Nahawa Doumbia won a Radio France Internationale singing contest at twenty and released her spare, guitar-and-voice debut La Grande Cantatrice Malienne, Vol. 1 in 1981, one of the earliest widely circulated records to carry the Wassoulou region's traditional song forms to a broader Malian audience. She later added bass, percussion, and electric guitar to her sound and remains active, but her early recordings stand as a touchstone for the acoustic Wassoulou tradition that Oumou Sangaré's generation built on.

the sound in question

1981

KourouniNahawa Doumbia