Dimi Mint Abba

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Dimi Mint Abba ( Arabic ديمي منت آبا, DMG Dīmī mint Ābā , born Loula Bint Sidati Ould Abba ; * December 25, 1958 in Tidjikja , Mauritania ; † June 4, 2011 in Rabat , Morocco ) was a Mauritanian musician and singer . She is considered the best-known representative of the griot tradition in Mauritania.

Life

Dimi Mint Abba was born into an Iggawin family. Her mother was the singer and Ardin player Fire Mounina Mint Eida, her father the singer and composer Sidati Ould Abba, who composed the Mauritanian national anthem. From early childhood she was taught by her mother to play the tbal drum and to sing, from the age of ten on the Ardin harp. In 1976 she appeared on the radio with her parents for the first time and soon after won a singing competition. A year later she represented her country at the International Oum Kalsoum Song Contest in Tunisia and won the competition with the song Sawt Elfan Das gave her her breakthrough. She became known as the “desert diva” and represented Mauritania at other major international festivals, for example in Iraq, Algeria and Morocco. She made numerous tours through Africa and soon thereafter also through Europe . In 1989 she was invited to tour the United Kingdom . She was accompanied by her husband Khalifa Ould Eide († 2001) on the Tidinit and her daughter Fairuz from her first marriage with Seymali Ould Hamed Vall. Fairuz took care of backing vocals and percussion . Recordings in Europe followed in 1990 and 1992. A tour of the USA followed in 1993/94 . In 2006 she performed at the Womad Festival and the BBC Proms with the Spanish band Radio Tarifa as part of the UK's Festival of Muslim Cultures at the Royal Albert Hall . Recordings were also made at World Circuit , but they were not released immediately because some musicians in their band had been refused entry. In 2009 she went on a tour to Australia with a performance at the WOMADelaide festival. After an accident on May 27, 2011, she was admitted to a hospital in Rabat and died on June 4, 2011 of a cerebral hemorrhage. The Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz described her death as a national loss . She also had a daughter with Khalifa Ould Eide.

Discography

  • Moorish Music from Mauritania (1990; recorded with her husband, guitarist Khalifa Ould Eide, released on World Circuit as the only British record release)
  • Musique et chants de Mauritanie (1992, published by the French record label Auvidis)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Robin Denselow: Dimi Mint Abba obituary . In: The Guardian . June 9, 2011, ISSN  0261-3077 (English, theguardian.com [accessed October 20, 2017]).
  2. ↑ a b c d Ken Hunt: Dimi Mint Abba: Musician known as 'la diva du désert' and hailed . In: The Independent . June 17, 2011 (English, independent.co.uk [accessed October 20, 2017]).
  3. ↑ Dimi Mint Abba: Afropop Artist - Mauritania, West Africa. (No longer available online.) May 23, 2006; Archived from the original on May 23, 2006 ; accessed on October 20, 2017 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.afropop.org
  4. ↑ BBC - Press Office - Dimi Mint Abba and Radio Tarifa at BBC Proms. BBC, July 12, 2006, accessed October 20, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Dimi Mint Abba . In: Encyclopædia Britannica .
personal data
SURNAME Dimi Mint Abba
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Loula Bint Sidati Ould Abba (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mauritanian musician
DATE OF BIRTH December 25, 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH Tidjikja , Mauritania
DATE OF DEATH June 4, 2011
Place of death Rabat , Morocco