SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2018 AT MOSH 3:00 P.M. - 4:30 P.M.
The music of Meklit Hadero is an invitation to explore. From the melodic soundscapes of her native Ethiopia to the jazz and hip-hop rhythms she heard growing up in New York, Meklit creates music that speaks to the unexpected poetry of everyday sounds, the joy of artistic creation, and the richness of transnational spaces and multicultural identities.
Join TEDxFSCJ for a behind-the-scenes conversation with San Francisco-based vocalist and TED Senior Fellow Meklit Hadero. Hosted by Avant Arts founder Keith Marks and FSCJ student Eden Molla, the afternoon’s salon will explore several themes central to Meklit’s music and activism: musical cultures of the Nile River region; Ethiopian rhythms and Amharic idioms; multidisciplinary artwork; and the bridging of local and global immigrant communities.
Panelist
MEKLIT HADERO
Meklit is an Ethio-American vocalist, composer, and cultural instigator bringing together Ethio-Jazz with a singer-songwriter's storytelling and strum. Her most recent album, When the People Move, the Music Moves Too, was released last year on Six Degrees Records, and she has been featured in NPR, Vibe Magazine, and BBC World Service. A TED Senior Fellow, Meklit is the co-founder of the Nile Project, an initiative that helps Nile citizens and musicians ensure the sustainability of their river.
KEITH MARKS
Keith is the founder of Avant, the music-based nonprofit which hosts a concert series, a weekly radio show on WJCT, a new film series launching in March at Sun-Ray Cinema, and an educational outreach program called Passport: Music. A graduate of UNF, Keith received his master’s degree from Tel Aviv University. He has founded a number of nonprofit and community initiatives in Northeast Florida and works as a neuromuscular therapist at his and his wife’s Pilates/Massage business in Avondale.
EDEN MOLLA
Eden is a communication student at Florida State College at Jacksonville and a first-generation Ethiopian American. As a columnist writing for Stanton College Preparatory School’s award-winning newspaper, the Devil’s Advocate, she explored local education issues ranging from dress codes to standardized testing. Her five-week travels in Ethiopia have inspired her to become an advocate for Ethiopian identity and culture at home and abroad.