You don’t have to know anything about Ethiopian music to appreciate the songs of Meklit Hadero, a rising sensation who will perform at this month’s Ringling International Arts Festival. The 31-year-old composer and singer blends her Ethiopian roots with folk and jazz (she’s a fan of Billie Holliday and Ella Fitzgerald), seducing fans not only with her vocals but her sultry presence. Something of a nomad, she grew up mostly in Brooklyn, lived in Florida for a time and is now based in San Francisco. "All of us are made of many places," she says. Title of her concerts here? Songs of Multiplicity, naturally.

Watch Meklit Hadero perform "Leaving Soon" from Songs of Multiplicty: