Chicago, Illinois, USA - Mauritanian singer Malouma will be performing Monday, April 11, at 7p.m. in the Claudia Cassidy Theater (Chicago). Admission is free.

Malouma is both a respected artist and a controversial advocate for women's rights. She has a pan-African and trans-continental style that pays tribute to Mali's guitarists, America's great blues singers and is suffused with Moorish and European influences. She is backed by guitars and tidinit, with additions of both folk and modern instrumentation.

Malouma has harmonized traditional pentatonic Mauritanian music with other folk music forms, notably blues. She has met a group of young Mauritanian musicians, the Sahel Hawl Blues, and they have soon tied bonds. Driven by the same concern-to be both rooted in traditional music and open to modern western music-the band, made up of ten young musicians, has integrated all the components of modern-day Mauritania: rich inspirational sources and multiple cultures (Moorish, Fulani, Tukulor [also known as Toucouleur], Soninke, Wolof, and Haratin).

Public programs are presented by the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. Public programs at the Chicago Cultural Center are partially supported by grants from the Chicago Cultural Center Foundation and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

[Photo courtesy of Pirineos Sur].