Some years ago, a friend invited me to a free outdoor concert in Oakland featuring a San Francisco Bay Area artist named Meklit. I showed up open minded, not expecting much, and ended up getting completely blindsided by a razor tight jazz- funk-soul band spinning mesmerizing Ethiopian inspired grooves, with Meklit’s lilting vocals hovering somewhere in the same orbit as mid-70s Joni Mitchell.
I bought several of Meklit’s CDs that night including the brilliant When The People Move, The Music Moves Too (produced by Dan Wilson of Semisonic) which had just been released (I’ve reviewed this elsewhere on the internet). Meklit has performed around the world, appeared on television and NPR radio programs, graced the stage at San Francisco’s renowned Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, and even hosts her own acclaimed podcast, Movements.
I bought tickets for Meklit’s wonderful new release party concert a month or so back at Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage, a packed-house sold-out show celebrating her new Smithsonian Folkways Records album, A Piece Of Infinity. I made sure to buy the vinyl before the show started.
In the album’s liner notes essay by Martha Gonzalez, Meklit explains that A Piece of Infinity is “based on traditional Ethiopian songs.” She then puts that idea into perspective by noting Ethiopia’s remarkable linguistic diversity, with more than 80 languages and roughly 300 dialects. As she writes, “These are just my interpretations of traditional music sung in Kembata, Amharic, and Oromigna… I’m just one fractal of an infinity.”
A Piece of Infinity is another great Meklit album, with catchy tunes which blur the lines between Ethio-jazz, pop, soul, funk, world-beat, folk, gospel and even rock.
“But what does it actually sound like, Mark?” you might be asking.
Well… try to imagine a modern music that delivers interlocking rhythmic grooves and instrumentation, with melodic invention this side of: Joni Mitchell’s trio of jazz-infused LPs such as Hissing Of Summer Lawns (1975), Hejira (1976) and Don Juan’s Wreckless Daughter (1977), followed by Paul Simon’s Graceland (1986) and Talking Heads’ Naked (1988), by way of Nigeria’s King Sunny Ade & His African Beats’ Juju Music (1982). And perhaps even add in some progressive Brazilian flavors akin to the music of recently passed musical genius multi-instrumentalist composer Hermeto Pascoal (RIP).
Seriously, those kinds of layers are exactly what’s going on in Meklit’s music.
One of the songs she performed at the album release show — “Stars In A Wide Field” — features a small Ethiopian hand held harp called a “Krar.” Based on a Kebatigna children’s riddle, this is the kind of song which feels like it could easily be covered by — and turned into — a Joshua Tree-era U2 epic.
“Tizita,” which features Brandee Younger on traditional orchestral harp, unfolds around an absolutely gorgeous Bill Evans like melody that I suspect Miles Davis would have loved to solo over. And good luck sitting still when “Abebayehosh” kicks in, a joyful Ethiopian New Year’s celebration that practically demands you get up and move.
Also worth noting: A Piece Of Infinity includes keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Kibrom Birhane whose debut I reviewed (also elsewhere on the net) in 2022 after numerous friends raved about it and then hearing it at one of my favorite Bay Area shops, Tunnel Records.
Highly recommended, A Piece Of Infinity is a lush modern music listening experience which feels immediately timeless.
Where to buy:
- $22.98 at Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (Vinyl)
- $17.49 at Amazon (Vinyl)
- $13.99 at Amazon (CD)
Mark Smotroff is a deep music enthusiast / collector who has also worked in entertainment oriented marketing communications for decades supporting the likes of DTS, Sega and many others. He reviews vinyl for Analog Planet and has written for Audiophile Review, Sound+Vision, Mix, EQ, etc. You can learn more about him at LinkedIn.
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