Oum
style, her personality, her individuality – the mark of great artists.”
- Babelmed
Artist information
Oum, who grew up in cosmopolitan Marrakech where she gained her first musical experiences in a gospel choir led by an African American of Jamaican descent and who studied Architecture in Rabat will release on 20.02.2026 her new album "Dialddar".
Bold in its concept, Dialddar (homemade) relies solely on vocals, percussion and Oud, offering stripped-down music that returns to the fundamentals. This artistic choice evokes the origins of music: the voice and the rhythm.
Faithful to her Moroccan roots, Oum pays homage to traditions, while revisiting them through a contemporary approach. She uses to build the backbone of her songs: bendirs, taarijas, calabashes, glass, claps, and body percussion, along with natural elements such as water, stones, salt, and seeds.
Poetic and introspective lyrics find their home within the rhythms and percussion, offering an immersive experience in sensitive soundscapes.
An invitation to rediscover music in its purest form.
What makes Oum so interesting is her extremely strong, seductive voice that is characterized by the combination of different musical genres and originality, with her songwriting for which she is mixing discretly traditional Arabic and music from the Western Sahara (rythms of Gnawa and Hassani) with soul and jazz. Thanks to which the artist became an ambassador for Moroccan culture and is called the Moroccan diva. Music which is atmospheric, danceable, dynamic and endlessly topical.
Her musical journey already brought her to renowned stages like Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Philharmonie Cologne, Bozar (Palais Des Beaux Arts) Brussels, Philharmonie Luxembourg, La Cigale Paris, Cosmopolite Oslo and festivals like Rio Loco Toulouse, Le Suds a Arles, Africa Festival Würzburg and AL Festival Berlin.
After “Soul of Morocco” in 2013 and “Zarabi” in 2015, Oum released a new milestone with their third album “DABA”. Together with the Palestinian poet, singer and oud player Kamily Jurban, to whom she entrusted the artistic direction, she traveled to Berlin with her musicians to record an album that is both atmospheric and danceable. The album title "Daba" means something like "now" in Moroccan. While their predecessor albums "Soul of Morocco" and "Zarabi" were limited to one space or one geographical location - North Africa, the desert or Morocco - this time the point of reference is the here and now. The arrangements on "DABA" are largely acoustic, but for the first time electronic sounds decorate their songs, which echo the lyrics, which revolve around current problems. She sings about environmental degradation, the fate of the refugees, the social status of women and the need to live fully in the opposite ward. On Daba, Oum is accompanied by Yacir Rami (Oud), Damian Nueva (bass), Camille Passeri (trumpet), Carlos Mejias (saxophone and sound design) and Amar Chaoui (percussion).
Oum grew up in cosmopolitan Marrakech. There she gained her first musical experiences in a gospel choir led by an African American of Jamaican descent. She sang Jamaican songs and traditional American gospel songs.
Fight against clichés
She studied architecture for five years but did not take the final exams. Not because she was afraid of it, but at that point her decision was clear: she wanted to become a professional musician. The questions “It's great that you sing, but what is your real job?” she no longer liked to hear her acquaintances and friends. Oum wanted to announce to everyone aloud: "I'm a singer and that's my job!"
Oum is combative. It is imperative that she counter the clichés that Moroccan women reduce to a veil, Arabs to fighters of God: “Reality is often hidden behind a veil, skin color or religion. It is important to give everyone the chance to define themselves. It's easy to point a finger at people and call them Islamists or Arab terrorists. I definitely have to intervene. »
The Moroccans are proud of Oum. Many generations can identify with her. Whole families come to their concerts. "The veiled mom sings my erotic songs by heart together with her 13-year-old son, who is a big fan of mine," she explains. Your music doesn't stop at cultural affiliation, age or denomination.