Abdel Gadir Salim (Arabic: عبد
القادر سالم ) is a folk
singer, composer, oud player, & bandleader from Sudan. Salim was born in the village of Dilling,
Kordofan province, in the Nuba Mountains in the west of Sudan some time in the 1950s. This
desert region situated in the very heart of Sudan,
the ‘land of the two Niles’,
is the birthplace of many talented, powerful singers. Salim trained in both
European & Arabic music at the Institute
of Music in Khartoum, beginning with the oud.
By 1971 he changed from
composing urban-styled music to traditional country tunes. Seeking out colloquial
songs to perform, he began in his native Kordofan & Darfur. Rarely writing
his own lyrics, the songs he finds range from politically aware, educational
arguments to love ballads. Salim is noted for maintaining a neutral repertoire
that keeps him from irritating the Islamic government of Sudan which is
less than favorable of secular music.
Sudan is often
called the bridge between Arabia & Africa. Abdel has taken it as his
mission to fuse Arabic & African sounds of the country & cities, taking
musical scales & motifs from Arabic & wild African percussion. He is a
leading figure in the genre, commonly referred to as Sudan jazz, no doubt because of its
instrumentation (the presence of bongos, brass instruments, & the electric
guitar). Salim possesses an impressive vocal range & power. His songs range
from slow languid tunes in the Cairo style to
frenzied rhythms such as are found in Zaire. He has developed his own style,
a true blend of all the remarkably diverse elements & peoples that go to
make up his homeland.
On Blues of Kkartoum, Abdel Gadir Salim & his
Merdoum All Stars are: Abdel Gadir Salim – vocals & oud; Yassir Abderrahim
Taha – guitar; Mohammad Abdallah Mohammad Abakar, Mohammad Mostapha Saleh, &
Othman Hassan Othman – violins; Ahmad Abdulbaqi Mohammad Ahmed – accordion; Kamal
Youssef Ali – flute; Abdelhadi Mohammad Nour – saxophone; Zaki Ali Mohammad
Othman – bass; & Al-Zoubeir Mohammad Al-Hassan – drums.
Abdel Gadir Salim – LeBlues de Khartoum, Harmonia Mundi 321027, 1999.
decryption code in comments
1. Rada Al-Qulayb (Give
me Back my Tender Little Heart)
2. Bitzîd Min ‘Adhâbî
(She Increases my Pain)
3. Ghannû Yâ Ikhwânî
(Sing, O my Brothers)
4. Jamîl Al-Sourah (The
Beautiful Face)
5. Ghâba Nawmî (I can no
Longer Sleep)
6. Qidrechinna (My
Destiny is Love)
7. Anâ Batrâki (I am
Under Your Spell)
8. Maktûl Hawâk (Tied by
Your Love)
In 2005 Abdel appeared
on an album called Ceasefire with Emmanuel Jal. If you haven’t heard it,
you might want to search it out. It is available various places around the
interweb so I’m not going to post it up here. I am going to feature two tracks
from the release to pique your desires.
The story behind this
album has as many twists as the Nile itself. At
approximately the age of seven (he doesn't know his exact date of birth)
Emmanuel Jal was pressed into service with the Sudan People's Liberation Army. He
was one of the infamous Child Soldiers. Born in Tonj in Tonj South County,
Warrap State,
in northwest South Sudan, Emmanuel
Jal, like many other children from their country (the so-called Lost Boys),
fled to Ethiopia
in search of schooling. He was about seven. His mother had just died. His
father fought in the ranks of the SPLA. After his own inscription, Emmanuel fought
with the Lost Boys for several years.
At eight, he fired his first shot. After almost
five years as a Child Soldier, Jal walked hundreds of miles to join a
rival rebel group closer to his home in the Upper Nile region.There he met Emma McCune, a British NGO member. McCune
is the central character in the book Emma's War by Deborah Scroogins. In
1993 McCune adopted Emmanuel & smuggled him on a cargo plane into Nairobi, Kenya.
McCune died shortly thereafter in a car accident. Emmanuel was orphaned again. Jal eventually
returned to school, studying in both London & Kenya. A Christian religious
conversion led him to take up music as his vocation. He now serves as the
spokesman for the Campaign to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
On Ceasefire Jal joins singer & oud player Abdel Gadir Salim, the venerated
master of northern Sudanese music. Abdel is a prominent figure on the other
side of the Christian/Muslim divide that has contributed in large part to the
civil strife in Sudan.
Their collaboration is symbolically moving, but is also musically fascinating.
As I stated above, Salim's songs are steeped in both the urban & folk music
of his region, whereas Jal is a rapper with roots in American & British
hip-hop. They don't blend their styles as much as counterpose them, switching
within the same song between Salim's powerful singing & Jal's promising modern
hip-hop verbal flow.
“It is better to build bridges than to destroy them "reflects Emmanuel. This sentence reveals double meanings: first, it questions the civil war that has ravaged Sudan for over twenty years; second, referring to his collaboration with Abdel Gadir Salim, a Muslim. Yet there is a strong bridge between them. Both have known the consequences of personal violence; Jal with a rifle in his hands & Abdel as the target of the wrath from the fundamentalist Muslim campaign in Khartoum against secular music.
“It is better to build bridges than to destroy them "reflects Emmanuel. This sentence reveals double meanings: first, it questions the civil war that has ravaged Sudan for over twenty years; second, referring to his collaboration with Abdel Gadir Salim, a Muslim. Yet there is a strong bridge between them. Both have known the consequences of personal violence; Jal with a rifle in his hands & Abdel as the target of the wrath from the fundamentalist Muslim campaign in Khartoum against secular music.
Emmanuel Jal & Abdel Gadir Salim – Ceasefire, Riverboat Records
1038, 2005.
decryption code in comments
Tracks –
6. Gua
8. Baai
Think about it,
NØ
Le Blues
ReplyDeleteR6364QDm7VOFtM3-LeRWKRrD5m9w-Z2yz9NsM0tLun4
Ceasefire
JI1P5lA7E9AfyJ98oaXPgzubtKxchItkXQazvZ8tnl4
the abdel is great. i have always enjoyed that record. i will check out ceasefire.
ReplyDeletethe chapter on polyrthymns and polyphony is a great one. i have been composing quite a bit of stuff
influenced by that book and by conlon nancarrow. hope you are well. i am glad to be back
robert
Sorry to say, but these records are a poor shadow of what Sudanese music can be. The artists are allright but very often the qualities of local recording technicians are overlooked. These 2 records are surely mixed by european producers and technicians. Listen to this
ReplyDeletehttps://lolaradio.blogspot.nl/2012/09/abdel-halil-abu-haraz.html
or this
https://lolaradio.blogspot.nl/2012/08/12-sudanese-hits.html
or my favourite singer ever
https://lolaradio.blogspot.nl/2013/07/it-is-high-time-for-abu-daoud-sudan.html
This is not to critisize you > the opposite. You did a wonderfull job al these years ago
greetz
G