The King Of Sudanese Jazz

Description

Contemporary Sudanese music has many influences, from Arabic music and sub-Saharan traditions. It finds its roots in madeeh (praises of the Prophet Muhammad in song). The genre transformed into something slightly irreverent in the 1930s and 1940s when haqiba music, the secular successor to madeeh, became popular. Haqiba music, a primarily vocal art in which the musicians accompanying the lead singer use few instruments, spread like wildfire in the city centers of Sudan. It was the music of weddings, family gatherings, and wild impromptu parties.Sharhabil Ahmed was born in 1935 and is the originator of the Sudanese jazz scene. His goal was to modernize Sudanese music by blending it with Western influences and instruments, which was completely unprecedented at the time. Sharhabil's music thus resembles a unique combination of surf, rock'n'roll, funk, Congolese music, and East African harmonies.