| Maryam Mursal |
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| 1950 births | |
| mursal, maryam | |
| living people | |
| somali musicians | |
| real world artists | |
| mursal | |
| somali singers | |
| muslims | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
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Mursal grew up in a Muslim family with four daughters. As a teenager, she broke tradition and began singing professionally in Mogadishu . She performed in nightclubs and her brand of music, featuring a mix of Blues , soul African and Arabic influences, and known as "Somali jazz", became popular across the country. She performed solo and with Waaberi a 300-member music and dance troupe associated with the Somalian National Theatre. After criticizing the government, she was banned from singing for two years, and made her living driving a taxi. During the civil war in her homeland, she and her five children undertook an arduous seven-month journey across four countries on foot and by hitchhiking to finally reach safety in Djibouti , where she found asylum in the Danish embassy. It was this odyssey that provided the germ of her solo recording ''The Journey'', with guitars, sequencers and back-up vocals from Peter Gabriel . Mursal is an exile, now residing in Denmark . She has toured Europe with Waaberi and appeared with Nina Simone . Her work has been produced by Peter Gabriel's Real World record label. QUOTES :Traditional music is very important to me but I was also listening to people like Ray Charles , The Beatles , everything. :We as artists are responsible if something wrong is taking place in our society. It's very important for us to speak up, even though we may have to do it with a double tongue. We have to speak out for our people. :I was always the first woman. I was the first woman singing Somali jazz, I was the first star, and I was the first to drive a taxi! I was the first to drive a lorry, and now I'm the first woman from Somalia to have an international record. DISCOGRAPHY
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