Crafting Stories of Music & Migration with Meklit Hadero & Ian Coss

Meklit Hadero

Meklit is an Ethio-American vocalist, songwriter and composer known for her electric stage presence and innovative, deeply personal Ethio-Jazz songs.
Her performances have taken her around the world, from Addis Ababa – where she is a full blown star – to San Francisco, NYC, Chicago, Nairobi, Cairo, Montreal, London, Zurich, Rome, Helsinki and many more. Meklit’s latest album “When the People Move, the Music Moves Too” was named amongst the best records of the year by Bandcamp and The Sunday Times UK, climbing to the top of the iTunes, NACC, and European World Charts.

Meklit is Chief of Program at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. She is a National Geographic Explorer, a TED Senior Fellow, and a former Artist-in-Residence at Harvard University. She has collaborated with folks like Kronos Quartet, Andrew Bird, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and musical legend Pee Wee Ellis. She has also been commissioned to create new work by Lincoln Center, MAP Fund, the Center for Cultural Innovation, Meany Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Washington, Montgomery College and more.

Meklit is the co-founder, host and co-producer of Movement, a new podcast and live show telling stories of music and migration, which debuted in a nationally syndicated broadcast on PRX’s The World. She is the co-founder of the Nile Project, a featured voice in the UN Women theme song and the winner of the 2021 globalFEST Artist Award. Meklit’s music has been featured in the New York Times, BBC, CNN, NPR, Washington Post, Vibe Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe and many more. She holds a BA in Political Science from Yale University.

Ian Coss

Ian Coss is an audio producer whose work spans the worlds of music, podcasting and sound art. His original series Forever is a Long Time was named one of the best podcasts of 2021 by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Apple Podcasts. As a founding member of PRX Productions, he has produced and scored several limited series with the Radiotopia network — Ways of Hearing, The Great God of Depression, Over the Road, and Blind Guy Travels — and launched the acclaimed Antiques Roadshow podcast, Detours. His work has appeared on Snap Judgment, Studio 360 and 99 Percent Invisible; it has been featured at the Tribeca Film Festival, and recognized with multiple Edward R. Murrow Awards as well as a nomination for ‘Podcast of the Year’ from the Podcast Academy. Additionally, Ian has premiered live sound works at the Boston Museum of Science and Harvard Museums of Science and Culture, and collaborated on immersive audio installations for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Richmond ICA, and Atlanta Science Festival. Ian holds a PhD in ethnomusicology from Boston University, where he conducted research on Haitian radio broadcasting and Indonesian shadow-puppetry. Learn more at iancoss.com.