Mary Boyoi

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Mary Boyoi, a singer, is from the Murle tribe of Southern Sudan. She was born in Malakal, Sudan in 1980, three years before the civil war erupted in Southern Sudan. Her father, a Murle chief and military commander within the SPLA was killed in 1989 by military forces associated with the Northern government. After his death, her mother worked hard to keep her children safe from the war and find them education. They spent a number of years moving from different parts of Sudan and Ethiopia to avoid conflict.

Mary Boyoi attended school up until the age of 16, at which point her family forced her into marriage. She then stayed with her husband in Sudan until 1998 when they moved to the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. In 1999 they moved to Machakos, Kenya for further studies. In 2001, after years of abuse, she left the marriage and moved to Nairobi,Kenya. At this time, she was found assistance from a refugee foundation in Nairobi and completed a series of diploma courses. In 2002 she began working with humanitarian agencies in various locations throughout Southern Sudan. In 2006 she was remarried and in 2007 she began work on "Referendum", her debut album.