diff --git a/package/fluidsynth/0001-cmake-fix-finding-bundled-GCEM-with-a-sysroot.patch b/package/fluidsynth/0001-cmake-fix-finding-bundled-GCEM-with-a-sysroot.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..66f5224847
--- /dev/null
+++ b/package/fluidsynth/0001-cmake-fix-finding-bundled-GCEM-with-a-sysroot.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+From f558b8656efe8bba7dd94f4acfceb1294a7ded22 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Thomas Petazzoni <thomas.petazzoni@bootlin.com>
+Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2026 08:59:32 +0200
+Subject: [PATCH] cmake: fix finding bundled GCEM with a sysroot
+
+CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_INCLUDE may be set to ONLY when cross
+compiling, to ensure that header searches use the target sysroot
+instead of accidentally finding host headers.
+
+This causes find_path() to re-root the absolute path to the bundled
+GCEM headers under the target sysroot, making FindGCEM miss
+gcem/include/gcem.hpp in situations where
+CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_INCLUDE is set to ONLY.
+
+To fix this, this commit passes NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH to prevent
+sysroot re-rooting when searching this source-tree path. It allows to
+properly detected gcem/include/gcem.hpp and avoid the download if
+already present.
+
+Upstream: https://github.com/FluidSynth/fluidsynth/pull/1835
+Signed-off-by: Thomas Petazzoni <thomas.petazzoni@bootlin.com>
+---
+ cmake_admin/FindGCEM.cmake | 2 +-
+ 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
+
+diff --git a/cmake_admin/FindGCEM.cmake b/cmake_admin/FindGCEM.cmake
+index 980951cc..e02d97f8 100644
+--- a/cmake_admin/FindGCEM.cmake
++++ b/cmake_admin/FindGCEM.cmake
+@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ This will define the following variables:
+ #]=======================================================================]
+ 
+ # Find the headers and library
+-find_path(GCEM_INCLUDE_DIR NAMES "gcem.hpp" PATHS "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/gcem/include")
++find_path(GCEM_INCLUDE_DIR NAMES "gcem.hpp" PATHS "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/gcem/include" NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH)
+ 
+ include(FindPackageHandleStandardArgs)
+ 
+-- 
+2.55.0
+
diff --git a/package/fluidsynth/fluidsynth.hash b/package/fluidsynth/fluidsynth.hash
index 0d727e75e6..1e15d48d0d 100644
--- a/package/fluidsynth/fluidsynth.hash
+++ b/package/fluidsynth/fluidsynth.hash
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 # Locally computed
 sha256  ce27840221ab00dd59bf27e85ecbba480c6c2a7c9fbec4243658f68f59c07f4a  fluidsynth-2.5.7.tar.gz
+sha256  34ab0ee87a9eb26d3087fa9b49c2572ea8ee03db0c9705b83648301a3a3fc172  gcem-012ae73c6d0a2cb09ffe86475f5c6fba3926e200.tar.gz
 sha256  20e50fe7aae3e56378ebf0417d9de904f55a0e61e4df315333e632a4d3555d95  LICENSE
diff --git a/package/fluidsynth/fluidsynth.mk b/package/fluidsynth/fluidsynth.mk
index 1d6cb118ff..1e6043e6b8 100644
--- a/package/fluidsynth/fluidsynth.mk
+++ b/package/fluidsynth/fluidsynth.mk
@@ -12,6 +12,18 @@ FLUIDSYNTH_CPE_ID_VENDOR = fluidsynth
 FLUIDSYNTH_INSTALL_STAGING = YES
 FLUIDSYNTH_DEPENDENCIES = libglib2
 
+FLUIDSYNTH_GCEM_VERSION = 012ae73c6d0a2cb09ffe86475f5c6fba3926e200
+FLUIDSYNTH_EXTRA_DOWNLOADS = $(call github,kthohr,gcem,$(FLUIDSYNTH_GCEM_VERSION))/gcem-$(FLUIDSYNTH_GCEM_VERSION).tar.gz
+
+define FLUIDSYNTH_GCEM_EXTRACT
+	$(call suitable-extractor,$(notdir $(FLUIDSYNTH_EXTRA_DOWNLOADS))) \
+		$(FLUIDSYNTH_DL_DIR)/$(notdir $(FLUIDSYNTH_EXTRA_DOWNLOADS)) | \
+		$(TAR) -C $(@D)/ $(TAR_OPTIONS) -
+	rmdir $(@D)/gcem
+	ln -sf gcem-$(FLUIDSYNTH_GCEM_VERSION) $(@D)/gcem
+endef
+FLUIDSYNTH_POST_EXTRACT_HOOKS += FLUIDSYNTH_GCEM_EXTRACT
+
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_FLUIDSYNTH_ALSA_LIB),y)
 FLUIDSYNTH_CONF_OPTS += -Denable-alsa=1
 FLUIDSYNTH_DEPENDENCIES += alsa-lib