Oumou Sangaré

Grammy Award-winning musician Oumou Sangaré has won widespread acclaim since her debut album Moussoulou was a hit across Africa in 1989.

Also known as “The Songbird of Wassoulou”, her music draws heavily on the music of that region and covers themes including marriage, motherhood and the challenges of living in a patriarchal society.

She has released five critically lauded albums, and won a Grammy in 2011 for her collaboration with Herbie Hancock on the song Imagine.

Sangaré can relate to the difficulties faced by many families in her home country of Mali and elsewhere: as a teenager she was singing in local talent competitions to help her mother pay the bills, after her father had left the family.

She was appointed an FAO Goodwill Ambassador in 2003. Her work in the role has included visiting FAO projects in Mali, where she met with the President, and performing in several awareness-raising concerts.

“I will exert all efforts to spread the message of FAO all over the world and to the largest possible audiences,” she said. “In fact, our ultimate goal is to reach every individual."

Sangaré was jointly awarded the IMC-UNESCO International Music Prize in 2001, for her contribution to music “as well as for the cause of peace, for the understanding among peoples and international cooperation".