Oumou Sangaré

Oumou Sangaré (born February 25, 1968, Bamako, Mali) is a Malian singer and songwriter known for championing women’s rights through wassoulou, a style of popular music derived from vocal and instrumental traditions of rural southern Mali. The earliest influence on Sangaré’s musical development was her mother, a migrant to Bamako from Mali’s Wassoulou region, where women had long figured prominently in traditional-music performance. As a skilled singer, Sangaré’s mother was often hired to perform at...