Miatta Fahnbulleh (singer)

Miatta Fahnbulleh is a Liberian singer and social activist.[1][2] As of May 2017, she was the interim coordinator of Concerned Citizens to Protect the Constitution.[3]

Miatta Fahnbulleh
Born
Monrovia, Liberia
OccupationSinger, song writer, social activist
RelativesHenry Boimah Fahnbulleh, Jr. (brother)

Early life

Born and raised in Monrovia,[2] Fahnbulleh is the daughter of Liberian politician and diplomat H. Boimah Fahnbulleh, Sr.[4][5] and women's advocate and one-time Liberia’s Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal and Child Health Mary Brownell.[5][6][7][8] She is elder sister to Henry Boimah Fahnbulleh, Jr., a former Foreign Minister and National Security Adviser.[5][9]

Fahnbulleh graduated from high school in Sierra Leone, where her father was ambassador from Liberia.[10] She wanted to be a singer, but social obstacles in her home country against women performing in public venues led to her seek opportunities elsewhere.[10][11] She attended junior college in Kenya, returning to Liberia after dropping out.[10] After singing for a time in Monrovia,[10] she then left for the United States in 1968 to study journalism.[12]

Career

While in the United States, Fahnbulleh studied at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.[12] She also performed, singing at the Apollo Theater in Harlem and working with the Negro Ensemble Company of New York.

In 1973, she visited Liberia to sing at the inauguration of President William R. Tolbert Jr.,[12] and moved back altogether in 1974.[13] She toured Europe and West Africa and worked with Hugh Masekela, touring the United States with him in 1976.[12][13] In 1977, she performed at the World Black Festival of Arts and Culture, FESTAC 77, in Lagos, Nigeria.[12][13]

Fahnbulleh moved to England in 1977, where she remained, and performed, for seven years[12][13] until returning again to Liberia. Since then, she has become a strong advocate for women's and children's issues.[2][13] She has advocated for greater inclusion of women in high government positions,[14][15] and in 2005 she founded the school Obaa's Girls Educational Outreach (OGEO), which "offers more than 180 scholarships to girls whom she hopes will become Liberia’s next generation of leaders."[11][16] She made a bid for the Liberian senate in 2014.[2] She has represented the Ministry of Health as Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal Mortality Reduction and Child Health.[17] As of May 2017, she was the interim coordinator of Concerned Citizens to Protect the Constitution.[3]

She features as narrator of the 2016 documentary The Land Beneath Our Feet, on land issues in Liberia.[18][19]

Selected discography
  • In Kokolioko (1979)
  • Miatta (1979)
  • Just 4-U (1989)
  • The Message Of The Revolution
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References
  1. Cooper, Helene (7 March 2017). "Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf". Simon and Schuster. Retrieved 2 February 2018 – via Google Books.
  2. "Miatta Fahnbulleh Enters Senatorial Race - Liberian Observer". www.liberianobserver.com. 18 May 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  3. Menjor, David S. (5 May 2017). "Taking Korkoya To Court | Liberian Observer". www.liberianobserver.com. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  4. Nyanseor, Siahyonkron (3 January 2002). "Liberiaxs Doyen Diva, Ms. Miatta Fahnbulleh". www.theperspective.org. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  5. Barrett, Lindsay (15 April 2017). "Adieu, Ma Mary Brownell". Daily Trust. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  6. Brooks, Cholo (23 October 2016). "Our Personality Of The Week Is Mother Mary Brownell; The Mother For All". GNN Liberia. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  7. Brooks, Cholo (15 March 2017). "Liberia Mourns, Lost Famous Woman, 'Ma Mary Brownell' Dies At 88". GNN Liberia. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  8. Obituary, FPA (14 March 2017). "Mother Mary Brownell, Renowned Liberian Civil Society Activist, Educator, Dies at 88". www.frontpageafricaonline.com. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  9. "Liberia: I Like Music! It's A Universal Language - Miatta". The Analyst. Monrovia. 5 July 2005. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  10. "Miatta Fahnbulleh | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  11. "Miatta Fahnbulleh: Educating the Next Generation | Cultures of Resistance Films". culturesofresistancefilms.com. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  12. Collins, John (27 May 2010). West African Pop Roots. Temple University Press. ISBN 9781439904978.
  13. Olukoju, Ayodeji (2006). Culture and Customs of Liberia. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313332913.
  14. "Liberia: Only Few Cabinet Seats Should Be for Women - Miatta Fahnbulleh". New Democrat. Monrovia. 22 April 2010. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  15. "CDC to Demonstrate Across Monrovia, November 28; While Miatta Fahnbulleh Wants 50% Women Appointed in New Government". The Liberian Dialogue. 21 January 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  16. Worzi, Alvin (15 October 2015), "Calls for Firm Action against More Than Me", Daily Observer.
  17. "Liberian Musicians Collaborate With Miatta Fahnbulleh to Inform Youth | Liberian Observer". www.liberianobserver.com. 1 October 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  18. Doue, Eric (28 July 2017), "'The Land Beneath Our Feet' Documentary to be Screened in Four Counties", The Chicken Bush.
  19. "The Land Beneath Our Feet (2016)" at IMDb.
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