She sings for women
‘In every way that you can imagine, women are shining,’ says trail-blazing Malian artist Oumou Sangaré, who touches down in Toronto this weekend
She’s known worldwide as “the Songbird of Wassoulou.”
But over the past three decades, Malian singer-songwriter Oumou Sangaré, who makes a rare Toronto appearance on Saturday, has meant so much more, especially to the women of Africa.
Since she burst on the scene with 1989’s landmark album “Moussolou” (“Women” in English) Sangaré has decried arranged marriages, polygamy, sexual subservience and genital mutilation while advocating for and empowering women to assert their personal rights.
In Western and Central African countries, legal polygamy is widespread — in 2019, the Pew Research Center estimated that 34 per cent of Malian individuals were in polygamous relationships — and the rights of wives are often suppressed.
Fortunately, the tide is changing: Sangaré, 56, said that overall conditions for women, especially education, have improved since she began her career.
“It’s much better, otherwise I would have stopped the fight,” said the Mali superstar, who spoke in French during a recent phone interview from Iowa City that was translated in real time.
“As I get older, I see every day how conditions are getting better in every domain … a lot of young women are going to school and pursuing their studies for a long time. They take their example from people like me who didn’t go to school and worked hard for my life. They understand that work is liberating.
“In every way that you can imagine, women are shining. We see that and it gives us strength and inspiration. Many are saying, ‘Thanks to you, Oumou, and thanks to your songs.’ I’m receiving a lot of compliments for my role and that’s what’s given me the energy to keep going.”
Sangaré also leads by example in ventures outside music: she runs her own hotel, is involved in the automobile business, has invested in agricultural interests and has founded a Mali version of a TV talent show.
“It’s very important to me, because for 34 years I’ve been encouraging women to work to be independent,” she said. “So, with my modest means, I found it important to create some examples for women to follow. It’s important for me to have a say in the development of my country, which is very poor.”
Sangaré added that the attitudes of Malian men toward women and marriage are also improving.
“Many men accompany me today in my battles. And it’s different today, because lots of young men go to school and they learn. This was not the case before.
Sangaré gives credit to those who have come before her, including Malian singer Tata Bambo Kouyaté, who denounced underage marriage before Sangaré was born.
“But when I came into the world, it was quiet,” Sangaré said. “There was not anyone speaking about these issues. And my own life inspired me to defend the cause of women.”
When she was two, Sangaré’s father entered a second marriage and abandoned her pregnant mother, Oumou and her siblings, relocating to the Ivory Coast with his new bride. Sangaré took to selling packets of water and singing as a child to help make ends meet.
When she was a teenager, her striking voice caught the attention of Lamine Sidibe, director of Mali’s Instrumental Ensemble, who literally plucked her from the streets. She soon joined Bamba Dembélé’s Djoliba Percussion Band and toured Europe in what was literally an eye-opening experience.
“What struck me was the freedom of women,” Sangaré recalled. “I saw at that time, which was 1986, that women were working in every field without any problem. This was not the case in Mali.”
Upon her return to Bamako, Sangaré formed her own band and adopted Wassoulou music as her profession.
Wassoulou incorporates such traditional instruments as the sixstring kamelen n’goni harp; the djembé, a skin-covered, rope-tuned hand drum, and the calabash, a gourd used for percussion.
Originally rooted in hunting songs from the Wassoulou region of Southern Mali, the art form has evolved to become an outlet for women’s grievances. Sung by Sangaré in the languages of Bambara and Wassoulounké, it’s a call-andresponse configuration with her backing singers that is modernized with electric guitar, keyboards and bass.
“Wassoulou music does not only come from hunters,” Sangaré explained. “It’s extremely rich in culture. Music was very important for the Wassoulou, but previously women did not have a voice … So it’s an old tradition and singing was the moment where women could speak about their concerns.”
When she released “Moussolou” — which sold 250,000 copies out of the gate and transformed her into a superstar overnight — Sangaré said she was already “a revolutionary.”
“I wanted to expose the suffering of women,” she said.
She certainly grabbed a lot of attention, recording acclaimed, outspoken albums like 1993’s “Ko Sira,” 1996’s “Worotan” and 2009’s Grammy-nominated “Seya.” Sangaré has built a global following with appearances at the WOMAD Festival, the Roskilde Festival and the Melbourne Opera House, and toured with some of Africa’s top musicians, including Baaba Maal and Femi Kuti.
Currently touring 2022’s “Timbuktu,” Sangaré’s sphere of influence has reached some of pop music’s biggest stars, as she’s collaborated with Alicia Keys, recorded with Meshell Ndegeocello and filmed a documentary with banjo master Béla Fleck.
Beyoncé sampled the Sangaré song “Diarraby Nene” for her “The Lion King: The Gift” entry “Mood 4 Eva” and Sangaré won a Grammy as part of Herbie Hancock’s starstudded “The Imagine Project.”
She has been a goodwill ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and is a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in France, among other honours. Just this year, she was awarded Sweden’s Rolf Schock Prize for the Musical Arts.
But no matter where she goes, Sangaré finds that local issues aren’t so local after all.
“All women suffer from injustice,” she said.
“Husbands of women in Europe don’t take multiple wives, but they may take a mistress or see someone else. By exposing the suffering of Africans, I’ve learned that all women suffer these same issues.
“But I think now, men in general are trying to understand women. All around the world, things are much better now. We are moving forward toward what we could call ‘civilization.’ Men are working to understand women, and they are understanding that men and women complete each other, but the fight continues.”