Calling singer-songwriter Meskerem Mees (22) an emerging talent is an understatement. She won Humo’s Rock Rally, the prestigious Montreux Jazz Talent Award and above all: countless soft hearts. The secret to her success? She stays so close to herself. As a result of her new debut album ‘Julius’, she gives us a glimpse into her life. “I prefer to write songs in the evening when it gets dark. Then comes the inspiration.”
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“I like to stay up late because I don’t want to let the evening turn into the morning. I just try to put off the next day as long as possible. A day is full of responsibilities and events. Sometimes they are nice and sometimes they are not. I also take a very long time to wake up, I will always try to postpone something professional until after 11am. Watch out, I wake up quite early, even at first light, but it takes me a long time to really get ready.”
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A secret goal of mine is to know someone on every street in Ghent that I can pop into when I pass by. Ghent is fairly small, I think that is feasible.
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“I like to fill my evenings with appointments with friends. This way I can first have dinner with a friend and then have a drink with another friend and then watch a movie with someone else. I am – usually – alone in my rented house in Ghent and just have to get outside in the evening, get some fresh air, gain fresh energy, hear new stories. A secret goal of mine is to know someone on every street in Ghent that I can pop into when I pass by. Ghent is fairly small, I think that is feasible. (laughs)”
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Crying in the airport
“I like to be with people. I just had a great experience in that area. I stayed in Montreux, Switzerland, because I had won the Montreux Jazz Talent Award – kind of weird, because I didn’t even know I had entered that competition. Anyway, I did make something at the request of my agent. So I was allowed to go there for a week for a workshop. At first I thought: ‘I’m not into jazz, what should I do there?’, but it turned out to be exactly what I needed.”
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“I had been looking for a way to experiment with music for some time. We had lessons with a group all day long and in the evening, after dinner, I jammed with all the other musicians all evening in a cafe setting with an audience, often until 1 am. We didn’t have a minute off but it was bliss. I cried at the airport when I flew back to Belgium because I was going to miss those people. There was a piano at Geneva airport. I wrote a melody on the spot to process those feelings, for everyone who walked around there. It had to come out. It’s a processing mechanism.”
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(Read more below the photo.)
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“I prefer to write songs in the evening when it gets dark. Then comes the inspiration. Since June, however, I have been living in a small town house, with lovely neighbours. I have agreed with them that I will make music between 8 and 9 p.m. and no more after that. That works. With my late hours come quite a few less good habits such as smoking and drinking a beer. I never do that alone, only in company. But I do seek out a lot of company. (laughs)”
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Mannenbastion
“Thanks to my status as an artist, I can live off my music, because in addition to performing, sometimes a writing period is also necessary. I couldn’t do this without that statute. Relatively speaking, I have had little trouble with racism, but it strikes me how few women there are in my world. Light technicians are men, sound men are men. No one assumes that a woman can also blow on an instrument when there is and must be supported. I personally do not feel disadvantaged, but I cannot deny that there are still areas for improvement.”
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Morning people have their lives in order. Not me.
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“In general, I believe that your favorite hours say something about your character. Morning people, I think, live more in reality. They have their lives in order. Not me. I’ll see where I’m going next.”
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How is Meskerem?
• 22 years old, born on 15 July 1999 in Ethiopia. Was adopted and came here when she was 10 months old. Has an older and a younger brother.
• has released her debut album, ‘Julius’ since November 12th
• on Sunday 14 November in the first episode of the TV program She’s Lost In Music on Canvas.
• she describes her personal situation as “it’s complicated”.
• is an extremely social evening person, usually goes to sleep between midnight and 1 am. Likes to be woken up by the first rays of light, but gets up physically as late as possible, preferably around 10, 11 o’clock
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Also read:
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Meskerem Mees, aka the ‘Flemish Nina Simone’, conquers the charts: “Partly thanks to corona” (+)
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