Mariem Hassan

Mariem Hassan مريم حسن
Hassan on 7 November 2008
Background information
Born	1958 Ued Tazua, Smara, Western Sahara
Genres	Folk music, Roots music
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocalist
Labels	Nubenegra
Associated acts	Shahid El Uali, Leyoad, Nayim Alal

Mariem Hassan (Arabic: مريم حسن‎, born 1958), is a singer and writer of lyrics from Western Sahara.

Biography

Life

She was born in 1958 in the Ued Tazua, 20 km. away from Smara (Western Sahara). She was the third of a total of 10 siblings of a nomadic family. Although they weren't a Igaouen family, music and poetry was important in the family, as various relatives were singers, poets or dancers. In 1975, following the Green March and the Madrid Accords which ceded the territory to Morocco and Mauritania she went with her family, first to Meharrize and finally to the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria. She lived there for 27 years, until 2002, when for work and health reasons she moved to Spain, first to Barcelona and finally to Sabadell, where she lives with her husband and sons.

Career

In early 1976, she joined the musical group "Shahid El Hafed Buyema", which following the death in combat of El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed, first president of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic turned to "Shahid El Uali". She travelled with the band to many countries, playing on cultural events, and recorded a few albums on different countries (Holland in 1980 [unreleased], France in 1989...), with the help of local solidarity committees. The most known of that albums was Polisario vencerá, recorded in Spain in 1982.

Mariem started her solo career with a pair of songs in the 1998 (the year that "Shahid El Uali" disbanded) v.v.a.a. album A pesar de las heridas, released by the Spanish label Nubenegra. For the following concerts in Europe, she was accompanied with the group "Leyoad" (in which Nayim Alal plays the guitar). Following the success of their live performances, they recorded in 2000 a collaboration album, Mariem Hassan con Leyoad (in 2002).

In 2004, she contributed to the v.v.a.a. album Medej, followed by a extensive touring in Europe (Barcelona, Madrid, Leipzig, Helsinki, Brussels, Zurich, Antwerp...). One week before leaving Belgium she received a diagnosis of breast cancer and was operated on right after returning to Spain.

In 2005, her real first solo album was released. Deseos was an "ardent album, full of rhythm". It doesn't reveal the tragedies happening during its recording: the death from leukemia of Baba Salama (producer of the album and guitarist) before the album was published and Hassan's struggle with breast cancer.

Discography

Studio albums

• 2002 Mariem Hassan con Leyoad
• 2005 Deseos
• 2010 Shouka

Featured in

• 1998 A pesar de las heridas - Cantos de las Mujeres Saharauis
• 2004 Medej - Cantos antiguos Saharauis
• 2007 Hugo Westerdahl - Western Sahara

Noted lyrics

Among her works is the Spanish language song "Tus ojos lloran" (Translation: 'Your eyes weep'), dealing with the experience of woman coping with the sufferings of life and bereavement.^{[1][unreliable source?]}

Use of Spanish in lyrics

Hassan's use of the Spanish language in her lyrics relates to the former status of Western Sahara as a Spanish colony, and where the Spanish language continues to act as a lingua franca.

Background and reputation

Owing to political uncertainties, Hassan has not lived in Western Sahara in recent years.

Her work has been added to the World Music National Geographic database.^[2]

She has collaborated with the singer and lyricist Nayim Alal, also from Western Sahara.

See also

• Music of Western Sahara
• Nayim Alal
• Aziza Brahim
• Spanish language#Africa

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]

External links

• Bio of Mariem Hassan on her label website
• Mariem Hassan MySpace
• Bio of Mariem Hassan
• CD review of Shouka (2010)

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Date of birth	1958
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