Rokia Traoré

Rokia Traore was born January 26, 1974, in Mali, to diplomat Mamadou Dianguina Traore and his wife, Oumou Traore, both members of the same clan. Rokia Traore is the middle child of seven. She grew up playing beside the famed River Niger, but also spent portions of her youth in Algeria, Saudi Arabia, France, and Belgium because of her father’s diplomatic postings. Jacques Szalay, director of the French Cultural Centre in Bamako, was the first to encourage her in her career. She was then championed by Northern Mali guitarist/singer Ali Farka Toure during the period when she took the Radio France Internationale prize as African Discovery of ’97.