MEKLIT "WE ARE ALIVE"

“We’re in-betweeners, living along the musical hyphen lines,” says the creative Ethiopian- born Meklit (Muh-Kleet) of her relationship with her new record label. As both are open- minded and based in the Bay Area, the partnership seemed natural to this emerging singer-songwriter. The compatibility is evident as Meklit canvases a wide range of sounds on her most inventive album to date, We Are Alive (Six Degrees Records).After being named a TED Global Fellow in 2009, Meklit cut her teeth on her 2010 debut, On A Day Like This… Folk and jazz strains served as a foundation for her elegant songwriting, setting her off onto a world tour before settling back into her San Francisco home for a number of collaborations. First she crooned sweet harmonies behind hip-hop project Copperwire’s Earthbound, and then returned to her more soulful roots alongside Oakland artist Quinn DeVeaux on 2012’s Meklit & Quinn. The latter included ingenious covers of such artists as Arcade Fire, Stevie Wonder, Talking Heads, MGMT, Lou Reed and Sam Cooke.Constant exposure to outside influences often causes musicians to evolve quickly. It was in this frame of mind that Meklit re-entered the studio to throw a world of flavors into a new cauldron.A few special guests emerge: famed author Walter Mosley penned the album’s liner notes. Meklit met him while speaking together on the radio show West Coast Live in 2010, and they forged a quick friendship. Ethiopian piano sensation Samuel Yirga—a Real World Records artist whose debut, Guza, garnered much international critical acclaim— adds a beautiful solo on ‘Kemekem. MEKLIT