Safiath, the stage name of Safia Aminami Issoufou Oumarou (born April 15, 1982), is a

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesKhartoum Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...

, and is ethnically

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Alg ...

and kanuri; her mother is Sudanese, while her father is Nigerien. It was he who told her that she could become anything she wanted, other than a fashion designer; consequently she went to

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

to study economics and banking. It was while there, in Rabat, that she joined a group that performed salsa, in which she played

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

; she then returned to Niger, where she found it easier to gain work as a musician than using her degrees. She is the lead singer of the rap group Kaidan Gaskiya, but has sung a variety of other genres as well. Many of her songs, which are performed in languages such as French,

Hausa Hausa may refer to: * Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa * Hausa language, spoken in West Africa * Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states * Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse See also ...

, Zarma and

Tamasheq Tamashek or Tamasheq is a variety of Tuareg, a Berber macro-language widely spoken by nomadic tribes across North Africa in Algeria, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. Tamasheq is one of the three main varieties of Tuareg, the others being Tamaj ...

, deal with social issues, similar to those of

Zara Moussa Zara Moussa (born c. 1980) is a Nigerien singer and rapper, performing under the name ZM. A native of Niamey, Moussa first came to public notice in 2002 when she won a hip-hop contest in her home city which had been organized by the French embass ...

; children's rights in particular are a popular theme in her work, and she has spoken of a desire to raise consciousness in a younger generation with her songs. Safiath is married to the rapper Phéno, with whom she has a child. She has represented Niger in numerous international musical competitions, including the

2013 Jeux de la Francophonie The 2013 Jeux de la Francophonie, also known as ''VIIèmes Jeux de la Francophonie'' ( French for ''7th Francophone Games''), were held in Nice, France, from September 6-15. This was the second edition of the games to be hosted in France and the fi ...

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

, and has spoken of wish that her countrymen would listen more to the music of their native land and less to more popular music; she has also said that she feels that Nigerien rap is declining in quality as it takes on more and more foreign influences, especially from French and American performers. Outside of Niger, Safiath has also collaborated with artists from other African nations during her performing career.

References

{{authority control 1982 births Living people People from Khartoum 21st-century Nigerien male singers Nigerien women rappers Tuareg people Zarma people Nigerien people of Sudanese descent