She was born in Ethiopia 22 years ago, but has lived in Belgium since she was 10 months old. She speaks Dutch, sings in English but it is in French that she conversed, in her district of Ghent, with Hortense Volle. Portrait of the Flemish singer and songwriter Meskerem Mees, whose first album, as rich as it is stripped down, is astoundingly mature.
Welcome to Ghent, a port city located in the northwest of Belgium! It is here, in the Flemish region, that the singer and songwriter Meskerem Mees lives.
In Ethiopia, where she was born 22 years ago, “Meskerem” refers to the first of the thirteen months that make up the current calendar. The one who has lived in Belgium since the age of 10 months and bears a Dutch name, Mees, therefore carries within her the symbol of change and renewal.
In fact, with her clear voice with a delicate timbre, her certain taste for the meaning and musicality of words, her acoustic guitar which she studied classical and her magnetic presence, Meskerem Mees is in the process of reinventing folk in her own way: very soflty.
In autumn 2021, Meskerem Mees published julius : a first album entirely recorded in acoustics, as rich as it is stripped down, confusingly mature. Thirteen timeless titles, sung in English, with fascinatingly simple arrangements, which skilfully navigate between lightness and melancholy.
Won over, so I didn’t wait for Meskerem Mess to give her first concerts in France to want to meet her. In Ghent, Meskerem gave me an appointment in his neighborhood, Sint Jacobs, and more precisely at Le Bidon: a bar dedicated to coffee and cycling lovers. She’s waiting for me on the terrace, by the canal…
SessionLab: a conversation in complete privacy and in 3D audio (spatialized sound). A podcast to listen to, preferably, with headphones.
Realization : Benjamin Sarrali
3D mixing and sound recording : Fabien Mugneret
Production : RFI Lab
To follow Meskerem Mees:
Official site / Facebook / instagram / Youtube
Titles broadcast:
Excerpts from the album Julius (Mayway Records- 2021): Seasons Shift; Parking lot ; Joe; The Writer; Blue and White; Queen Bee; My Baby; Man of Manners; Astronaut; A Little More about Me; Song for Lewis; Where I’m From; How to Be Alone