One of Niger’s most celebrated singers, Hamsou Garba, has died after a protracted illness in a hospital in the capital Niamey.
Aged 64, Garba who had been ill for some time was born in Maradi, Garba with a music career spanning over three decades.
She led a band of women and men, singing mainly in the Hausa language occasionally mixed with French. Her songs focused on faith, religion and cultural issues as well as political activism and nationalism.
Due to her talent and ability to sing impromptu, her admirers call her “the music box”. The national musician’s union has referred to her passing as a “national loss”, while performer Amadou Yacouba said people like her were “rare” in the industry.
She was briefly jailed in 2016, for criticising the government during a performance and for calling then-detained opposition leader Hama Amadou “Niger’s Mandela”.
Garba also spoke about social issues as an occasional talk-show host on her FM radio station Turaki.
Garba’s first completed album, Gargadi, was released in 2008, and it chronicled the themes she had become well-known and celebrated for.
That album was quickly followed by Tout est possible, which she released in 2009. Two years later, she began working on Les hommes de l’histoire and Aouran dollé.
Her death comes barely two weeks after the death of her husband, and a month since her oldest daughter died.