1 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:14,520 Speaker 1: Good morning, Keeps, and welcome to wok F Daily with 2 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 1: me your Girl Danielle Moody pre recording from the home Bunker, Folks. 3 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:25,119 Speaker 1: So often on WOKF, I try to find the good 4 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 1: balance between delivering sometimes really difficult news of the day 5 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:37,280 Speaker 1: as well as providing some voices of inspiration and hope 6 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:40,160 Speaker 1: and creativity and just a way for us to tap 7 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:45,760 Speaker 1: back in to joy. And today, I am really excited 8 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: to bring onto the show a musician, an artist, a 9 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: fellow podcaster, MacLea Hadero, who is an ethio jazz performer 10 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:00,880 Speaker 1: as well as the host of the podcas cast movement 11 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:09,120 Speaker 1: that uses music to talk about varied migration stories. And 12 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:13,000 Speaker 1: you know, so often I talk about on WOKF that 13 00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:18,040 Speaker 1: my purpose has always been to try and make you 14 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:21,800 Speaker 1: know the news more digestible and to have in depth 15 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: conversations that are worthy of twenty minutes as opposed to 16 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:29,200 Speaker 1: you know, the thirty second or ninety second soundbites that 17 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:31,880 Speaker 1: you get on cable news. That some things are worth 18 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:35,679 Speaker 1: more than just that hot take, right, that they're worth 19 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: a conversation. And that's what I hope that you're able 20 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 1: to receive on WOKAF because that's my goal. But when 21 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:46,760 Speaker 1: I think that mccleat is doing by being able to 22 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:51,240 Speaker 1: tell these stories, for other musicians from around the world, 23 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 1: to be able to tell their stories of migration through 24 00:01:55,240 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: their music is something that is just extraordinarily special. And 25 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:03,160 Speaker 1: she'll say something in this episode that I think is 26 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:07,280 Speaker 1: just so important, which is about our collective and our 27 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:09,920 Speaker 1: shared humanity that I'm going to be talking about at 28 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 1: nauseum because folks, we are losing it. We are losing 29 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:16,880 Speaker 1: it as well as losing our fucking minds on a 30 00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: regular basis with following the headlines and if we are not, 31 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 1: I can't say this enough. Taking care of ourself. If 32 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:30,079 Speaker 1: that is turning up some music and dancing around your home, 33 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: if that is swaying, if that is creating, if it 34 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:35,840 Speaker 1: is knitting, if it is gardening, if it is listening 35 00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 1: to poetry, if it's walking, if it's lifting, if it's 36 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:42,080 Speaker 1: doing anything. You need to do it every day. You 37 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:44,680 Speaker 1: need to double down on it and triple down on it, 38 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 1: because I feel pieces of ourselves being pulled away from us, 39 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:55,440 Speaker 1: you know, and just getting down to the bone. And 40 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:59,680 Speaker 1: I want to keep feeling. I want to keep having 41 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: and compassion and love and not just sitting in a 42 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:08,240 Speaker 1: place of rage, because I'm telling you, folks, if rage 43 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: truly was the answer, then the doors would have been opened, 44 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,799 Speaker 1: piece would have happened, right. And so there this is 45 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:19,480 Speaker 1: where I am in my life right now, which is 46 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 1: trying to figure out if there is another way. And 47 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 1: I believe that compassion and love, thoughtfulness and critical thinking 48 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: and reflection are those ways, are those pathways forward? And 49 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 1: I really hope that you enjoy this conversation with mcleat Hadero. 50 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,040 Speaker 1: The podcast is Movement, and I hope that you check 51 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: it out wherever you get your podcasts, folks. I am 52 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 1: very excited to welcome to OKAF Daily for the very 53 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 1: first time mcleat Hadero, who is the host of a 54 00:03:55,360 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: fantastic podcast, radio series and live show that stories of 55 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:08,680 Speaker 1: global migration through music. Mcleed is a vocalist, songwriter, composer 56 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: and has found this medium as a way to tell 57 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:16,719 Speaker 1: the stories that I tell that you listen to on 58 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:21,320 Speaker 1: a regular basis, but much more interesting, mcleid, how did 59 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 1: movement get started and why? 60 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:30,919 Speaker 2: Well, movement got started quite a few years ago, and 61 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:34,960 Speaker 2: it really began because I was out there in the 62 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,479 Speaker 2: world going to all these music festivals as a songwriter 63 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:44,320 Speaker 2: composer and meeting people from every corner of the globe 64 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:48,839 Speaker 2: who had these really interesting, dynamic migration stories, and we'd 65 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:52,080 Speaker 2: kind of find we'd learn about each other in like 66 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:56,040 Speaker 2: the green rooms of festivals or those places that they 67 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 2: set up for all the artists to have dinner together. 68 00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:02,600 Speaker 2: And I started to realize that, you know, I'm a refugee. 69 00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:06,680 Speaker 2: I make ethio jazz, I make music that I think 70 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:10,200 Speaker 2: of as migration music, and it's not just me, you know. 71 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:14,160 Speaker 2: And I started to think about how many people had 72 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:21,239 Speaker 2: stories similar to mine, that were making incredibly genre bending, innovative, 73 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 2: bumping music, and that had these stories that had resonance 74 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:27,840 Speaker 2: with each other, but that weren't being put together in 75 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:32,640 Speaker 2: the same spaces to kind of build solidarity share narratives. 76 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:36,720 Speaker 2: But you know that we were being put together in 77 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:39,040 Speaker 2: the sense of like we would be at music festivals together, 78 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:42,919 Speaker 2: but people weren't thinking of our music as having anything 79 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:45,520 Speaker 2: in common because it might be like an electronic artist, 80 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 2: a hip hop artist, and me being in this more 81 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:51,800 Speaker 2: acoustic ethio jazz space. So I started to think about, 82 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 2: and I've always thought about, how can I tell bigger 83 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:57,039 Speaker 2: stories together with others than I can tell by myself, 84 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 2: and Movement was born out of that. We started as 85 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:04,640 Speaker 2: a podcast, but very quickly became a live show because 86 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:07,919 Speaker 2: I just love the experience of not just being able 87 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:10,520 Speaker 2: to tell our stories with our voices, which is so 88 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:14,839 Speaker 2: incredibly important and the spoken stories are narratives, but also 89 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:17,840 Speaker 2: be able to shine that through the songs that we 90 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:20,839 Speaker 2: make and the way that those songs together get to 91 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:26,880 Speaker 2: give an experience, an actual, like visceral, physical, bumping, musical, 92 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:32,240 Speaker 2: creative experience of just a radically diverse world. 93 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:35,560 Speaker 1: I love that, Oh my god. So first of all, 94 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 1: I am a fan of jazz. I've never heard of 95 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: ethio jazz, so I want you to describe the sound 96 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:45,520 Speaker 1: for me so that then I can when we get off, 97 00:06:46,279 --> 00:06:49,680 Speaker 1: I'm gonna pull it up and listen to it. But 98 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:53,159 Speaker 1: what is the vibe? Can you? Can you explain it 99 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:53,880 Speaker 1: to us? Yeah? 100 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:56,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely? And there are great stories in this so 101 00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:00,960 Speaker 2: Ethiopian jazz. Ethio jazz was born in late sixties and 102 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:03,680 Speaker 2: early seventies. It was created by a person by the 103 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:07,400 Speaker 2: name of Mulato Astatke, who was the first African to 104 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:10,760 Speaker 2: ever attend the Berkeley College of music in Boston, and 105 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:13,640 Speaker 2: then after he attended Burke, he was this like incredible composer. 106 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:16,920 Speaker 2: He was really really really inspired by the Cubans, and 107 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:19,560 Speaker 2: so he was in New York after Berkeley College of 108 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:22,920 Speaker 2: after he went to Berkeley, and he was like listening 109 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 2: to the Cubans bring their traditional music into jazz. And 110 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 2: then he had this fateful encounter with John Coltrane, who 111 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 2: was like Coltrane in the in this like back green room, 112 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,679 Speaker 2: was like, man, you gotta do this with your traditional music. 113 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 2: Latoastak went back to Ethiopia and he built Ethiopian jazz, 114 00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:45,440 Speaker 2: bringing together the pentatonic scales of Ethiopian music with the 115 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:49,120 Speaker 2: kind of chordal approaches to jazz. He was building a 116 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:53,880 Speaker 2: hyphenated hybrid sound that was incredibly African. I mean, jazz 117 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 2: is already African, right. 118 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:56,840 Speaker 1: Right, right right, yeah, it was. 119 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 2: It was like it for me, like I love and 120 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:03,480 Speaker 2: found my space in ethio jazz because like jazz as 121 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:08,960 Speaker 2: this black music as a music born rooted in black 122 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:12,640 Speaker 2: communities and an experience of a forced migration. And then 123 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:19,160 Speaker 2: Mulatasatke migrates to the United States, absorbs this, collaborates, learns 124 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:22,880 Speaker 2: about it, with reverence and respect and this real depth 125 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,240 Speaker 2: and then migrates back to Ethiopia and then me as 126 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:29,520 Speaker 2: a refugee coming to the United States, like I found 127 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:33,720 Speaker 2: my space in Ethiopian jazz to be like deeply, deeply 128 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 2: rooted as a black person in America while being able 129 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:41,840 Speaker 2: to hold on to express, evolve and can remain connected 130 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:44,080 Speaker 2: to my Ethiopian nests and my Ethiopian sounds. 131 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:47,600 Speaker 1: Oh my god, such a vibe. I love this so much. 132 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 1: And you know, because oftentimes I feel like artists, all 133 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:58,319 Speaker 1: different types of artists, whether it's musicians or you know, 134 00:08:58,679 --> 00:09:02,200 Speaker 1: visual artists, call there's you know, chefs paining. You know, 135 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:07,000 Speaker 1: the realm poets are the ones that can better tell 136 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:12,040 Speaker 1: our stories. And I wonder some of the stories that 137 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:15,120 Speaker 1: have come up, you know, in your pod and in 138 00:09:15,679 --> 00:09:19,400 Speaker 1: Movement now that it's grown into you know, a live show, 139 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:23,760 Speaker 1: what are some of the stories that you can share 140 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:26,200 Speaker 1: with us to kind of you know, whatet our appetites 141 00:09:26,559 --> 00:09:33,640 Speaker 1: for for your show, but also what surprised you that 142 00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 1: you learned? 143 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 2: Well, first of all, you know, when we started making 144 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:41,880 Speaker 2: Movement as a live show, what we really discovered and 145 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:44,680 Speaker 2: what we really wanted to honor is that you know, 146 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:47,880 Speaker 2: immigrant communities are not the same in every space that 147 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:50,760 Speaker 2: you go to, and so we actually remake our live show. 148 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:53,800 Speaker 2: We remake half the live show to be local to 149 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 2: the place that we go. So half the show is 150 00:09:56,120 --> 00:09:58,200 Speaker 2: my songs and stories, and then half the show is 151 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:01,520 Speaker 2: local to the spaces that we go to. On October 152 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:04,160 Speaker 2: twenty eighth, will be in la and will be featuring 153 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:09,320 Speaker 2: Choum Nimo, who is an incredible Cambodian vocalist. She's actually 154 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:13,120 Speaker 2: telling the story of her of a song called twenty 155 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:15,120 Speaker 2: two Nights, which was based on a time when she 156 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:20,600 Speaker 2: was where she was detained by border control in an 157 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:23,840 Speaker 2: ice facility with other women and had this incredible experience 158 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:26,200 Speaker 2: though connecting with women from all over the globe and 159 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:29,600 Speaker 2: then wrote music based on that. We're also working with 160 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:36,080 Speaker 2: Clarissa Bitar, a beautiful Queer Palestinian ood virtuoso who like 161 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:40,079 Speaker 2: shines her the spirit of her community through this virtuosic 162 00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:44,040 Speaker 2: ood playing, as well as a singer called Sancha who 163 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:47,960 Speaker 2: is a Mexican American singer who grew up in the 164 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:52,440 Speaker 2: queer communities and the and the drag communities of the 165 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,439 Speaker 2: San Francisco Bay Area. Specifically and then found her home 166 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 2: in Los Angeles, and she is just an incredible songwriter 167 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:05,280 Speaker 2: grounded in Rancherira music, and it has reclaimed Rancheria as 168 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:11,680 Speaker 2: her own. What has really surprised me is how how 169 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:18,440 Speaker 2: important intimate storytelling is. I once heard someone say that 170 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:21,440 Speaker 2: the more specific you get, the more universal you are. 171 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:27,160 Speaker 2: So we are like taking this very, very very you know, 172 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:30,880 Speaker 2: almost a microscopic look at people's lives. We're thinking about 173 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:34,400 Speaker 2: brothers and sisters and aunties and uncles. We're thinking about 174 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:37,439 Speaker 2: an instrument that was hung in a home for an 175 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:40,720 Speaker 2: entire life and then finding the stories that resonate out 176 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:43,319 Speaker 2: of that. We're thinking about the ways that people and 177 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:47,480 Speaker 2: communities surprise you. You know. Sancha tells an incredible story 178 00:11:47,559 --> 00:11:51,719 Speaker 2: of just being welcomed by what might from the outside 179 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:55,440 Speaker 2: look like a very conservative community in Mexico, but then 180 00:11:55,559 --> 00:11:59,240 Speaker 2: finding her home as a queer person able to claim 181 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:03,600 Speaker 2: her tradition music from that space. And so we're what 182 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:06,400 Speaker 2: we're finding is that when you get to this intimate, 183 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:10,600 Speaker 2: intimate level, you can really explore these large scale issues 184 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:15,440 Speaker 2: in ways that are just people living their lives and 185 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:22,080 Speaker 2: you laugh, you like you dance you know, I'm always 186 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:26,000 Speaker 2: talking about the ways that music is like this ancient 187 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:29,440 Speaker 2: technology that we have for bringing people together. You know, 188 00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:32,880 Speaker 2: there's this thing called entrainment. So when you listen to music, 189 00:12:32,920 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 2: your brain waves they synchronize to the rhythm. And that 190 00:12:37,559 --> 00:12:40,440 Speaker 2: means that everyone in an audience like think whatever you 191 00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:43,800 Speaker 2: want about that music. Think it's strange, think it's new, 192 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:47,400 Speaker 2: think it's incredible. It actually doesn't matter. Your brain is 193 00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:50,679 Speaker 2: responding to that, Your heartbeat is responding to the music. 194 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:53,720 Speaker 2: When people sing together, they breathe together. This is like 195 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:57,880 Speaker 2: an ancient technology that we have for bringing people together. 196 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:00,520 Speaker 2: And these are the spaces that we need to create, 197 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:03,800 Speaker 2: spaces where we can be surprised, where we can be 198 00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:07,800 Speaker 2: like taken from a space of like reflection to joy, 199 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:10,439 Speaker 2: where you want to dance, where you want to sing together, 200 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:14,200 Speaker 2: and then you want to just you know, you want 201 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:16,760 Speaker 2: to reflect on the world differently. And so that's why 202 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:18,920 Speaker 2: we do what we do, and every show is a 203 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:21,960 Speaker 2: surprise because it is local to the place that we go. 204 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:29,680 Speaker 1: You know, I think now in particular about how much 205 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:34,840 Speaker 1: music is needed, right, like I think about trying to 206 00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:38,720 Speaker 1: make sense of the world we are living in. Right, 207 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:42,960 Speaker 1: everything has been. I don't care where you are, right, 208 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:47,679 Speaker 1: it's been utterly disrupted, like the reality, the norms that 209 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:51,000 Speaker 1: we that we knew, everything has been utterly disrupted, and 210 00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:54,840 Speaker 1: it's really hard, I think, for our brains to make 211 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:58,560 Speaker 1: sense of it. What do you think it is? You know, 212 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:01,480 Speaker 1: and you described it a bit about the wavelengths and 213 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:05,680 Speaker 1: the and the shared vibrations that you have with music, 214 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:09,880 Speaker 1: But what do you think it is about art and 215 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:14,360 Speaker 1: in the importance of it in times of crisis, in 216 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:18,760 Speaker 1: times of deep trauma, to really remind people of our 217 00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:19,800 Speaker 1: shared humanity. 218 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:23,920 Speaker 2: You're absolutely right, we do need art to remind us 219 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 2: of our shared humanity. I think that, you know, I 220 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:30,600 Speaker 2: have a lot of answers to this question, and some 221 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:32,800 Speaker 2: of them come from my heart, and some of them 222 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:34,880 Speaker 2: come from my mind, and some of them come from 223 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:37,560 Speaker 2: the places that I've stored trauma in my own body. 224 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:42,080 Speaker 2: But what I think the most basic thing is that 225 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:46,360 Speaker 2: we are in this for the long haul. We have 226 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:50,160 Speaker 2: got to have the medicine. We have got to have 227 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:53,960 Speaker 2: the medicine in the struggle, because if we don't have that, 228 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:57,080 Speaker 2: like we actually like, we're not going to be able 229 00:14:57,120 --> 00:15:01,600 Speaker 2: to keep showing up for each other. As an artist, 230 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:05,840 Speaker 2: what's really important for me is the simple act of 231 00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:09,280 Speaker 2: singing is an act of connecting to my own body. 232 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:13,160 Speaker 2: And as I practice, I've learned that I have a 233 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:16,960 Speaker 2: practice where when I sing, Oh, okay, now I'm gonna 234 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:20,280 Speaker 2: resonate the sound in my cheekbones. Now I'm going to 235 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:22,240 Speaker 2: resonate it in my heart. Now I'm gonna let it 236 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:25,400 Speaker 2: go all the way down into the bottom of my lungs. 237 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:27,520 Speaker 2: And you know, in Chinese medicine they say that the 238 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:29,640 Speaker 2: lungs are the place where you store grief, where you 239 00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:34,080 Speaker 2: process grief. Okay, now I'm gonna let the sound resonate 240 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:36,120 Speaker 2: in there for a while. And so for me, it 241 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:40,240 Speaker 2: is literally my medicine where I check in with myself, 242 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:43,680 Speaker 2: where I connect with my body. That can happen. You 243 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:45,720 Speaker 2: don't have to be a singer for that to happen. 244 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:48,320 Speaker 2: You can do it through dance, You can do it 245 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:51,840 Speaker 2: through listening. You could, but an attentive listening, you know, 246 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:56,240 Speaker 2: not a background music. But yeah, let it wash over 247 00:15:56,280 --> 00:16:00,840 Speaker 2: you and you let it. You let yourself res with it, 248 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:05,000 Speaker 2: you know, because there's this funny thing where Okay, the 249 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:08,200 Speaker 2: air in our lungs is like have you ever felt 250 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:10,760 Speaker 2: the base in your chest? Have you ever felt have 251 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:13,480 Speaker 2: you ever like listened to base and you feel it like. 252 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:16,520 Speaker 1: A big base, like yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. 253 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:22,640 Speaker 2: That's the air and the space in your body. The 254 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:26,880 Speaker 2: air you know, sound waves travel through air. Okay, there's 255 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:30,160 Speaker 2: air in your lungs. When when that base frequency hits 256 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:32,880 Speaker 2: your lungs, where there's the air and your lungs resonating, 257 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 2: like this is how we get to our bodies. And 258 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:39,320 Speaker 2: so it's both like the medicine for when I'm feeling 259 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:43,280 Speaker 2: in crisis and trauma. It's how I remember that I 260 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:47,520 Speaker 2: am here and that I can ground to my physical being. 261 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:50,320 Speaker 2: I can say, Okay, in this moment, I am safe, 262 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:53,840 Speaker 2: I'm in this room. Now what can I do now? 263 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:55,960 Speaker 2: What can I do now? How can I reach out? 264 00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:00,680 Speaker 2: And so for me, it's about the long haul. Musicians 265 00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:04,960 Speaker 2: are natural storytellers, you know, we need storytellers in the 266 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:08,879 Speaker 2: spaces that we are trying to build a better world together. 267 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:12,359 Speaker 2: We are all storytellers. Actually would look at anybody like 268 00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:16,440 Speaker 2: I see the stories that are inside of them. So 269 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:19,119 Speaker 2: these are tools that we have to keep going to 270 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:21,440 Speaker 2: be the medicine for ourselves and for each other. 271 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:25,280 Speaker 1: I love it. When you said medicine and the struggle, 272 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:30,000 Speaker 1: for so long I have been looking for the bomb, 273 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:33,280 Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying for the wound, right, Like 274 00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:37,159 Speaker 1: I often talk about where we are in this certain 275 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:40,359 Speaker 1: in this climate, which is that we are just a 276 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:44,680 Speaker 1: bunch of open wounds walking around that have not excavated 277 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:49,920 Speaker 1: the cause, right, and we just keep bumping into each other, 278 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:52,760 Speaker 1: bumping into each other. We need to clean it out 279 00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:54,840 Speaker 1: in order to heal it. And there needs to be 280 00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:59,320 Speaker 1: a bomb, a soothing for it, right Otherwise like we 281 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:01,680 Speaker 1: just were always going to be reacting. We can never 282 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:04,960 Speaker 1: get to a place of creating because we're in consistent pain. 283 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:10,560 Speaker 1: So when you said medicine and the struggle, I'm like, yes, yes, yes, Yes. 284 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:13,640 Speaker 2: Actually wrote a whole album for that. It's like, oh, 285 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:17,480 Speaker 2: people need a ball, but you know, and it's also 286 00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:19,240 Speaker 2: to share it that we're not alone in it. 287 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:26,040 Speaker 1: Yeah. What what do you want folks, you know, to 288 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:30,120 Speaker 1: take away from movement? Like when they you know, when 289 00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:32,760 Speaker 1: they connect and they are able to see it in 290 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:35,439 Speaker 1: person when they listen to the pod, Like, what do 291 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:39,080 Speaker 1: you want people to take away? 292 00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:44,880 Speaker 2: I mean there's so many things. One is that the 293 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:48,680 Speaker 2: sound of a radically diverse world is bumping. The soundtrack 294 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:53,760 Speaker 2: is bumping, and like and so, and learning about other 295 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:58,600 Speaker 2: people's cultures is a way that we get to experience 296 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:02,200 Speaker 2: that that has joy and so celebration and communal, communal 297 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:05,240 Speaker 2: spaces in it. Even as we are in this state 298 00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:09,240 Speaker 2: of crisis, we don't want to disconnect. I don't want 299 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:12,080 Speaker 2: to disconnect from my capacity for joy. I don't want 300 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:14,520 Speaker 2: to Yes, every time I sing, I can connect to 301 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:16,879 Speaker 2: my capacity for joy, every time I hear music, I 302 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:21,000 Speaker 2: can connect to that. I want people to, you know, 303 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:27,639 Speaker 2: have an understanding that immigrants, migrants and refugees are like 304 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:34,760 Speaker 2: wildly creative people who are contributing so much culturally. And 305 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:41,320 Speaker 2: I want folks to understand that. You know, the ways 306 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:43,520 Speaker 2: that we are open to each other, the ways that 307 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:45,879 Speaker 2: we are curious about each other, the ways that we 308 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:49,960 Speaker 2: approach each other with question rather than and I don't 309 00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:53,280 Speaker 2: mean like judgmental question, but like genuine curiosity rather than 310 00:19:53,359 --> 00:19:56,440 Speaker 2: judgment opens up the stories inside of all of us. 311 00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,639 Speaker 2: And that space can be a space where we can 312 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:04,399 Speaker 2: find solutions and where we can find ways of advocating 313 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:07,880 Speaker 2: for each other across struggles as well and looking at 314 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:10,800 Speaker 2: intersectionality is really important for us as well. 315 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:18,120 Speaker 1: Beautiful. So you said November twenty eighth is where? Hey, 316 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:19,320 Speaker 1: what do you say? 317 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:20,639 Speaker 2: October twenty Hey? 318 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:24,680 Speaker 1: October okay? October twenty eighth, you are in. 319 00:20:24,119 --> 00:20:28,639 Speaker 2: La Yes, Yes, at the new Nimoy Theater at UCLA. 320 00:20:29,119 --> 00:20:33,800 Speaker 1: Okay, And then how can people stay connected? Find the 321 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:35,359 Speaker 1: dates of where you're going to be? When do you 322 00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:37,080 Speaker 1: ever come to the East coast? Do you ever come 323 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:37,840 Speaker 1: to the East Coast? 324 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:41,439 Speaker 2: Yes? We did a live show at Lincoln Center in 325 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:45,960 Speaker 2: March in New York. We'll be back, don't worry. And 326 00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:49,560 Speaker 2: we're going to Washington, d C. To the DMV area. 327 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:53,280 Speaker 2: We'll be in Silver Spring, Maryland at Montgomery College on 328 00:20:53,359 --> 00:20:56,399 Speaker 2: February fifteenth for the live show as well. And of 329 00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:58,560 Speaker 2: course you can get the podcast anywhere you listen to 330 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:03,200 Speaker 2: podcasts Movement with macleadero, and you can stay in touch 331 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:07,000 Speaker 2: with me, you know. Okay. So I'm based in San Francisco, 332 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:09,840 Speaker 2: And even if you forget my name, if you google 333 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:12,359 Speaker 2: Ethiopian singer San Francisco's right. 334 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:18,919 Speaker 1: I love that, like I'm at the top of the list. 335 00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:23,040 Speaker 1: I am the list lickly. 336 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:23,720 Speaker 2: It was. 337 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:28,000 Speaker 1: It's such a pleasure to meet you. I'm so grateful 338 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:31,199 Speaker 1: for the work that you're doing, for the inspiration that 339 00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:35,480 Speaker 1: you're providing, for the art that you're bringing in to 340 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:42,159 Speaker 1: the world. Because yeah, we and especially especially in times 341 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:45,520 Speaker 1: of pain, in times of prices, in trauma, we cannot 342 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:49,000 Speaker 1: forget our joy and we cannot forget our shared humanity. 343 00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:53,280 Speaker 1: And music is a wonderful, wonderful balmb So, thank you 344 00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:54,679 Speaker 1: so much for making me time. 345 00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:57,600 Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me. It's been such 346 00:21:57,600 --> 00:21:58,080 Speaker 2: a pleasure. 347 00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:05,639 Speaker 1: M That is it for me today. Dear friends on 348 00:22:06,119 --> 00:22:09,879 Speaker 1: woke f as always, power to the people and to 349 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:14,160 Speaker 1: all the people power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.