- Qamar: "I never thought this day would come"

Qamar: "I never thought this day would come"

The Star - Dec 2, 2008 - Toronto singer Kemer Yousef buried his head deep in his father's neck and smelled him again for the first time in 24 years.

After a long embrace, he crossed the room to likewise smother himself against his mother, emerging with a broad smile and a face wet with tears.

"I never thought this day would come," he said of the highlight so far in an emotional homecoming as one of Ethiopia's top pop stars, part of a week otherwise crammed with radio, television and magazine interviews.

Kemer (Yousef is his father's name) is living out an almost surreal immigrant dream: returning as a celebrity to a country he once fled in terror ...

Kemer's first homecoming concert is planned for Sunday. He headlines an invitation-only celebration for the country's annual Nations and Nationalities Day at Addis Ababa's 20,000-seat Millennium Hall. Read More.