Meklit Hadero: The unexpected beauty of everyday sounds
梅克里特·哈德洛: 日常音景的始料未及之美
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
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
or, as I like to call them,
但我喜歡這麼說,
and hip hop that I grew up with,
爵士及嘻哈音樂風格影響,
衣索比亞的傳統音樂,
on my childhood radio stations.
常播放的 80 年代流行音樂。
there is another question:
還有另一個問題:
influence the music that we make?
如何影響我們所創作的音樂?
inspiration for songwriting,
a little bit more closely,
about three things:
of true silence.
真正無聲的不可能性。
a sense of a world
而豐富的世界,
as active participants,
but before we do that,
of an opera singer warming up.
為演唱暖嗓的音樂。
of an opera singer warming up.
recognizes as its own.
1987 Hungarian recording
於 1987 年出版專輯中一部分,
and slows down their pitches
were inspired by birdsong.
to be our musical teachers.
are considered an integral part
was born in the Empire of Aksum,
出生於阿克蘇姆王國,
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.
recognized as Saint Yared,
five volumes of chants and hymns
to compose and to create
into what is known as kiñit,
衣索比亞音階 (kiñit),
modal system that is very much alive
由五個音組成的調式,
in Ethiopia today.
it's true at multiple levels.
因為它在很多方面都可考證。
can be our musical teacher.
也可以成為我們的教師呀!
tune their instruments
in the forest around them.
expert Bernie Krause describes
伯尼克勞斯描述,
has animals and insects
and high-frequency bands,
as a symphony does.
were inspired by bird and forest song.
以鳥類和森林作為靈感。
can be our cultural teacher.
可以成為我們的文化教師。
human world of language.
with pitch to varying degrees,
gives the same phonetic syllable
會讓相同的拼音音節
at the end of a sentence ...
of Amharic, Amhariña.
the language of my parents,
to fall in love with this language:
its double entendres,
the wisdom and follies of life.
a musicality built right in.
詞語裡面的旋律感。
emphatic language --
明顯突出——
to highlight or underline
in the audience,
something like "No!"
或「不,他沒有。」
this was my very favorite word,
這是我最喜歡的字,
as it springs from someone's mouth.
我們幾乎可以看到它的口型。
音調先往下降後再往上升高。
when I hear that word,
每次聽到此字,
is floating through my mind.
for "It is right" or "It is correct" --
代表「沒錯、正確」——
through my mind.
what I did was I took the melody
of those words and phrases
to use in these short compositions.
kind of as bass lines.
of Jason Moran and others
with music and language,
in my head since I was a kid,
to each other and to us.
具音樂性的腔調。
and from Amhariña that I learned
讓我推出一個觀念,
every sentence that we speak,
that we receive.
in the words I'm speaking even now.
每一句話中領會到。
美國的音樂作品,
of 20th century avant-garde composition:
最具影響力的曲子:
or combination of instruments.
to walk onto the stage
by the Museum of Modern Art --
收購作展覽專用——
a single note written
也不彈任何一個音。
when there are no strings
or hands hammering piano keys,
still there is music,
對, 音樂還是顯現。
that arises from the audience themselves:
their whispers, their sneezes,
打噴嚏、衣服摩擦之聲音,
of the floors and the walls
creaking and groaning
and even controversial though it remains,
而且一直備受爭議,
such thing as true silence.
we still hear and feel the sound
我們還是能聽到及感受到
with musical expression.
let's say, remixing John Cage
約翰·凱吉的經驗瞬間。
in front of the stove cooking lentils.
and it was time to stir,
可是到了該攪拌的時刻,
the kitchen counter next to me,
clanking against a counter)
that cooking pan lid has."
真是好酷好怪!」
of the lid, and singing)
wasn't instructing musicians
for sonic textures to turn into music.
and human hearing expert Charles Limb
手術醫生及聽力專家查爾斯·理姆
actually evolved to hear music,
than it needs to be for language alone.
這個簡單目的複雜的多。
as a musical desert,
hanging out at the oasis,
but it's already playing.
不過這些已經在演奏了。
and enjoy that exploration.
你的聲音族譜,並享受這場探險。
to which we all belong.
是我們都屬於的。
percussion inspiration,
as they roll over the unusual grooves
and dusk avian orchestras
of emphatic language.
and we are the composers
or language or soundscape,
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