Meklit Hadero: The unexpected beauty of everyday sounds
Meklit Hadero: Neočekivana lepota 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
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
or, as I like to call them,
na mene, ili, kako ja to volim da kažem,
and hip hop that I grew up with,
uz koje sam odrasla,
on my childhood radio stations.
na radio stanicama u mom detinjstvu.
there is another question:
tu je još jedno pitanje:
influence the music that we make?
utiču na muziku koju stvaramo?
inspiration for songwriting,
za pisanje pesama,
a little bit more closely,
about three things:
of true silence.
a sense of a world
as active participants,
kao aktivni učesnik,
but before we do that,
of an opera singer warming up.
operskog pevača koji se zagreva.
of an opera singer warming up.
operskog pevača koji se zagreva.
recognizes as its own.
pogrešno prepoznaje kao svoj.
1987 Hungarian recording
Pitera Zokea iz 1987. godine
and slows down their pitches
i usporava njihov ton
da ih sagleda jedno uz drugo.
were inspired by birdsong.
inspirisane pesmom ptica.
to be our musical teachers.
da su ptice naši muzički učitelji.
are considered an integral part
was born in the Empire of Aksum,
je rođen u aksumskom carstvu,
of the ancient world.
his father died,
njegov otac je umro,
with an uncle, who was a priest
koji je bio sveštenik
of scholarship and learning,
veoma mnogo obrazovanja i izučavanja,
and study and study,
became his teachers.
ove ptice su postale njegovi učitelji.
lestvicama, u stvari.
recognized as Saint Yared,
five volumes of chants and hymns
pet tomova napeva i himni
to compose and to create
da bi komponovao i stvorio
into what is known as kiñit,
u nešto što je poznato kao „kanjit“,
modal system that is very much alive
modalni sistem koji je veoma živ,
in Ethiopia today.
u Etiopiji danas.
it's true at multiple levels.
na različitim nivoima.
istorijska ličnost,
can be our musical teacher.
naš učitelj muzike.
tune their instruments
in the forest around them.
expert Bernie Krause describes
u prirodi, Berni Kraus opisuje
has animals and insects
ima životinje i insekte
and high-frequency bands,
niskih, srednjih i visokih frekvencija
as a symphony does.
kao što to simfonija čini.
were inspired by bird and forest song.
pticama i šumskom pesmom.
can be our cultural teacher.
naš učitelj kulture.
human world of language.
na jedinstveno ljudski svet jezika.
with pitch to varying degrees,
različitim visinama tona,
gives the same phonetic syllable
daje istom fonetskom slogu
at the end of a sentence ...
of Amharic, Amhariña.
the language of my parents,
jezik mojih roditelja,
to fall in love with this language:
da se zaljubite u ovaj jezik:
its double entendres,
njegova dvostruka značenja,
njegov humor,
the wisdom and follies of life.
mudrosti i ludosti života.
a musicality built right in.
muzikalnost koja je ugrađena u njega.
emphatic language --
to highlight or underline
in the audience,
something like "No!"
this was my very favorite word,
to je bila moja omiljena reč,
jer ima naročit ton.
as it springs from someone's mouth.
dok izlazi iz nečijih usta.
when I hear that word,
kada čujem tu reč,
is floating through my mind.
for "It is right" or "It is correct" --
„To je tačno“ ili „To je ispravno“ -
through my mind.
what I did was I took the melody
of those words and phrases
i pretvorila ih
to use in these short compositions.
u ovim kratkim kompozicijama.
kind of as bass lines.
of Jason Moran and others
na delu Džejsona Morana i drugih
with music and language,
što sam imala u glavi otkad sam bila dete,
in my head since I was a kid,
to each other and to us.
and from Amhariña that I learned
every sentence that we speak,
koju izgovorimo,
that we receive.
koju primimo.
in the words I'm speaking even now.
u rečima koje izgovaram.
of 20th century avant-garde composition:
avangardne kompozicije 20. veka:
or combination of instruments.
ili kombinaciju instrumenata.
to walk onto the stage
da dođu na pozornicu
by the Museum of Modern Art --
Muzej moderne umetnosti -
a single note written
nije zapisana nijedna nota
when there are no strings
or hands hammering piano keys,
koje udaraju po dirkama klavira,
still there is music,
i dalje postoji muzika,
that arises from the audience themselves:
koja proističe iz same publike:
their whispers, their sneezes,
šuškanje, šapati, kijanje,
of the floors and the walls
creaking and groaning
and even controversial though it remains,
i mada ostaje kontroverzna,
such thing as true silence.
da ne postoji prava tišina.
we still hear and feel the sound
i dalje čujemo i osećamo zvuk
with musical expression.
let's say, remixing John Cage
da kažem, remiksovanja Džona Kejdža
in front of the stove cooking lentils.
kuvajući sočivo.
and it was time to stir,
i bilo je vreme da promešam,
the kitchen counter next to me,
clanking against a counter)
koji zvecka o radnu površinu)
that cooking pan lid has."
ima poklopac šerpe.“
of the lid, and singing)
wasn't instructing musicians
nije nalagao muzičarima
for sonic textures to turn into music.
zvučne sklopove i da ih pretvore u muziku.
and human hearing expert Charles Limb
i stručnjak za ljudski sluh, Čarls Lim,
actually evolved to hear music,
zapravo evoluirao da čuje muziku,
than it needs to be for language alone.
nego što treba da bude radi samog jezika.
as a musical desert,
hanging out at the oasis,
but it's already playing.
ali već se svira.
and enjoy that exploration.
i uživajte u tom istraživanju.
to which we all belong.
kome svi pripadamo.
inspiraciju za perkusije,
percussion inspiration,
dok se kotrljaju preko neobičnih brazda
as they roll over the unusual grooves
and dusk avian orchestras
u zoru i sumrak
of emphatic language.
izražajnog jezika.
and we are the composers
or language or soundscape,
ili jeziku ili zvučnoj pozadini,
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