Today we’re announcing the decision to change our band name. As of today Music Bones is a beautiful memory and the era of Makeda! begins.

Our new band name honors and pays homage to the real name of the Ethiopian Queen of Sheba, Makeda (pronounced ma kə da), as named and identified by the Kebra Nagast. This name change is our way of holding space to recall and correct histories that have been whitewashed, minimized and distorted by white supremacy, patriarchy and imperialism. Queen Makeda was a truth seeker. And in this new era, we’re recommitting to seeking, and sharing, the truth.

That includes the truth of the genre that we operate within. Rock and Roll was founded by a black woman named Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Her contribution to the genre has been minimized, diminished and largely erased. In the vacuum created by her erasure, a false narrative has festered around who is allowed to be in this space, and what this space is encouraged to do. Freedom, and love and self expression, cannot be considered outside of the context of the paradigms that they exist within.

These women deserve to be named and remembered. To be honored and amplified.

The act of doing so, is an act of a love that knows what’s what.