RFI Musique: What events of 2008 made the biggest impression on you?
Oumou Sangaré: Without a doubt, Obama winning the presidential election! I was in Holland at the time, on tour with Trilok Gurtu, and when they announced the result I just felt so happy! I was lucky enough to go out to Boston recently and sing at Harvard University where Obama studied. When I was over in the U.S. I saw for myself how people’s attitudes to the black community have changed. I noticed it the minute I arrived. The other event that really made an impact on me last year was a tragic one - all those young children fleeing Africa and piling into makeshift boats to get to Spain then dying somewhere lost out at sea.

Would you describe yourself as a militant singer, a rebel?
I think those words are a bit strong actually. I’m just someone who says what I want to say, someone who insists on doing things my own way. I’d say my strength lies in resistance rather than out-and-out activism. I’m someone people listen to in my role as a singer and, as a woman and a mother, I feel I have to stand up and denounce certain things. That’s something I’m very much committed to doing until the end of my days! 

You’ve campaigned on a lot of issues in your career, but you’ve always been most outspoken about women’s rights…
My first album, Moussoulou ("Women"), which I recorded in Abidjan back in 1989, was a result of all the questions I’d asked myself over the years sitting alone in my room wondering about the reasons behind my mother’s suffering after my father abandoned her. People’s attitudes are gradually changing, but we’re not there yet. We still have a long way to go! Even now, on my new album, I’m still singing about the issue of under-age girls being forced into marriage against their will. A father who marries off his daughter too young has to realise he’s completely ruining her life.

Why have you always insisted on singing in the traditional style associated with Wassulu - a region in southern Mali - whereas you were actually born in Bamako?
Wassulu is where my mother comes from. Using the traditional rhythms from her home region and singing in Wassulu n'ke, the local dialect - a form of Bambara - is my tribute to the woman who made me what I am today. My mother was always a fighter. That’s why I called the hotel I opened in Bamako in 2002 "Wassulu", so that the name would really stick in my compatriots’ minds.

The title of your new album is Seya - "joy." Are you trying to get across a new message here?
Yes, definitely! A very positive one. Seya is a song that I first performed at the "Wassulu", where I sing every Saturday night whenever I’m in Bamako. Every time I’ve sung Seya there everyone would suddenly leap up from their tables and start dancing. Funnily enough, Nick Gold, the director at my record label, World Circuit, chose that track as the first single release. The song’s about this really lovely, elegant girl who spreads joy and happiness wherever she goes. What I want to do on my new album is get a very positive message across. At the end of the day, a happy woman makes everyone around her happy. Women are like the stars twinkling away here down on earth.

 

Read album review  Oumou Sangaré  Seya

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 Listen to an extract from Seya

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