发展的,
than it needs to be for language alone.
听觉系统就没必要如此复杂。
as a musical desert,
所谓音乐沙漠的地带,
hanging out at the oasis,
but it's already playing.
但它却已经在播放了。
and enjoy that exploration.
并享受这种探索的过程。
to which we all belong.
我们都属于它。
percussion inspiration,
as they roll over the unusual grooves
听听轮胎压过高速公路上
and dusk avian orchestras
的鸟类唱歌,
of emphatic language.
自然轻快的语调。
and we are the composers
同时也是创作者,
or language or soundscape,
语言或背景声音时,
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