Ethiopian pianist, singer, composer and band leader
He was born 1940 in Welisso and died August 24, 2009.
Starting as simple soldier in 1974 he became an army commander and conductor of the roving marshal band. Lemma was the leading musician of Armed Forces band, a band that has entertained the army and visiting heads of states for decades. Among his appreciative audiences were Fidel Castro of Cuba, Libya’s Muammar al-Qaddafi and the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. When Lemma resigned in 1993 after the army was disbanded, he was colonel.