ABOUT

Meklit Hadero is an Ethiopian-American vocalist, songwriter, and composer, known for her electric stage presence, innovative sound and vibrant cultural activism. Her latest EP, titled Ethio Blue, was released March 8, 2024 and spent nearly 2 months at #12 on the NACC World Charts.

Meklit’s Ethio-Jazz performances have taken her to renowned stages across 4 continents. Her albums have topped world music charts across the US + Europe, received rave reviews, and been covered extensively by the press. Meklit has collaborated with renowned artists such as Kronos Quartet, Andrew Bird, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and the late creator of funk music, Pee Wee Ellis.  

Meklit has always straddled her creative practice with her passion for cultural activism. She is the former Chief of Program at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (Jan 2020-Nov 2022) in San Francisco, where she helped design and implement a slate of radical programs supporting social justice focused artists during the height of the pandemic. She is a sought after thought leader and speaker and has given talks on multiple TED Stages, at the UN, and at the National Geographic Storytellers Summit, as well as at institutions, organizations and Universities around the globe.

Meklit is a National Geographic Explorer, a TED Senior Fellow, and a former Artist-in-Residence at Harvard University.  She is the co-founder of the Nile Project, a featured voice in UN Women’s theme song and the winner of the 2021 globalFEST Artist Award. Meklit has been a guest DJ on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic, created new works via commissions from Lincoln Center, MAP Fund, Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, Stanford Live, NYU Abu Dhabi and many more. Her music has been featured by the New York Times, BBC, CNN, NPR, Washington Post, Vibe Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe and many more.

Meklit is co-founder, co-producer and host of Movement, a podcast, radio series , live performance series and community building initiative uplifting the stories, songs and cultural power of immigrant musicians. The show airs monthly on PRX’s The World to an audience of 2.5 million listeners.  Season 2 of Movement launches July 16, 2024, wherever you get your podcasts.

MEKLIT IS PRONOUNCED MUH-KLEET AND RHYMES WITH BEAT

PRESS

Meklit has also been featured on countless tastemaker radio stations such as KEXP, KCRW, WNYC, WBEZ and more, as well as in iconic alternative press outlets such as the Village Voice, San Francisco Bay Guardian (cover story), East Bay Express (cover story), Dig Boston, and many more.