Meklit Hadero — singer-songwriter, cultural organizer, and architect of transformative performance experiences — contains multitudes.
Born in Ethiopia’s capital, raised in Brooklyn, New York and a frequent visiter to Seattle to visit her large extended family, Meklit has long lived at the cross-cultural intersection of geography, language, and lineage.
Ahead of an album release concert at Seattle’s Triple Door on Feb. 28, Meklit talked with KNKX about her newest record A Piece of Infinity. Released on the nonprofit record label Smithsonian Folkways, the new record highlights Ethiopian jazz lineages and the power of music to heal.
“I was really interested in this opportunity to put Ethiopian folk music and original songs inspired by folk music in the canon right next to the releases by Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie and Elizabeth Cotton,” she said.
Ethiopia to Seattle, and back again
These days, Hadero’s home base is San Francisco, Calif., but considering her family ties to the Emerald City, she may as well be an honorary Seattleite.
“My last show was with the Ethiopian Community Center of Seattle in October [2025] because I literally have sixty cousins and my mom who lives in Seattle, so Seattle is actually one of my anchor homes…I think my first show in Seattle was, like, eighteen years ago or something like that,” she said.
No Comment Found.