There are many artists out there that are part of the Ethiopian diaspora. Some of them have strong influences from the Ethiopian culture and others took a different and more personal path but never forgot about their roots. Some of these artists left Ethiopia on their own to pursue their artistic careers, and others were born in Ethiopia but were adopted at a very young age by parents in Europe or the US.

I recently discovered a young musician, Daniel Lemma, that lives and works in Sweden, who was adopted from Ethiopia when he was just a baby.
He stayed in contact with his birth family throughout his life, which helped him to stay connected to his African roots. He was the only black kid around when growing up, but he didn’t suffer discrimination. 
He travelled to the US to record his music in New York but with such bad luck that the record company he worked with went bankrupt and the album never was published. That’s what made him decide to go back to Sweden and start all over again.
His music is awesome, but even though he has already recorded 6 albums he still is not well known outside of Europe.
You need to listen to these songs to get a taste of his talent: If I used to love you and Haze. His music has a soulful almost old fashioned feeling enhanced by his beautiful voice.
Here a video from his latest album:

Links:
A stranger to his own land: sensational Ethiopian singer Daniel Lemma Addis Zefen
Daniel Lemma – Facebook page
Daniel Lemma website

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