2.02.2011

Oumou Sangare- Moussolou

http://www.mediafire.com/?ntnmnt5q88hgxz5

I don't know how to pronounce Oumou Sangare's name. I don't know where she's from, I don't know what she's singing about, I have no idea how old she is, and I have no idea who is on this record.

But let me say this: Holy cow. What a voice.

Listen to this cd if you want to hear one of warmest, most infectious, powerful, most passionate voices you have ever listened to. Whatever she is singing, she really means. The music is amazing, but she could sing against the clanging of 14 dish washers and I'd still listen. Her voice stands out against anything.

My friend Isaac passed this on to me, and is probably somewhat sad that I am not passing on a better bio. Sorry, Oumou. But damn, do i love your cd!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That's what I found about her: "Oumou Sangare (born February 25, 1968, in Bamako, Mali) is a Malian Wassoulou musician, sometimes referred to as "The Songbird of Wassoulou." Wassoulou is a historic region south of the Niger River, and the music there is descended from traditional hunting songs, and is accompanied by a calabash. Her mother was the singer Aminata Diakité.

She is an advocate for women's rights, opposing child marriage and polygamy.[1]

Oumou Sangaré is also involved in the world of business, hotels, agriculture and the sale of cars: Oumou Sangaré has given her name to a Chinese automobile.[2] She is the owner of the 30-room Hotel Wassoulou in Mali's capital, Bamako, a haven for musicians and her own regular performing space. "I helped build the hotel myself. I did it to show women that you can make your life better by working. And many more are working these days, forming co-operatives to make soap or clothes."

Although she also has been a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization she still says she does not want to be a politician: "While you're an artist, you're free to say what you think; when you're a politician, you follow instructions from higher up.
As a child, Oumou Sangaré sang in order to help her mother feed their family as her father had abandoned them. At the age of five, she was well known for her talents as a gifted singer. After making it to the finals of a contest for the nursery schools of Bamako, she performed in front of a crowd of 6,000 at the Omnisport Stadium. At 16, she went on tour with the percussion group Djoliba.

She then worked with Amadou Ba Guindo, a great maestro of Malian music, with whom she recorded her first album, Moussoulou ("Women"), which was very successful in Africa, with more than 200,000 copies sold."

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