Amha Eshete

Despite a 1948 Imperial edict banning the distribution of Ethiopian pop music Amha Eshete launched a record label Amha Records and released 103 singles and a dozen albums by Ethiopian artists between 1969 and 1975 In addition to making Ethiopian music known throughout the world Eshete helped to spark a modern period of creativity in his homeland During an interview in the early 90s Eshete said I had a gut feeling that it was the right thing to do I took the risk The governmental resistance against Eshetes efforts ultimately proved insurmountable By the mid90s Eshete had immigrated to the United States