Oumou Sangaré is an internationally renowned and award-winning singer, composer, business pioneer, and activist who champions women’s rights in her native Mali and throughout Africa. Sangaré’s style is wassalou, a popular musical genre derived from folk traditions in the rural southwestern part of the country. She’s earned acclaim for her many recording landmarks, from her 1989 debut Moussolou, with its traditional wassalou sound; to 1996’s Worotan, which featured a horn section arranged by funk legend Pee Wee Ellis; to 2009’s Seya, which won Sangaré the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album. Her 2017 release, Mogoya, featured a collaboration with iconic Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen and was followed in 2022 by the typically eclectic Timbuktu.