Meklit Hadero: The unexpected beauty of everyday sounds
مكليت هاديرو: الجمال غير المتوقع للأصوات التي نسمعها كل يوم
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,
أو كما أحب أن أسميها،
and hip hop that I grew up with,
وكبرت مع الهيب هوب،
on my childhood radio stations.
على الإذاعة خلال طفولتي.
there is another question:
هناك سؤال آخر:
influence the music that we make?
في الموسيقى التي نؤلفها؟
inspiration for songwriting,
إلهامًا عند كتابة الأغاني،
a little bit more closely,
about three things:
of true silence.
a sense of a world
معنى لعالمٍ
as active participants,
but before we do that,
of an opera singer warming up.
حيث يستعد مغني الأوبرا للغناء.
of an opera singer warming up.
يستعد للغناء.
recognizes as its own.
أنه صوت إنسان يغني.
1987 Hungarian recording
الهنغاري لبيتر سوكه سنة 1987
and slows down their pitches
واعتماد الوتيرة البطيئة
were inspired by birdsong.
قد استُوحيت من غناء العصافير.
to be our musical teachers.
تعطينا دروسا في الموسيقى.
are considered an integral part
was born in the Empire of Aksum,
في إمبراطورية أكسوم،
of the ancient world.
التجاري قديما.
his father died,
توفي والده،
with an uncle, who was a priest
الذي كان قسيسًا
أقدم الكنائس في العالم.
of scholarship and learning,
من المنح الدراسية والتعليم،
and study and study,
became his teachers.
بمثابة معلمين له.
recognized as Saint Yared,
بالقديس يارد في النهاية،
five volumes of chants and hymns
5 أجزاء من الترانيم والأناشيد
to compose and to create
ليؤلف ويضع
into what is known as kiñit,
بـ"كنيَت"،
modal system that is very much alive
الذي مازال موجودا
in Ethiopia today.
it's true at multiple levels.
على عدة مستويات.
can be our musical teacher.
tune their instruments
يضبطون آلاتهم
in the forest around them.
expert Bernie Krause describes
الطبيعي بيرني كراوس
has animals and insects
الحيوانات والحشرات
and high-frequency bands,
as a symphony does.
الفرق السيمفونية.
were inspired by bird and forest song.
مستوحاة من العصافير وأغاني الغابات.
can be our cultural teacher.
أن يتحول إلى معلمنا الثقافي.
human world of language.
هذا العالم المحصور بالإنسان.
with pitch to varying degrees,
درجات متفاوتة من الطبقات،
gives the same phonetic syllable
الصوت للمقطع الصوتي ذاته
at the end of a sentence ...
من الصوت في نهاية الجملة
إثيوبية،
of Amharic, Amhariña.
the language of my parents,
لغة والديّ،
to fall in love with this language:
its double entendres,
the wisdom and follies of life.
تظهر حكمة الحياة وحماقاتها.
a musicality built right in.
والأنغام المتأصّلة فيها.
emphatic language --
to highlight or underline
in the audience,
something like "No!"
this was my very favorite word,
as it springs from someone's mouth.
فم الشخص عندما ينطق به.
when I hear that word,
عندما أسمع هذه الكلمة،
is floating through my mind.
for "It is right" or "It is correct" --
"هذا صحيح" --
through my mind.
"Lickih nehu")
what I did was I took the melody
ما فعلته كان أخذ اللحن
of those words and phrases
to use in these short compositions.
لاستخدامها في هذه المقاطع القصيرة.
kind of as bass lines.
of Jason Moran and others
جاسون موران وغيره
with music and language,
مع الموسيقى واللغة،
in my head since I was a kid,
في رأسي منذ كنت طفلة،
to each other and to us.
لبعضها البعض ولنا.
and from Amhariña that I learned
every sentence that we speak,
that we receive.
in the words I'm speaking even now.
في الكلمات التي أنطق بها الآن.
في الولايات المتحدة
of 20th century avant-garde composition:
للقرن 20:
or combination of instruments.
من الآلات.
to walk onto the stage
للمشي على خشبة المسرح
by the Museum of Modern Art --
من قبل متحف الفن الحديث -
a single note written
when there are no strings
آلات وترية
or hands hammering piano keys,
مفاتيح البيانو
still there is music,
لاتزال هناك موسيقى،
that arises from the audience themselves:
يظهر من الجمهور أنفسهم:
their whispers, their sneezes,
والهمس والعطس،
of the floors and the walls
creaking and groaning
الصرير والأنين
and even controversial though it remains,
وحتى مثيرا للجدل مع أنه لازال موجودا،
such thing as true silence.
صمت بالفعل.
we still hear and feel the sound
ما زلنا نسمع الصوت ونشعر به
with musical expression.
let's say, remixing John Cage
دعنا نقول، تعديل لجون كيج
in front of the stove cooking lentils.
أمام الموقد أطهو شربة العدس.
and it was time to stir,
وحان وقت الإثارة،
the kitchen counter next to me,
clanking against a counter)
على طاولة المطبخ)
that cooking pan lid has."
الذي أصدره غطاء الطبخ المتأرجح"
وتم تناولها،
of the lid, and singing)
wasn't instructing musicians
for sonic textures to turn into music.
لتتحول بنية صوتية إلى موسيقى.
and human hearing expert Charles Limb
وخبير السمع تشارلز ليمب
actually evolved to hear music,
تطور بالفعل لسماع الموسيقى،
than it needs to be for language alone.
لللغة فقط،
دائمٍ،
as a musical desert,
صحراء الموسيقى،
hanging out at the oasis,
but it's already playing.
وهي موجودة بالفعل.
and enjoy that exploration.
واستمتع بالاكتشاف.
to which we all belong.
percussion inspiration,
عن إلهامٍِ نقري،
as they roll over the unusual grooves
كما تدور بشكل روتيني غريب
and dusk avian orchestras
عند الفجر والغسق
of emphatic language.
للغة الرائعة.
and we are the composers
ونحن الملحنون
or language or soundscape,
أو اللغة أو المنظر الصوتي،
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