Where is The Weeknd from? Singer calls Ethiopian artists his 'subconscious inspirations'
TORONTO, CANADA: Evidently, The Weeknd is 'Six Feet Under.' A week after revealing his intention to drop the well-known stage moniker, Abel Tesfaye started using his real name on social media. The 'Blinding Lights' singer admitted in a recent interview that he intended to "kill The Weeknd." He made that decision while he was wrapping up filming for the eagerly anticipated HBO series 'The Idol,' in which he co-stars with Lily-Rose Depp. The singer-actor portrays Tedros, a self-help guru and the love interest of Jocelyn, Depp's character.
Due to the use of the moniker The Weeknd, the fans of the musician have always wondered about his origins. And, surprisingly, his Ethiopian ethnicity has had a huge influence on his music, especially in his track 'The Hills'.
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Where is The Weeknd from?
The Weekend, whose real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, was born in Toronto, Canada, on February 16, 1990. His parents, Samrawit Hailu and Makkonen Tesfaye are refugees from Ethiopia who immigrated to Canada. When The Weeknd was young, his parents divorced, and he was raised by his mother. He dropped out of high school when they were 17 and found work at American Apparel, but they largely survived on welfare payments. For a while, he was even homeless and spent nights on the couches of friends. He also reportedly did drugs excessively and had multiple affairs.
The Weeknd started writing songs about his life, uploaded them to YouTube in 2010, and eventually released three free mixtapes in their entirety in 2011. His earliest songs serve as incredible blueprints for his entire career up to this point, with lyrics about the pursuit of money by all means, strippers, being up all night, and never falling in love. With the success of his hits 'Can't Feel My Face,' 'Earned It,' and 'The Hills,' The Weeknd started winning over fans in 2015, as per The Sun.
What is The Weeknd's ethnicity?
The enigmatic beginning of The Weeknd has become a fable. He was raised in Scarborough, a Toronto suburb after his mother and father fled the 1980s civil war-torn Ethiopia. He claims that Ethiopian influences can be heard throughout his music, especially in the last seconds of 'The Hills', where he sings a few Amharic bars, The Weeknd’s native tongue, and the official language of Ethiopia.
Ethiopia has always been a major musical inspiration for The Weeknd. "You hear it mostly in my voice," he said to VMan magazine. "I’ve been told my singing isn’t conventional. Ethiopian music was the music I grew up on, artists like Tilahun Gessesse, Aster Aweke, and Mahmoud Ahmed. These are my subconscious inspirations. 'The Hills' was the first time you actually heard the Ethiopian language in my music. It will definitely be key on this next record," The Weeknd added in the interview.
The Ethiopian-Canadian singer almost screams as the song 'The Hills' comes to a close in the language he learned from his grandmother, "Ewedihalew, yene konjo, ewedihalew/ yene fikir fikir fikir, yene fikir fikir fikir," as per Pitchfork. When translated directly, the song's ending is a decree of love that contrasts with the lustful hostility of the rest of it: "I love you, my beauty, I love you/ my love love love, my love love love."
'The feeling in my music and in my voice is very Ethiopian'
The Weeknd talked about how growing up in an Ethiopian environment had an impact on his artistic development in another interview with Pitchfork. "My mother, my grandmother, my uncles would play Ethiopian artists like Aster Aweke and Mulatu Astatke all the time in the house. They would drink coffee, eat popcorn, and listen to the music. It’s such beautiful music, but I didn’t realize how beautiful it was until I left that head space. That’s why I feel like my singing is not conventional," the singer said, adding, "The feeling in my music and in my voice is very Ethiopian and very African and much more powerful than anything, technically. There are songs like 'Gone' where I don’t even know what I’m saying—I let my voice do all the talking. I’ll probably do an album like that one day where it’s not lyrics at all, just melodies and great production. Maybe the next one, I don’t know. That’s the Ethiopian side of me."
He talked about his love of Amharic poetry, and said, "Ethiopian poetry is a different language. I can speak and understand [Amharic], but I can’t understand their poetry. When my mother would translate—it’s the most beautiful thing ever."
