About the studio
A pioneer label for Ethiopian music and film, built between continents.
Nahom Records Inc. was established in 2000 and became one of the leading distributors in Ethiopian music — a production house with marketing and distribution that reaches past a single market.
History
Elias Fikru opened the company on 4 February 2000 at Corona, Queens, New York. The first chapter was American in address and Ethiopian in repertoire: music and film made for audiences who live in both places.
In 2005 the studio moved to Washington, D.C. It operated there through 2020, releasing albums, video, and film-related work while the catalog circulated across Ethiopia, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Israel.
Directory listings also place the company in Addis Ababa. The through-line is the same: an American–Ethiopian multimedia house, recognized as a major distributor in the Ethiopian music industry.
Vision
The work is to keep Ethiopian music and film present — on CD, on screen, and on the networks people actually use — without sanding off the language or the picture.
Nahom exists so an artist can record, a film can find a credit, and a listener in another country can still find the song.
Founder
Founder and executive producer
Elias Fikru
Elias Fikru has led Nahom Records since its founding in 2000, as founder and executive producer. The studio’s public record is the catalog itself: albums, video, and film credits issued under Nahom Records Inc., including an executive producer credit on the film Zumra.
This page does not invent a speech for him. The statement of the house is the body of work, and the line the company still publishes: a next-generation Ethiopian music, video, and CD producer, and a global leader in Ethiopian film and music.
Milestones
A timeline with the addresses still attached.
2000
Founded in Corona
Nahom Records Inc. opens in Queens, New York, under Elias Fikru.
2005
Washington years begin
The company relocates to Washington, D.C. and expands its distribution desk.
2015
Catalog in full voice
Releases such as The Reunion “Endegena” and the Nahom Favorite series keep the archive in circulation.
2020
A new mark, same name
The Washington chapter closes. The name, the channel, and the catalog continue under the current identity.
Reach
Where the catalog travels
The company was founded in New York, worked from Washington, D.C. through 2020, and is also listed in Addis Ababa. These are the territories named in the studio’s public record.
Ethiopia
Home audience
United States
Founded in New York
Canada
Diaspora
United Kingdom
Diaspora
Australia
Diaspora
Israel
Diaspora
Stories
In the studio’s words
“We treat a song the way a film treats a scene: recorded with care, then carried to every city where the diaspora is listening.”
“A release is not finished when the mix is done. It is finished when it can be found, played, and licensed.”
“Amharic, Tigrigna, and the older catalog deserve the same presentation as any global release.”
Cultural impact
For a generation of listeners, Nahom was one of the doors between Ethiopian popular music and the cities of the diaspora. CD runs, video, and later the YouTube channel carried Amharic and Tigrigna releases to people who could not walk into the original shop.
That is the cultural work: not a slogan, but a catalog that stayed available. New videos still arrive on the Nahom Records channel, beside older albums that never left the shelf.