Sarabah

It is not easy for women to be successful in Senegal’s male-dominated rap scene. Sister Fa did it. Subjected to female genital mutilation as a child, the Queen of Hip Hop now campaigns to protect Senegalese girls from a similar fate. In the documentary film Sarabah, she returns to her native village to try to put an end to this centuries-old tradition through music and education.

While oppression was a recurrent subject in Sister Fa’s repertoire, female genital mutilation, prohibited by Senegalese law since 1999, did not occur in her songs. When she moves to Berlin with her Austrian husband and gives birth herself, she decides to travel to her native country and break the taboo using music performances with her band. The campaign meets with mixed reactions. One man states that only circumcised women can be sexually pleased. And a midwife explains the terrible suffering circumcised women experience in delivery. Despite her fear of being rejected, Sister Fa engages in dialogue with the women who rule the village. Will these women abandon a centuries-old tradition?

Sister Fa is one of the activists featured in the A Matter of ACT main programme and will attend the festival.