The Weeknd, real name Abel Tesfaye, has completely dominated the R&B music scene. His most recent album, Beauty Behind the Madness, sits comfortably at the top of the Billboard 200, and the music community frequently discusses how quickly he went from cult celebrity to global pop sensation.
The singer’s Ethiopian ancestry, which he attributes for having had a significant influence on his skill, is far less well-known.
Does The Weeknd speak Ethiopian? What is The Weeknd’s first language?
On February 16, 1990, Abel Makkonen Tesfaye was born in Toronto, Ontario. He is the sole child of two immigrants from Ethiopia named Makkonen Tesfaye and Samrawit Hailu, who split up not long after he was born. His first language was Amharic.
The singer recently spoke with Pitchfork about how his Ethiopian childhood influenced his musical development. “My mother, my grandmother, and my uncles played Ethiopian music all the time in the home, including songs by Aster Aweke and Mulatu Astatke.
His mother and grandmother raised him in the Scarborough neighbourhood. He revealed to Rolling Stone that he and his father have an alienated relationship “When I was six years old and again when I was 11 or 12 years old, dad had a new family and children.
I’d see him for like a night and I had no idea where he lived. He must be a fantastic man, I think. I never condemned him. He wasn’t an asshole, he wasn’t abusive, and he wasn’t an alcoholic. He simply wasn’t present.”
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