Meklit Hadero

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Meklit Hadero, known as Meklit, is an Ethiopian-born American singer and songwriter living in San Francisco. Her music blends jazz, folk, and East African influences, and she sings in Amharic and English. She was born in Addis Ababa to a Kambata father and an Amhara mother, and grew up in the United States, later studying political science at Yale. After college she moved to San Francisco and joined the city’s lively music scene. She has released five records and is known for a warm, lyrical voice that crosses genres. In 2009 she was named a TED Global Fellow and has since served as an artist-in-residence at institutions such as New York University, the De Young Museum, and the Red Poppy Art House. She founded the Arba Minch Collective to keep Ethiopian artists connected with their homeland. As a Senior TED Fellow, she co-founded the Nile Project with Mina Girgis, bringing together musicians from 11 Nile Basin countries. Her songs “You and the Rain” and “Walk Up” were featured in the film Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life. Her first EP Eight Songs appeared in 2008, followed by the full-length On a Day Like This… in 2010. Her work has been highlighted by NPR, PBS, and National Geographic, and she released the 2017 album When the People Move, the Music Moves Too.