In his songs he calls for greater freedom and for the preservation of tradition and the development of culture.Abou Chihabi was born in the 50's into a modest family from Grande Comore, the largest of the islands in the Comoros (in full Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros), an archelago...
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In his songs he calls for greater freedom and for the preservation of tradition and the development of culture.
Abou Chihabi was born in the 50's into a modest family from Grande Comore, the largest of the islands in the Comoros (in full Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros), an archelago situated at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel and the Southern African mainland.
In 1968, he started singing in a group called 'The Dragons". In 1976 Abou Chihabi was catapulted to fame in the Comoros : the 'revolutianary' governement of that time organized a competition to find a new national anthem and his composition was chosen. A coup by a group of European mercenaries in 1978 brought his rapily expanding career to a sudden end, and he was forced to flee the country, leaving behind all his material. He went to kenya and continued working there.
He gave performances all over East Africa, before arriving in France with his wife in 1980.
After experiencing the difficult life of an emigrant, he was awarded a prize in a major competition ('Découvertes 1981', Prix des Auditeurs) - it was the first time a comorian singer had carried off an international prize.
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