Malian-French Singer Inna Modja Is on a Mission to Spread Hope
To see more from Inna, check out @innamodjaofficiel on Instagram. For more music stories, head to @music.
For Inna Modja (@innamodjaofficiel ), music and art are more than just a career or hobby â theyâre her calling to bring a moment, however brief, of happiness and hope into the world. With that in mind, the 31-year-old singer and her friend Marco Conti Sikic, a photographer and director, started the street art project #wingsforfreedom, in which they paint angelic bird wings on walls and photograph people standing in front of them as if theyâre ready to fly.
âThe idea was, for a few minutes, let them dream,â Inna â pronounced âee-nahâ â says of the photos, which were taken throughout Africa, and in Paris right after the terrorist attacks in November. âIn those areas of the world, hope is the most important thing. You need hope to have the strength to keep on going.â Soon, theyâll take the project on the road to Brazil, as well as Calais, France, where theyâre teaching art and music to orphaned refugees from the Middle East.
Inna is so selfless about her charity work that when Instagram @music first calls her at her home in Paris, she asks if itâs OK to call back in five minutes, then profusely apologizes for the slight delay. The reason for the hold up? She had to work on a speech for the United Nationsâ International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. Itâs a personal cause to Inna, having been a victim of the horrific practice as a child at the hands of an older family member. The event marked her second time at the UN, after she performed there last year with Juanes and Cody Simpson, and came the day before her first proper concert in the United States at New Yorkâs Standard Hotel.
Musically, Innaâs style is the perfect fit for such a global event. Growing up in the northern Saharan part of Mali, she heard the countryâs traditional music, as well as â60s soul, Metallica, Boyz II Men, Barbra Streisand and many more. âBlues music takes its root in Malian music. Thatâs why I love American music, because it has a lot alignment with our traditional music.â On her third album, 2015âs Motel Bamako, which was inspired by her trips around the world, she raps in the Malian language of Bambara over a blend of soul, electronic and R&B music.
âI define myself as a desert girl. We are nomads. For me, traveling is a lot in my culture.â Recently, she spent time in Mexico, seeing Mayan ruins and learning about the countryâs relationship with mezcal and tequila in Zihuatanejo. As a photographer, she likes to capture the local flavors and architecture, as opposed to just the tourist sites. âIt helps me see the world on a bigger scale, so what Iâm talking about in my music gets richer because I get to meet another culture, another street.â
Tragically, being a northern desert girl is virtually impossible back in Mali. She still visits the country, but not in the area where she was raised. For the past several years, Islamic terrorists have held that part of the country and banned all forms of entertainment, from singing to soccer.
âEspecially as a female musician, talking about the crisis in Mali and doing a song called âTombouctouâ about whatâs going on there, itâs really difficult. There are some parts in the country where I wouldnât go because my life would be in danger. For them, I shouldnât be doing music, I shouldnât be not wearing a veil. But Iâm a musician. I have to spread the message.â
ââDan Reilly for Instagram @music
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