Mariem Hassan was born in a dried-up river bed on the Saharan coast of Africa. Her parents herded goats and camels. Spain was colonising the Sahrawi’s land and as a teenager Hassan found her voice singing at anti-colonial political meetings. Sometimes they got caught and once she had to escape through a window.
Eventually, the Spanish left and were replaced by the Moroccans. They forced the Sahrawis into Algeria and desert refugee camps. War followed. The women, including Hassan, became nurses. The men, including her brothers, became soldiers. Three of them were killed in the fighting. Meanwhile, she continued to sing and soon she became the voice of the struggle. She sang in refugee camps throughout the desert to raise morale and sang in foreign countries to raise awareness.
The war ended in 1991. Hassan continued her mission of singing about the struggle of her people and their displacement but in 2005, she was diagnosed with cancer. She battled on for 10 years, giving her last concert in 2014 to the FiSahara Festival, held in a Sahrawi refugee camp. She passed away in 2015 aged only 57.
Hassan’s music is beautiful and her voice mesmerising, not just for its sound but also for the determination of her message. The song I’ve chosen, from her 2005 album, is a desert blues with a rumbling, rich rhythm. It mourns all those lost to the fight for their land, including her three brothers and is a wonderful exhibition of the ‘Voice of the Sahara’.