Meklit Hadero — born in Ethiopia, raised in the United States and now living in San Francisco — played in the theater of Real Art Ways on Wednesday evening. She was joined by Darrell Green on drums, Darren Johnston on trumpet, and Evan Flory-Barnes on bass.
Her style does not fit neatly into a single category, though jazz was certainly present. Her voice brings to mind Regina Spektor, Phoebe Snow, Joss Stone, and maybe India Arie.
Clean, versatile vocals with no need for audio airbrushing.
The trumpet, bass, and drums were not simply backing up a vocalist. All four demanded equal respect, with Green and Johnston playing long solos toward the end of the evening.
Video shot in Ethiopia was projected during a few of the songs. Hadero founded the Arba Minch Collective, a group that uses art to connect Ethiopians with those in the African diaspora.
An Ethiopian folk song Hadero played translated roughly as “I like your Afro.” Others in the mix included “Soleil Soleil” and a song she described as “about being tired of logic.”
Motion, travel, and home were common themes for Hadero, who said she moved twelve times as a young person.
Next, Hadero heads to Montreal to play at the Festival International Nuits D’Afrique on Thursday.
Real Art Ways continues with its own theme — Ethiopia — with art and more music later this month. The opening for Eric Gottesman, a visual artist, is on July 21st. The Debo Band will be performing on July 29th.
Real Art Ways is located at 56 Arbor Street, Hartford, CT.
A reliable way to gauge a concert is by seeing how many non-commercial radio show hosts are in the audience and how many stay until the end. There was strong representation from WWUH — jazz and other genres. Various djs and talk radio hosts from other stations were present as well.
Peter
Kerry and Christopher, thanks so much for covering and reviewing the show. Cheers. Porto Franco Records.