{"id":50200,"date":"2025-06-16T20:53:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T17:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=50200"},"modified":"2025-06-16T20:53:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T17:53:17","slug":"how-the-war-stole-the-drum-of-choral-singing-in-sudan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/16\/how-the-war-stole-the-drum-of-choral-singing-in-sudan\/","title":{"rendered":"How the War “Stole” the Drum of Choral Singing in Sudan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sudan Events \u2013 Agencies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since the outbreak of war in Sudan on April 15, 2023, numerous aspects of life have come to a halt\u2014including artistic and cultural activities in general, and choral singing in particular. Just like that, the war \u201cstole\u201d the drum of communal song. The birds of Sudanese music fled their tree, scattered into exile and displacement camps, and a graveyard-like silence enveloped the city.<\/p>\n

But how did this all begin? And how did this style of singing become so prominent in Sudan?<\/p>\n

Shortly before the 1990s, a movement emerged to revive choral singing within modern Sudanese music. This movement was led by musician Othman Al-Nu, founder of the musical group Igd Al-Jalad (The Leather Necklace). The idea was not to replace solo singing, but to resurrect the African-rooted communal group singing that had existed in Sudan long before and after the Arab migrations. Performed by tribal communities, this type of singing was characterized by collective performance.<\/p>\n

Choral singing has a distinct nature compared to other musical forms. The number of participants in a choral performance is larger than in solo acts, and the rehearsals\u2014structured around complex musical arrangements and varying scales\u2014require considerable time and dedication.<\/p>\n

However, with the eruption of war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), it became impossible to hold rehearsals or stage performances\u2014just as living itself became impossible. Musicians carried their instruments and voices into exile, where they began composing new songs that reject war.<\/p>\n

A late 2024 report by the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies and the Sudanese Music Research Center revealed that over 55 individuals working in music and song were killed within a year of the war\u2019s outbreak in mid-April 2023. Causes of death ranged from bombing, detention, and torture to natural causes exacerbated by the collapse of healthcare.<\/p>\n

Sudanese Folk Music<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sudanese folk music is rich and diverse due to the country\u2019s numerous ethnic groups and cultural backgrounds. It is largely based on the pentatonic scale, which Sudan shares with countries like Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, and Mauritania\u2014collectively referred to as the “Sudanese Belt.”<\/p>\n

Dr. Ali Ibrahim Al-Daw, an ethnomusicologist and associate professor at the Institute of African and Asian Studies, University of Khartoum, told Al Jazeera:
\n\u201cSudanese music is inherently communal due to the dominance of the pentatonic system, which lacks half-tones and is widespread among Sudan\u2019s varied cultures. These cultures associate musical and vocal performance with bodily movement\u2014dance\u2014as an essential element. Music serves to facilitate dance as a form of communication.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding modern professional group singing, Dr. Al-Daw adds:
\n\u201cSudanese vocal groups emphasize the artistic value of performance as a direct means of activating collective audience participation. Their lyrics often consist of long, repetitive stories, reflecting the influence of Arab culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continues, \u201cThe group Igd Al-Jalad stands out because of its clear artistic vision, thanks to the presence of a professional musician like Othman Al-Nu\u2014a visionary composer whose approach propelled the band to become a pioneering force in modern choral music. Other groups were more or less echoes of Igd Al-Jalad\u2019s influence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Visionary Behind Igd Al-Jalad<\/strong><\/p>\n

Othman Al-Nu, founder of Igd Al-Jalad and a pioneer of modern Sudanese choral groups, shared with Al Jazeera the origins of his idea:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dream of forming a vocal group began in my childhood in Wad Medani, central Sudan. My father’s job as a school principal allowed me to move between Sudanese cities and experience a rich blend of cultures, which later influenced my interest in group singing. In Abu Jubeiha, South Kordofan, I witnessed the rituals of the Nuba tribes\u2014their wrestling, dances, songs, and how they celebrated their wrestlers. I observed all this as a child perched on my father’s shoulders.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cMy philosophy in creating a group was to rely on the human voice to deliver harmonic interplay, with the occasional solo to provide tonal variety. Music, after all, depends on color. The role of musical instruments, in my view, is secondary and should not dominate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oura-Bab Musical Group<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1987, amidst the influx of Southern Sudanese to the north, the musical group Oura-Bab was founded in Khartoum. The name means \u201cSon of Nature\u201d in the language of the Anuak people of South Sudan. The group performed in Juba Arabic, a vernacular Sudanese dialect with South Sudanese influence. After South Sudan\u2019s independence in 2011, the group evolved into the Our-Bab Academy for Arts in Juba.<\/p>\n

Stephen Avir Ushila, founder and director of Our-Bab, now displaced by the war, told Al Jazeera:
\n\u201cOur group aimed to provide a platform for displaced Southern Sudanese youth in Khartoum\u2014especially children\u2014to express themselves musically. Most of our songs spoke against war and called for peace. For instance, our song Matakuri (\u2018Please don\u2019t scream or cry\u2019) is about a little girl mourning the loss of her parents during the war between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People\u2019s Liberation Movement (SPLM), which lasted from 1983 to the peace agreement in 2005.\u201d<\/p>\n

War Stole the Drum<\/strong><\/p>\n

An African proverb says: \u201cStealing the village drum is easy, but finding a place to beat it is the real challenge.\u201d War is not merely a passing or ongoing historical event\u2014it is a deeply painful human experience. Singers usually sing for peace because they have known and lived in it. No one sings for war until they have experienced it.<\/p>\n

As Mahmoud Darwish wrote in Beirut:<\/p>\n

“War destroys our play –
\nso we act without a script or a book\u2014
\nWar is the memory of both the primitive and the civilized.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: Al Jazeera<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sudan Events \u2013 Agencies Since the outbreak of war in Sudan on April 15, 2023, numerous aspects of life have come to a halt\u2014including artistic and cultural activities in general, and choral singing in particular. Just like that, the war \u201cstole\u201d the drum of communal song. The birds of Sudanese music fled their tree, scattered …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50200"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50202,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50200\/revisions\/50202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}