Fatema El Kout was born in 1937 to a family of
Sufis in Douar Hammoun, a village in the Essaouira region of Morocco. Her mother died when she was young, and she was married off at the age of 12. Upset, she managed to escape to her aunt in
Essaouira and obtain a divorce. Here she met Sheikh Jilali, who began to train her in the Aita, and encouraged her to become a chanteuse. She faced family disapproval upon becoming a folk singer, with her father threatening to kill her. She fled to
Safi with Jilali, whom she married in the 1970s. In the 1970s, she attained great popularity for her songs
Mal hbibi malou and
li bgha hbibi. In demand to perform at ceremonies of the Moroccan social elites, she was also invited to sing at the wedding of
King Hassan II's daughter,
Lalla Hasna, in 1994 at
Fez. Hamounia was a great exponent of the Hasbaouia mode of Aita, which is in danger of extinction as the number of singers capable of interpreting it falls. Under her tutelage, several talented musicians have emerged, such as Khadija Margoum, another doyenne of Aita, Hajib, a
chaâbi performer, and Cheikha Tsunami. == Death ==