ABOUT

Movement uplifts the stories and songs of immigrant musicians via podcast, radio, community building and live performances. We are a music discovery platform that higlights the sonic innovations blooming from immigrant communities, and builds connection across immigrant communities through musical collaborations.

Our podcast is now in its 3rd season, and has featured world renowned musicians like June Millington (Phillippines/US), Ana Tijoux (Chile/Frane), Peter One (Nashville/Cote D’Ivoire), Ali Sethi (Pakistan/NYC), Satomi Matsuzaki (Japan/US), Larry and Joe (Venezula/US), Oddisee (Sudan/US) and many more. Our stories have reached over 10 million listeners via features on PRX’s The World, Snap Judgement, Radiotopia Presents, KCRW,  WAMU, Immigrantly, Daily Zeitgeist, Podcast Delivery, the LA Times, Washington Post, the Guardian and many more.

Our San Francisco based Movement Immigrant Orchestra brings together 11 musicians from 10 countries to share their cultural power and resilience with each other and the broader Bay Area community.

Movement is hosted by Ethiopian-American singer-composer and former refugee Meklit Hadero and was co-created by Meklit, sound designer/producer Ian Coss and editor/producer Julie Caine.

Hands playing a piano

Meklit Hadero: HOST/CO-PRODUCER/CO-FOUNDER/CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR - Movement Immigrant Orchestra.

Meklit Hadero is an Ethiopian-American vocalist, composer, cultural strategist and former refugee. Her music has taken her to renowned venues across four continents, and been featured by the New York Times, BBC, NPR and many more. Meklit's latest album "A Piece of Infinity" reimagines traditional folk songs from across Ethiopia and was released Sept 26th, 2025 on Smithsonian Folkways Records. Meklit is a National Geographic Explorer, a TED Senior Fellow, a Taproot Fellow, the winner of the globalFEST Artist Award, and a former Visiting Artist at Stanford, Harvard and NYU. She has given talks at the United Nations, at multiple TED Conference and at the National Geographic Storytellers Summit. Meklit is the former Chief of Program at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, as well as the co-founder of the Nile Project and a featured voice in UN Women's theme song. She has collaborated with world renowned musicians including Kronos Quartet, Andrew Bird, Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the late legend of funk music, Pee Wee Ellis. Meklit co-founded Movement in 2017 with Ian Coss and Julie Caine.

Ian Coss: SOUND DESIGNER/ PRODUCER/CO-FOUNDER

Sara Langlands: CREATIVE PROGRAM MANAGER

Emma Alabaster: PRODUCER

Isabel Hibbard: PRODUCER

Marco Peris: CO-FOUNDER and CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR of the Movement Immigrant Orchestra

TEAM

Megan Tan: SENIOR EDITOR