Interview Zeleke Gessesse

The first time Wild Hare owner Zeleke "Zak" Gessesse heard Bob Marley he was hooked. That moment, which occurred while Gessesse was a political refugee in Somalia in the '70s, led to what would become a lifelong dedication to reggae and its ideals. Gessesse, who's originally from Ethiopia, moved to Chicago in 1978 with his reggae band, Baaro. The group's demo reached Marley's widow, Rita, who invited Baaro to play a show in honor of her husband, who had wanted to work with Ethiopian musicians. The performance went so well that Gessesse developed a partnership with Ziggy Marley. After a series of world tours together, Gessesse returned to Chicago and opened The Wild Hare in 1986. Twenty-one years later, a recently renovated Wild Hare will hold a "rejuvenation celebration" concert this weekend with Luciano, Anthem, and Gessesse. Before the event, Gessesse talked to The A.V. Club about reggae in the Midwest, mixing music with politics, and wascally wabbits.

A.V. Club: Since you're from Ethiopia, how did you latch onto reggae?
Zeleke Gessesse: My identification with reggae is mostly Rasta music, and Rasta is influenced by Ethiopia. It's a movement created by Jamaicans who were looking for a spiritual homeland back in Africa in the early 1900s. I grew up on James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Fela Kuti, Manu Dibango. My first bass line I learned was "Hot Pants," James Brown. One note, very simple—"da-doop-da-doop, unh!" One note, man, we can't mess that. Bless him, he gave us one-note bass. Then reggae started cracking with [Jimmy Cliff's The] Harder They Come when we were in high school, and the European Union and even the United States were helping Ethiopia in terms of music and art development. This was in the '70s. We used to get films and videos, R&B, and soul music. So when I first saw Jimmy Cliff in Harder They Come, there was a total connection.
AVC: Chicago doesn't seem like a reggae hotbed.
ZG: Chicago is a hotbed for reggae music nationally. It has more local reggae bands than any other city in the country. We have close to 30 local bands, and the Midwest is amazing for reggae. You'd be surprised. Like, pick a state—Ohio has the best bands out of the Midwest. [Laughs.] The Midwest has the most reggae bands out of anywhere in the country.
AVC: Why do you think that is?
ZG: It's the blue-collar communities, I guess. [Laughs.]
AVC: The Wild Hare is in Wrigleyville. Do you get tired of all the nearby sports bars?
ZG: Well, we were the first bar on that strip, my friend, before anybody was there, as you can see with our age. The Cubby Bear was the only club before us. So, honestly [Wrigleyville] drives a crowd, but it's not a destination crowd that's coming there. So, it's all good for the neighborhood and the city. But we are for concerts. We don't sell beer. We're not a beer joint. We are a music joint. We really pride ourselves to be a destination and a cultural center.
AVC: How do you respond to people who think music and politics shouldn't be mixed?
ZG: Music is the meter of society. That's overall. Music is in everything. Every form of life has its own kind of music. It can be political, but it's in the way you put it. You don't have to be blunt or insulting, or invoking any hate or whatever. Messages can be delivered. Art has its way of hiding things. My music is message music. I wouldn't say it's political.
AVC: You've been at this over 20 years. What else do you want to do?
ZG: The other thing I do is philanthropy, my friend. I build schools in Africa. I have 20 schools already. One is up through fourth grade; it's been operating since 2000. We just found a foundation in Chicago that funded 10 more schools for me in Ethiopia, so we got about 22,000 students enrolled in schools. That's my foundation I created, One Love Africa. It was founded by me, Ziggy Marley, and my other brother. So, my next move is to start another club in Ethiopia like this, for Rastas to go and perform there.
AVC: Does the name "The Wild Hare" refer to anything particular?
ZG: When we bought the club, it was a country/western bar. The old building we got was a shack. So the name came from that.
AVC: Why didn't you change it?
ZG: It's pretty interesting, you know. It talks about animals gathering to make love. Aren't we part of that gang? Animals getting together to make love? [Laughs.]
AVC: "The Wild Hare" was also the name of the first Bugs Bunny cartoon.
ZG: Really? So how the hell did Bugs Bunny get that name?
AVC: Who knows?
ZG: Hey, that's not bad. We can compete with Bugs Bunny.
AVC: He's pretty tough to catch.
ZG: Yeah, I know. I'm not a cartoon guy, but I've heard about him. [Laughs.]