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Maryam Mursai

Additional Biography
Maryam Mursai was born on the 1 January 1950, Mogadishu, Banaadir, Somalia. Mursal began singing professionally at 16, performing the mix of blues, soul African and Arabic influences known locally as Somali jazz. She started performing with Waaberia, a 300-strong troupe of singers, dances, musicians and actors who were attached to the Somalin National Theatre. She was, however, temporarily forced to give up her musical career after her music was banned by the Somalian government. She fled the country with five of her children and briefly started in a refugee camp in Kenya and moved to Denmark where they were granted refugee status. She is the first Somali woman to sing Somali Jazz