The Weeknd
Birth Name: Abel Makkonen Tesfaye
Place of Birth: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Date of Birth: February 16, 1990
Ethnicity: Amhara Ethiopian
The Weeknd is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer. His songs include “Love Me Harder,” “Earned It,” “The Hills,” “Can’t Feel My Face,” “In the Night,” “Acquainted,” “Starboy,” “I Feel It Coming,” “Party Monster,” “Die for You,” “Pray for Me,” “Call Out My Name,” “Heartless,” “Blinding Lights,” “After Hours,” “In Your Eyes,” “Smile,” “Save Your Tears,” “Hawái,” “You Right,” “Take My Breath,” “Hurricane,” “One Right Now,” “Sacrifice,” “Out of Time,” “Less than Zero,” “Creepin’,” “Double Fantasy,” “K-pop,” “Young Metro,” “Dancing in the Flames,” “Timeless,” and, in a feature role, “Crew Love” and “Low Life.” He has often used the falsetto register, and has created music in the contemporary and alternative R&B, pop, hip hop, dance-pop, new wave, and dream-pop styles. He co-founded the XO record label, and co-created and starred in the series The Idol. The Weeknd has sold over 75 million records worldwide; his song “Blinding Lights” has been the most-streamed in Spotify history. He has been a World Food Programme Goodwill Ambassador since 2021, and is an advocate against racism and food insecurity. He is also known as The Noise, Kin Kane, and by his birth name Abel Tesfaye.
The Weeknd’s parents, Samrawit Hailu and Makkonen Tesfaye, are Ethiopian. He is fluent in Amharic, a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. Growing up, he attended services at an Ethiopian Orthodox church. He was raised in Scarborough, and attended a French-immersion school. The Weeknd grew up listening to soul, quiet storm, hip hop, funk, indie rock, and post-punk.
The Weeknd’s paternal grandfather is named Tesfaye.
The Weeknd’s maternal grandmother is named Hailu.
Nope. You just have a stereotypical image of an African black person thats not accurate. There are just as many light skin West Africans as there are light skinned East Africans.
Yeah because Africans are very diverse being that Africa has 54 countries and thousands of different ethnic looks and cultures. Like a German looks different from a Finn or someone from Spain. Not all Ethiopians are light skinned just like not all Nigerians are deep black skinned.
While his looks alone appear to be ethnically ambiguous, the fact that his father has a Scandinavian name made me think that he was part Finnish. I mean are Nordic names common in Ethiopia?
Lol, Makkonen sounds so Finnish, true.
Makkonen is actually an Ethiopian name. There are many Makkonens in Ethiopia.
In this exact spelling it’s ACTUALLY Finnish. Your comment implies that the name is only Ethiopian and quite common, however a google search for any reference to Ethiopian and this name shows Finnish origins. If it was a common Ethiopian name, examples of this would be easier to find.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Makonnen
Thanks Andrew for the Wikipedia link to Prince MAKONNEN/MEKONNEN, but I was referring to the name MAKKONEN ;)
Its not Nordic and I am pretty sure it is pronounced differently.
He looks East African black. Nothing is ambigious about his looks.its strange that so many people think unless you are black as midnight, youre mixed. His hair is kinky.
Thanks Andrew for the Wikipedia link to Prince MAKONNEN/MEKONNEN, but I was referring to the name MAKKONEN ;)
It’s funny, if Emperor Haile Selassie and Marcus Garvey had got their way, there wouldn’t be any African Americans right now.
There is Nothing ethnically ambigious about the BLACK MAN. There are no people except black Africans with his type of hair. And if he was mixed he would not have that kinky hair texture.
He doesn’t look Ethiopian, a typical Ethiopian looks like this:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Marcus_Samuelsson_2012.jpg
They have Caucasian features on average usually. This guy Abel must have Bantu ancestry or something.
See that’s the problem, the media. As well as others, like to promote just one type of Ethiopian. There is almost 100 different ethnic groups there, and they look different from each other.Some are Caucasian in phenotype, while others are not
That’s cause not all ethnic groups in Ethiopia are ethnic Habesha or Horn African in general.
People have been migrating all over, and in and out of Africa for thousands of years. it’s no telling who was what. Ethiopia encompass a huge amount of land mass in ancient times, with a bunch of different black groups living in it . One group falls . and another steps up to take their place. So it doesn’t matter if your group has been there for thousands of years or a few hundred, they are there now. In ancient times, Ethiopians were described as being “burnt-face” meaning black, so that could have been anybody
@Fuzzy Bear you are CORRECT people forget these type of Ethiopians exist
http://vacationethiopiatravel.com/index.php/dt_places/southern-cultural-heritage/
https://billygambelaafroasiaticanthropology.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/egyptiansethiopiansnubians-are-same-ethnic-people-northafrica-horn-of-africa/
You are so stupid, sorry but there is no typical Ethiopian look. In Ethiopia, there are different ethnicities. The Mursi people for example are Ethiopians but are very dark https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mursi_people#/media/File%3AMurzi2.jpg
Ethiopians DO NOT have caucasian features. Caucasians have there features.
He reminds me of an ethnic version of John Mayer.
A BLACK version of John Mayer