Mariaa Siga

A Senegalese singer/songwriter with a warm, breezy style, Mariaa Siga's reggae- and jazz-inflected songs tend to favor gentler, acoustic palettes. She released her debut album, Asekaw, in 2019. Mariama Siga Goudiaby hails from the Casamance region in southern Senegal. She won a talent competition in 2009 that led to an opportunity for professional development, including music training and attention to image. Siga soon won a part in the TV movie Mon Rêve, which aired in Senegal in 2010. Continuing to build a more complex musical style over the next several years, she began to combine elements of genres including reggae and jazz with African influences, most prominently the familiar rhythms of her native Casamance. In 2016, Siga was named one of the winners of the Tremplin music competition at the Festival des Vieilles Charrues in Carhaix, France. Her songs "Ya Sama None" and "Asekaw" saw release in 2017, and she made her debut at the Kayissen Festival in Casamance the following year. That led to an appearance on Yoro N'Diaye's Sunu Folk compilation later in 2018 (as Maria Siga). Siga toured Morocco, France, and Canada in 2019, releasing her first album, Asekaw, as Mariaa Siga that October. With her profile on the rise, she competed on the ninth season of French TV's The Voice: La Plus Belle Voix in early 2020. After being eliminated, she embarked on a brief tour of France and released a music video for "Wama," a song that had originally appeared on the Sunu Folk compilation. ~ Marcy Donelson