Oumou Sangaré at the London Jazz Festival

Lopa Kothari is at the EFG London Jazz Festival for a special collaboration between Grammy award-winning Malian singer Oumou Sangaré and the BBC Concert Orchestra. Sangaré, affectionately known as 'The Songbird of Wassoulou' (a cultural region in West African where Mali, Ivory Coast and Guinea meet) developed her craft as a child, singing alongside her mother at weddings and local celebrations in the capital Bamako. A committed musical campaigner for women's rights, she blasted onto the international stage at the tender age of twenty-one with the release of her album Moussoulou, 'Women'. Several records later - her most recent being her ninth studio album, Timbuktu - she continues to blend socially-engaged subject matter with a gift for soaring melodies.

Produced by Fatuma Khaireh
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