Oumou Sangaré to Make Apollo Debut

Malian musician and Grammy winner Oumou Sangaré will make her debut at The Apollo Oct. 29 in conjunction with the World Music Institute

Sangaré — who won the 2011 Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for “Imagine” with Jeff Beck, Pink, Herbie Hancock, India Arie, Seal and Konono No. 1 — is one of the world’s most popular performers of Wassoulou music, a West African style, performed almost exclusively by women using traditional instruments and emphasizing heavy use of rhythm and call-and-response vocals.

Sangaré’s songs delve into social criticism, particularly of the status of women in West Africa, and have been praised by Beyonce and Alicia Keys and invites comparisons to Grace Jones and Aretha Franklin.

“We’re thrilled to have Oumou make her Apollo debut during our Next Movement season,” Kamilah Forbes, The Apollo’s executive producer, said in a statement. “Over the past eight decades the Apollo has amplified Black voices and used its platforms to create an intersection of art and activism, so having Oumou perform a range of music from Wassoulou music to contemporary sounds is exactly the kind of artistic conversation that we champion.”  

Tickets for the show are available here.