Biography
Born and raised in the Saharawi refugee camps lining the frontier between Algeria and Western Sahara, Brahim reflects both the sorrow and the hope of her people in her music. One of her earliest cultural influences was her revolutionary grandmother, Al Khadra Mint Mabrook, known as ‘the poet of the rifle’.
At the age of 11, Brahim received a scholarship to study in Cuba but returned to the refugee camps in 1995 as she was not allowed to pursue a university degree in music. Despite this setback, she began singing and playing in different musical ensembles, a process that continued when she moved to Spain in 2000. There she founded the eclectic Saharawi/Spanish band Gulili Mankoo with whom she released two self-produced recordings: the EP Mi Canto (2009) and an album Mabruk (2012), both on Reaktion, a French label specialising in Saharan music. Subsequent albums, released with Glitterbeat Records, include Soutak (2014), Abbar el Hamada (2016) and Sahari (2019), which topped the World Music Charts Europe (WMCE) in December 2019 and January 2020.
Brahim has performed at major festivals and venues, including the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London (2009). She also acted in and produced the music for the film Wilaya (2011), which received the Best Original Soundtrack Silver Biznaga at the Málaga Spanish Film Festival (2012). She was also nominated for the Freedom to Create Prize (2009).
Born in 1976 in the Sahrawi refugee camps, Tindouf, Algeria, Brahim lives and works in Barcelona.
SAF participation:
Sharjah Biennial 15 Music Programme (2023)
