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Oumou Sangare was born in Bamako, Mali in 1969. When Oumou was two years old, her father took a second wife and emigrated to Côte d'Ivoire, leaving Oumou's mother, who was pregnant at the time, and their three small children. The struggle to keep the family afloat was the backdrop to Oumou's childhood. Oumou's mother was a singer and her main source of income was the 'sumu' (wedding and baptism celebrations organised by women) or 'street parties' as Oumou calls them. "My mother's still a fighter" says Oumou. "She brought up six children on her own, with no money. Sometimes all she could find to feed us with was wild herbs. Oumou accompanied her mother to the sumus from the age of five, and very soon was in demand in her own right. She thrilled in the atmosphere of these parties, fired in equal measure by her passion for the music and by her desire to help her mother out by earning a little extra cash. READ MORE…
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