Oumou Sangaré

Oumou Sangaré Bio

Oumou Sangaré (February 25, 1985) is a Grammy award winning musician from Bamako, Mali. The now 51 year-old singer began to sing with her mother at weddings at an early age. She began to sing professionally when she was 13 and at 16, she became the lead vocalist for Djoliba Percussions in 1984. She produced wassoulou music with Djoliba Percussions, a popular West African genre that is generally performed by women. In 1989, Oumou came across Ibrahima Sylla during her travels in Abidjan who produced her first debut single on cassette, titled ‘Djama Kaissoumou’. Nick Gold from World Circuit Label was astounded by her track on the cassette titled ‘Diaraby Nene’ and reissued it’s release with her first debut album, ‘Moussoulou’ in 1991 under World Circuit. ‘Moussoulou’ exploded locally for it’s lyrical prowess on the hardships of West African women, selling 250,000 copies and became popular in Europe and Asia. NPR placed this album on their “150 Greatest Albums Made By Women” in 2017. Oumou Sangaré continued to release music with femenist concerns with her second album release, ‘Ko Sira’ in 1993. After the release of ‘Ko Sira’, Oumou dedicated herself to humanitarian activism. Oumou built a hotel and concert space in her hometown, Mali, along with starting a farm and was an active member of the Health and Food Organization of the United Nations and was appointed as the official ambassador for Mali in 2003. Returning back to her musical career, she released ‘Seya’ in 2004 which became a grammy nominated album in 2009. In the following year, Omou won Best Pop Collaborations at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards for the group cover of ‘Imagine’ with P!nk, Seal, India.Arie, Jeff Beck and Konono N.1 in 2010.