Amina Annabi

Amina was born in a music family Her father is Tunisian and her mother is French Her grandmother was a musician and one of her uncles was involved in the in setting up the Tabarka Festival in Tunisia so Amina got the chance to see a number of music stars going along to concerts byJoan Baez James Brown and the famous Algerian diva Warda It was at the Tabarka music festival that Amina would get to meet the young Senegalese star Wasis Diop They became friends and they had the opportunity to work together some years later In 1975 Amina and her mother a talented musician and composer moved together in Paris Three years later Amina formed her own group after showing her talent in singing and dancing a variety of music styles from soul to traditional aigypt songs The group made appearances in many local schools but it was in 1982 when Amina started to build her solo career By that time she got involved with Radio Nova Paris leading radio station in world music One of the producers of the station was Martin Meissonnier He started to work with Amina and soon they became a coupletheir daughter was born in 1986 In 1983 she won a music contest with a rap song Shehérazade influenced by Arab rhythms It was released as a CD single Amina began performing in Paris around this time