Mamman Sani

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Mamman Sani is a Nigerien-Ghanaian musician. He first recorded his electronic organ music in 1978 but it remained largely obscure and undiscovered until 2013.^[1] He is considered to be an early pioneer of synth music in Niger.^[2] Sani found unlikely fame in Denmark, regularly appearing in the playlist of Copenhagen bars.^{[citation needed]}

In 1952, Mamman Sani was born in Accra to a privileged family. His father, of Nigerien descent, was the son of a World War I Colonel. Sani's mother was Ghanaian and the daughter of a chief.^[3][4] At the end of the 1950s^[vague] his family moved to Niger, where his father became a librarian for the American Cultural Center, which gave him exposure to cultural materials from all over the world.^[1]

Sani began to play music in 1968. He was a fan of Otis Redding, James Brown, and Percy Sledge.^[3] After being an English teacher for some years^[vague], he got a job as a UNESCO functionary. In his role at UNESCO, Sani began to travel internationally.^[4] During a UNESCO meeting, Mamman purchased an Italian Orla electronic organ from a delegate from Rwanda.^[4][5]

His first professional experience as a musician was being hired by Niger's national television station to compose credits and interludes for their shows.^[3][6] At the time, Sani was still employed by UNESCO.

In 1978 he recorded his first album at Niger National Radio in two takes. It was released as a limited series of cassettes.^[4]

In 2013, Christopher Kirkley, an American musician and producer with a specialty in Sahelian music, discovered Mamman's recordings while searching through the musical archives of the Niamey museum.^[3] Kirkley described hearing Mamman's music: “It was esoteric and bizarre, unlike anything I had ever heard—the imaginary audio track to an arcade game of desert caravans trek through an pastoral landscape of 8-bit acacias and pixelized sand.”^[2] That year Kirkley released the recordings through his Portland-based record label Sahel Sounds, as "La Musique Electronique du Niger".^[1]