SUDAN MUSIC LEGENDS ON TOUR
ABDELGADIR SALIM
ABU ARAKI
AL BALABIL SISTERS
OMAR IHAS
RASHA
YOUSIF EL MOSLEY
OMAR BENEGA
ALI ALSIGAID
DYNAMIQ
Nile Music Orchestra of Sudan
Plus very special surprise guest TBA
and the Original Nile Music Orchestra of Sudan plus special celebrity guests…
SUDANESE MUSIC & DANCE FESTIVAL
2008 ARTISTS
SHORT BIOGRAPHY
SUDANESE MUSIC & DANCE FESTIVAL
2008 ARTISTS
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SHORT BIOGRAPHY
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Abdel Gadir Salim is one of the most beloved singer/bandleaders Sudan has ever produced. Born and rasied in an oasis town in the heart of Kordofan, Sudan’s western desert region, he absorbed a wealth of traditional melodies and rhythms, which he adapted on his own to the oud. He took that experience to Khartoum where he studied at the Institute of Music and Drama. There he studied orchestral and classical music, and gained ideas he then applied to the Kordofan folklore he so loved. Through his work, Khordofan’s 6/8 merdoum rhythm, and others, became standard fare at urban weddings in Sudan. Salim is a statuesque presence and a warm, charismatic performer. His band combines the aesthetics of an orchestra and a jazz combo, combining, oud, violin, traditional percussion, saxophone and electric guitar. He is also an ever curious scholar of Sudanese music, and a hugely important figure in the modernization of the country’s folklore. He has released some of the best known recordings of Sudanese music around the world, including a ground breaking collaboration with the young rapper, Emmanuel Jal. Their album Ceasefire stands as a powerful symbol of collaboration and unity between artists from the country’s politically divided north and south.
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Abu Araki El Bakheit: This enormously respected singer/composer began his life in a traditional, rural village in Aljazeera province. When the family moved to Omdurman, home of Sudan’s radio and television orchestra, Abu Araki devoted himself equally to religious and musical studies. After graduating from the Institute of Music and Drama in 1978, he became a popular young singer on Sudanese radio, and released important recordings. After the rise of Sudan’s Islamist government in 1989, Abu Araki, like many Sudanese artists, had difficulty working, in part because of the strong social content of his song lyrics. Since that time, however, he has continued to perform as much as possible, including well-received performances for Sudanese diaspora communities around the world.
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Al Balabil burst upon the Sudanese scene in the 1970s. This trio of talented, musically trained Nubian teenagers—Hadia, Amal, and Hayat—became Khartoum’s answer to the Supremes, and they revolutionized social and artistic possibilities for Sudanese women. Coming from the northern Nubian region, where women enjoy great freedom and influence, these sisters were well positioned to shake things up in the socially conservative capitol. Working with a series of excellent composers, they began recording and performing and eventually gained a reputation throughout East and West Africa. Their career did much to foster acceptance and interest in Nubian culture. Although Al Balabil performed a variety of styles and sung in various languages, the goal of promoting Nubian language and culture has remained very important to them to this day. In the late 1980s, the sisters got married and devoted themselves to family. Hadia and Amal now live in the United States, but the sisters gather whenever possible to record and perform.
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Omer Ihsas grew up in the complex, multi-cultural environment of Darfur, and spent his youth absorbing the music of many local ethnic groups. An extraordinary singer, he moved to Khartoum and began a successful career. At first he tried to adapt himself to the conventions of the urban music scene, but with time, he realized that, “They were limited to 5 or 6 styles of music. I wanted to bring the richness of Darfur to the world.” With that revelation, Ihsas returned to Darfur to deepen his research. He created his band in 1987, for the first time adding string and brass instruments to arrangements of Darfur traditional sounds. In 1996, he added twelve dancers to the ensemble. Ihsas faced suspicions of being a musician with a political agenda, but his dedication to music and culture won out in the end, and he became a respected and influential representative of his region. For three decades, Ihsas has continued this mission, performing “Sudanese songs from Darfur” with his group, and remaining very much on the scene despite all the travail that has unfolded there. He returns to Darfur often and has performed in refugee camps as well as at gatherings all over the world aimed at resolving the conflict there.
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Rasha represents the modernizing, opening affect of artists from the Sudanese diaspora. Born in 1971 in central Sudan, she grew up in a family milieu of theatre and music. At the age of 20, she pursued a long-held dream to travel and went to visit her brother in Spain, which has been her base ever since. Rasha began her professional career there, performing with Spanish musicians, and creating two very different albums, Sudaniyat, a collection of inventive takes on Sudanese tradition, and Let Me Be, a crossover pop album made with mostly Spanish musicians. Rasha’s rich voice, and her willingness to revamp and modernize Sudanese music won her fans among Sudanese all over the world. Despite having sung frank messages about the troubles in Sudan, she began returning home on a regular basis, and finds much support and acceptance there. These days, she finds herself digging deeper into Sudanese tradition and is now at work on two recording projects, one approaching orchestral songs of central Sudan with what she calls a “classic jazz” approach, and another setting works by young Sudanese poets to music.
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Yousif El Mosley is a shining star among the producers, arrangers and composers of Sudan. From boyhood, he showed extraordinary musical talent, including the ability to hear music in his head and write it down directly. When he was 19 and studying music in Khartoum, his peers gave him the stage name El Mosely, a reference to a great Arabic musician from the past. El Mosely composed and recorded his own songs, as well as works for many of the great singers of the era. He went to Cairo to earn his Master’s degree during the 1980s. Upon return to Khartoum, he found conditions very difficult for musicians under the new, Islamist regime. Unwilling to perform in support of the government, he returned to Cairo and continued there producing works for the greatest Sudanese singers of that day, Mohammed Wardi, Abdel Gadir Salim, Abdel Karim Elkabli, Omer Ihsas and Al Balabil, among others. El Mosely’s 1996 song “Salimta” was a landmark recording credited with restoring calm between Egyptians and Sudanese refugees after a tense, political standoff between the two countries. Since 1997, El Mosely has lived and worked in the United States, where his musical services are in great demand within the country’s large communities of expatriate Sudanese.
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Mohammed Mergani is an accomplished violinist and arranger who now leads the Nile Strings, a crucially important ensemble of instrumentalists that accompanies a host of singers important to American Sudanese communities. As a young law student in his home town, Khartoum, during the 1970s, Mergani defied propriety and convention when he embraced a career in music. He was inspired by the evolution of devotional music (madih) into increasingly secular and popular music (haqiba), and even more adventurous genres that flourished prior to the rise of Islamism in the 1980s. He spent three years studying composition and theory in Moscow, and returned as a professor at the Institute of Music and Drama in 1989. He endured the fear and uncertainty shared by most professional musicians in Sudan during the early years of its repressive, Islamist government. Then, in 1996, he traveled to the United States with a musical group, and decided to stay there. He soon founded the Nile Strings in Virginia, and his group has been a magnet and a haven for many great Sudanese musicians no longer willing or able to work back home. Mergani sees the Sudanese as “one people,” and his group strives to embrace all the country’s diverse traditions and genres.
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Omar “Benaga” Amir was born in the west of Sudan, and began his performance career singing on a children’s television program on Sudanese television. He also continued his musical studies at the Institute of Music and Drama, with the goal of finding a way to represent the rich diversity of traditional rhythms and melodies he grew up with. In 1986, he joined with other students to form a group Igd el Djilad, a landmark ensemble dedicated both to preserving traditions of the past, and also addressing social issues of poverty and oppression. The group became extremely popular, but in the increasingly repressive milieu of the late 80s and early 90s, its members faced harassment, detention, and interrogation. Ultimately, in 1997, Omar Benaga moved to the United States. It was a wrenching decision that he made along with other key Igd el Djilad members. Today, as her pursues his recording and performance career among U.S. Sudanese communities, he is pleased to know that Igd el Djilad has reconstituted itself with a new generation of committed, idealistic young musicians.
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Ali Al Sigaid hails from Madani, along the Nile River, south of Khartoum. He was already a singer before studying voice, composition and piano at the Institute of Music and Drama. Upon his graduation in 1987, he began a formidable career as a composer, creating over 40 major works, and establishing himself as a major vocalist of the era. The Islamist regime that came to power in 1989 tried to force As Sigaid and other popular singers to support them with their music, but he refused. Although life was extremely difficult during these years, he tried to remain in Sudan, going to Cairo to record, and performing in Sudan where opportunities presented themselves. Barred from radio play and concert hall appearances, this grand artist was reduced to singing at weddings. Finally, in 1995, he decided the situation was untenable, and moved to the United States. Performing often with the Nile Strings out of the DC area, Al Sigaid performs 40-50 concerts a year for various Sudanese communities in the U.S..
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New addition to this special series....
Dynamiq
also known as THE SUDANESE CHILD, Kennedy O. Lorya born in Juba Sudan, Third born of 7 kids, Dynamq's love for music came from attending sunday school and also singing just for the sake of it. As a young kid, Dynamq & his family fled the war in Sudan & moved to Nairobi Kenya, about this time his mother was hospitilized due to a plane crash which happened in Sudan. Growing up in Kawangware in Nairobi Kenya was not easy for Dynamq's family, It was one of the worst Ghetto areas in Nairobi/kenya. To stay out of trouble, Dynamq played Football(soccer) and sang at stage shows hosted locally around his area. With his strong full of vibe voice, He always left the crowd wanting more. His first big stage show was at age 14 at the 1996 King Lions Sounds "Rasta Festival" held at the City Hall in Nairobi kenya. This is the point that dynamq took the Music thing serious. Even though soccer is his first love, musiq is more than anything that he could explain" Currently Dynamq is in the United States where he is working on his album "SUDANESE CHILD", While up in the states, Dynamq has managed to share the stage with various artists such as : Wayne Wonder, Buju Banton, Jabali Afrika, Beenie Man, Eek A Mouse, Beres Hammond, Sanchez, Wayne Wonder, The Roots, King Yellowman, The Wailers Band, John Browns Body, Luciano, Freddie McGregor, Marcia Griffiths, Lymie, Tinga Stewart, Burning Spear, Baha men, Third World, Just to name a few: So far Dynamq still Tours with the World Famous SHASHAMANE Sounds Intl & also has a good reputation as an entertainer, Out of West Africa there was Alpha Blondy,From South Africa there was Lucky Dube, Now from East Africa came Dynamq,"Gold Touch Magazine",2003 Greg Sout - "Afro Magazine" With One World Tribe - Upstate New York Most Entertaining Musicians - Buffalo NY Music Awards - 2001 Young Black and Talented - Musa Ali - "SAAB tv 2002", 2006, 2007 SOUTH SUDAN ARTIST OF THE YEAR.
For More information on these artists or to request interviews contact:
Dawn Elder @ 805-963-2415 or 805-680-4665 – EMAIL demgmt@aol.com
Influences
THE LEGENDARY ABDEL GADIR SALIM
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The Al Balabil, asahr alleil
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Ya solafat alfan - Albalabil
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Moshwar - Alblabil
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Omer Ihas Dafur Baladna
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ABU ARAKI - SUDAN
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CHECK IT OUT
Yousif El Mosley - Al Shog-music video...
Don't miss him at the Sudanese Music & Dance Festival July 10th and July 19th
face book: events - Sudanese Music & Dance Festival
www.myspace.com/sudanesemusicdancefestival
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Diya Wo Ailan - Rasha
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Sudanese Music & Dance Festival 2008
An unprecedented gathering of Sudanese musical and dance legends from all regions and religions of Sudan.
Who better to tell the story of Sudan than the country’s musicians and dancers? The vast East African nation is home to many cultures, religions and ethnic heritages. While this complexity has fueled conflict, it also brings tremendous depth and richness to Sudanese arts. The Sudanese Music and Dance Festival is a summit of superb singers, dancers and instrumentalists who believe that by bringing together their diverse cultural expressions, they point the way to a peaceful and productive future for Sudan. In its second year, this festival will present a magnificent tableau of performance arts from all corners of this fascinating African nation. The artists’ virtuosity is matched by a unique passion, for their performances are literally aimed at changing the course of history. Featured artists include veteran vocalists Abdel Gadir Salim, Abu Araki Al Bakheit, Omar Bannaga, Ali Sigaid and the legendary, female vocal group Al Balabil. Omer Ihas represents Darfur, and Rasha represents progressive trends in the Sudanese diaspora. The entire performance will be accompanied by the The Nile Music Orchestra made up of musicians from all over Sudan under the direction of one of Sudan’s most established composers and producers, Yousif El Mosely. Dawn Elder Management and the International Sudanese Artsand Music Institute (ISAMI) are co-sponsoring the 2008 Sudanese Music and Dance Festival, which will include performances throughout the United States, Canada, England and Europe
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SUDAN LEGENDS ON TOUR…. FIRST TIME EVER TOGETHER
ABDEL GADIR SALIM, ABU ARAKI, OMER IHAS, AL BALABIL SISTERS,
RASHA YOUSIF EL MOSELY,OMAR BENAGA, DYNAMIQ
ALI ALSIGAID and the Original Nile Music Orchestra of Sudan plus special celebrity guests to be announced.
Dawn Elder Management, Dr. Mutwakil, the International Sudanese Arts and Music Institute (ISAMI), and the Sudanese Information Center of Los Angeles are co-sponsoring & producing the 2008 Sudanese Music and Dance Festival.
MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: DAWN ELDER MANAGEMENT
805-963-2415 demgmt@aol.com
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AL BALABIL SISTERS - SUADN -
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1st Annual -2007 Central Park, NY
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LINKS:
www.afropop.org
Sudanese Music & Dance Festival's Friend Space (Top 40)
Party in Dallas, TX: Mz Party June 21th 2008 Mz party here in Dallas,TX at the Ethiopian restaurant be there!
Party in Dallas, Texas: July 5th Hey July 5th is Nabil and Michael a.k.a Mr.
08 Party here in Dallas!
Wedding and Party in Dallas, Texas: July 13th! James Ngor Akot and Sarah Awol Wedding! July 13, 2008 2:00 PM Reception: Plano Centre 200 East Spring Creek Parkway
Party in Dallas,TX: Twic Party July 27th Twic women are doing a party in Dallas,Texas on July 27th
SPLM WOMEN LEAGUE, USA June 14-15, 208 Body: First Annual Political Conference
At Blue Cypress Hotel
117 S Watson Road Arlington, TX 76010
Phone: (877)78.
HOTEL (40835)
Date: June 14-15, 2008
ALL ARE INVITED PLEASE COME ONE! COME ALL TO THIS HISTORIC EVENT FEATURING SPLM WOMEN LEADERSHIP IN POLITICS
EXPECTED QUESTION FROM GOSS MISSION, USA
1.
Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, Head of the Mission and Representative of SPLM Party in the USA
2.
Sunday Taabu, Consular, Community and Social-Cultural Affairs Officer and SPLM Women League Memeber
3.
Cecilia Adeng, Administrative Assistant GOSS Mission, Assistant to the SPLM representative USA and SPLM Youth League Provisional Chairperson
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL THE FOLLOWING
Mrs.
Abuk Jervas Makuac, SPLM Women League Chairperson in the USA at Phone: (972) 662-1430 E-mail: Abukmakuac3@yahoo.com
Suzan Malual (214)714-1304 Margaret Kuol )682) 438-0052
