A musician, vocalist and songwriter, Meklit Hadero has a voice that is at once smooth, sweet and strong. And she is also one busy woman. A community organizer and self-described cultural activist, Meklit is the recipient of numerous artist residencies and fellowships, and was chosen as a 2009 TED Global Fellow, one of only 25 worldwide.

Meklit recently corresponded with me by email from Italy (did I mention that she is busy?) and, as I listened to some of her songs, I couldn’t help but ask her about music right away…

Meklit, what music do you gravitate towards? If you catch yourself humming or singing, what tune is it likely be?

I listen to a lot of jazz. I love improvisation. When you see a musician go into that mode of fullness in improvisation, there’s nothing like it.

In general, the songs that are in my head range from Joni Mitchell, to Brazilian singer Virgina Rodrigues, to Ethiopian Legend Mahmoud Ahmed, to melodic lines from Miles Davis songs. What can I say, I like a lot of different sounds.

At the moment, I am singing the tunes of Banda Adriatica, an incredible musical group that is based in Salento, the heel of the boot of Italy. They play music from the cultures that surround the Adriatic sea, folkloric stuff from Italy, Greece, Albania, and Croatia. Of course they have a fantastic brass section. I just spent ten days on their musical caravan, and I can’t get their songs out of my head.

You recently worked with visual artist Todd Brown to create an interactive installation at San Francisco’s de Young Museum. Please tell us about this residency and collaboration.

Renee Baldocci, director of the de Young Museum’s Cultural Encounters Program, invited Todd and me to spend a month inside the museum as resident artists. For two and a half years prior, Todd and I worked side-by-side on a daily basis as directors of The Red Poppy Art House in San Francisco. We had also spent three years as musical collaborators through our joint ensemble, Nefasha Ayer. The de Young Museum was a totally different opportunity for us. We were being commissioned to literally spend all day, every day, inside of the Kimball Gallery, making work. What an incredible opportunity!

Our idea was to make the space into a real working studio, so that the steady stream of museum visitors were literally pulled into the creative process, which is a whole different state than the kind of “observer mode” that is more typical in museum settings.

First, we had to fill the gallery with life, so that there would be a marked shift in energy the moment folks stepped into the room. We hung natural fabrics from wire, creating a kind of vaulted sense, and I had my lyrics hung everywhere. Visitors would come in, draw, and add drawings and words to the walls as well.

Todd was working on an enormous canvas: 33 ft x 9.5 feet. When you’re at that scale, the painting itself becomes the environment, something you are inside of. Musically, I was working on a whole new body of songs. Some were inspired by James Turrell’s sculpture in the museum’s sculpture garden, others by the surrounding environment of Golden Gate Park. I also started working a bit with the spoken voice (not spoken word, but just the spoken voice). I wanted to create songs that would inspire the same sinking in that we were trying to create with the physical space itself.

Ultimately, a month seemed like a short time to be in there. Todd and I both grew so much from the experience. I began writing for multiple instruments and broke open a new process to work with musically. It was amazing.

You’ve been involved with The Red Poppy Art House since 2006. What’s special about this space?

The Red Poppy Art House is a beautiful place. Truly. There are incredible programs there: an international concert and performance series, resident artists and musicians, family art for the kids in the neighborhood, and all kinds of workshops. But aside from the formal, what’s most amazing about it are the things that are informal.

First, it is small. Tiny. Truly intimate…. Only 650 square feet, including the bathroom! But small spaces encourage connection. You cannot go in there and be separate, whether it’s at a show with lots of other patrons, or at a dinner with ten other musicians. People walk in and they often remark that they feel somehow relaxed, more themselves. It is a fully intangible fact, but it is true and repeatable. Many of our musicians say it is their favorite place to play in San Francisco, despite the fact that they may play in many other, larger venues as well. As a musician in that intimate space, you can be close to your audience. The front row is literally four feet away. You can see the eyes of your audience members, and they respond to every lift and quieting of the songs.

Because of this, it’s a space where artists and creative thinkers of all disciplines can find each other: visual artists, poets, photographers, musicians, and even scientists, all from different countries in the world. We’ve managed to create an real international hub. That is what our city and world look like, so its what our arts spaces should look like as well.

What has been your greatest success to date?

In the past year, a lot of amazing things have happened: being commissioned by the de Young; being commissioned by the Brava Theater to write music for the play “Over the Mountain”; being selected as a 2009 TED Global Fellow; establishing the Arba Minch Collective. But in a way, I honestly think my greatest success has been creating a full and robust dual life as a musician and a cultural activist.

I have a new album coming out on Porto Franco Records in January. I’m learning and growing in my craft, and building a stronger and stronger base. Beautiful!

Is there any advice that you would give to a singer at the start of their career?

First and foremost, embed yourself in a community. Find other artists. They will inspire you and teach you and push you to grow. For me, I grew most through my involvement with the Mission Arts and Performance Project (the MAPP), a bi-monthly street-level arts festival in the Mission District of San Francisco that takes place in 10-14 different spaces within walking distance of each other. Back in 2005, I started curating MAPP spaces, organizing other artists to play and show their work, and talking to everyone about what I was doing, from musicians in the BART stations, to my colleagues at my then job at a foundation. The MAPP happened every two months, and I played every MAPP for nearly three years. It is a fully free event, so no one was ever paid, but through it, I developed an audience, and found myself at the center of the creative action in the Mission.

I think the other thing is that at some point, everyone has to take a leap of some sort. It is a scary thing to do, and only you will know when you are ready to do it. But at some point, every artist I know jumps into the work fully. For me, it meant quitting my job at the foundation, and living on my savings for a year, until Todd and I could develop the Red Poppy Art House to a place where it could pay us a stipend. That was scary. I don’t say that romantically, though. I know that not everyone is in a position to do that. I don’t have any children, and I felt confident that I could get another job if I had to. Anyway, I think the leap can also be an internal one. But it has to happen in some way or another.

What motivated you to become a member of Fractured Atlas?

The Red Poppy Art House has been fiscally sponsored for years, and I have a lot of experience with the process of being fiscally sponsored. I know the benefits well. When doing it for myself, I wanted to work with an organization that was very national in its scope, with understanding of the national arts landscape, and Fractured Atlas fits that beautifully. I also love the innovative thinking that Fractured Atlas engages in. When I saw that you partnered with Aetna to offer affordable health insurance, it really blew me away. Most artists I know are uninsured. It can lead to tragic situations, as we all know.

Finally, the world out there is pretty crazy at the moment. Financially, no one really knows what’s going on. This means artists need to find support in different ways. We need to nurture circumstances where we can share information and best practices easily with other artists and arts administrators. We need to be thinking beyond our own local communities, and shift to look at to how our communities represent larger trends nationally and internationally. Being a part of this huge community of artists really allows that to happen.

What’s next on your professional horizon?

At the moment, my main project is the Arba Minch Collective, which is also a fiscally sponsored project of Fractured Atlas. We are a group of artists, musicians, filmmakers, photographers, poets, emcees, creative writers and theater artists from the Ethiopian Diaspora living in North America (I was born in Ethiopia and raised all over the U.S.). Our mission is to pioneer and establish a formal, long-term cultural exchange between the Ethiopian Diaspora, and Ethiopians living in Ethiopia. This exchange/cross-fertilization will be centered around the 1000 Stars Festival in Arba Minch, Ethiopia, taking place in December of 2009 and recurring annually.

The 1000 Stars Festival showcases the traditional music and dance of over 56 ethnic groups from Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya. Every December, these groups dance and sing for three days straight, and through this coming together, they celebrate the rich diversity and cultural legacy of the Rift Valley Region of East Africa.

The Arba Minch Collective will be going to witness and observe the festival and make new creative work based on our experiences. We’ll also be using our skills and resources to work with the festival organizers to help the festival grow and develop according to the wishes of the folks over in Arba Minch.

Conceptually, our project is both about connecting the young diaspora to what’s going on in Ethiopia, as well radically shifting the international public imagination in terms of how it views Ethiopia and Africa at large. As a generation of artists in diaspora, we have seen the “poverty, hopelessness, chaos and despair” mentality about Africa do so much damage, and we want to change that. We are not trying to speak for the different ethnic groups in Ethiopia — they can do that for themselves! But, we do have an ability to show a more complex, nuanced Ethiopia to the world through our many creative disciplines. Very exciting stuff.

Hear Meklit Hadero’s music at www.meklithadero.com, and catch up on her other projects at www.arbaminchcollective.com and www.redpoppyarthouse.org.

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Photos (top to bottom):
1) Photo by Ella Noe
2) Todd Brown and Meklit Hadero with their in-process installation at the de Young Museum, San Francisco.
3) Meklit Hadero doing an impromptu public performance in front of The Red Poppy Art House, San Francisco.
4) Photo by Nathanael Keck
5) Nefasha Ayer show at the Brava Theater, February 6, 2009. Photo by Anais Azul Arias-Aragon