Oumie Maisa Ngum, is among the many sprouting Gambian female mbalax stars with potentials to reach stardom.
Descending from a long line of griots , she was born in Jokadu District in the northern part of The Gambia. Unlike most of her colleagues, she found herself drawn to music at an early age. Her mum Ndey Mbaye was a renowned griot in Kuntair village. Little Oumie used to follow her at festivities and ceremonies. Her desire to become a musician was shattered, when she became handicapped at the age 9 and started using a crouch.
"I had malaria and was injected on my leg. The injection was not properly done and as a result I started using a crouch to walk" She recalled.
Upon completing primary school, she moved to the Greater Banjul Area and got enrolled at the Senegalese High School . One of her teachers, noticed that she had a voice that can make her a good musician. Who later, encouraged her to start singing and within a short duration her name spread in the school, earning her lot of young fans.
Few years after, the young female sensation joined the Five Star Band and went on a tour with them in 1999. She found it difficult to continue with the band as woman. She eventually left the music scene and got married.
Her husband, later encouraged her to continue with the music and from then it was no turning back. She started by releasing a single called mbindan bi , a wollof version of South Africa 's Brenda Fasse's popular wuli ndela song. It was recorded at the Bull Duff Studio and produced by the late MJ.
According to Onegambia.com, this single enabled her to establish herself in the Gambian showbiz. Many music devotees got impressed and her popularity started spreading like a wild bush fire. The former boss of the Gambia Radio and Television Services, Bora Mboge was one of her many fans. He exclusively sponsored the production of the mbindan bi video clip, which was frequently showed on the national TV.
She told Onegambia.com that, being a handicap will never deter her from reaching stardom. She recently dropped two more singles and in one of the singles entitled ' natou' she tries to express the plight of handicaps in The Gambia. In many African countries being a handicap can be very challenging. Most of them end up in the streets praying and begging for money to survive.
Oumie Maisa, who sings in wollof and doing mbalax music, is currently busy working on her debut album. In an interview with OneGambia Promotion's Ndey Busso this is what she has to say,
“If I get the required support I will soon release my album. I would like to appeal to producers and promoters to offer me help'