Yacouba Moumouni is a singer and flautist

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

, leader of the jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

-ethnic

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 band from Niger

Niger

Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...

, Mamar Kassey

Mamar Kassey

Mamar Kassey is a jazz-pop-ethnic band from Niger. It is named after a legendary warrior who extended the Songhai Empire into the Sahara.-Style:The band's leader is singer and flautist Yacouba Moumouni...

. Moumouni is probably the best known Nigerien musician

Music of Niger

The music of Niger has developed from the musical traditions of a mix of ethnic groups.-Traditional musical styles:Hausa, Beriberi, Songhai, Djerma, Dendi, Fula, Wodaabe, and Tuareg traditions, most of which existed quite independently in the colonial period, have begun to form a mixture of styles...

 outside the country, and is much beloved in his home country.

Biography

Born in 1966 in a small sahel town some 125 miles from Niamey, Moumouni herded cattle with his family until his father died when he when he was 10. Falling out with his brother, he ran away to the capital, where he lived on the street for two years until his talent attracted the attention of a music teacher, and he was taken on as an apprentice. Mastering the traditional flute, he joined the Ballet National of Niger and then formed Mamar Kassey, an eight man group featuring Moumouni and guitarist Abdallah Alhassane. Together they have toured West Africa, Europe, and the United States, and have become the most popular musical group in Niger.