The Khartoum War and the Phenomenon of the Futile Singing
The Khartoum War and the Phenomenon of the Futile Singing: For Death or Life?
Sikka, Dr. Rashid Mustafa Bakhit
Translated by: Salah Mohamed Khair
The only legitimacy that has maintained its existence in the battle for State's survival, and its importance that has gradually increased during this war is the symbolic legitimacy of the value of the origin. This legitimacy was built by the toil, creativity and sacrifices of generations of the Sudan's sons and daughters, and was called patriotism. Patriotism is not medals to be placed on the general's chest, military badges to shine in the general's shoulders, or a university degree awarded by a distinguished university, but it is a higher symbolism encompassing and surpassing all the above values, because it is originally a song!
The violence machine, which recognizes only the value of force as the supreme value, suddenly remembered that there was an anthem named the homeland, an anthem that has been watered with blood and tears since the Mahdist Revolution, sponsored and defended by the founding fathers, with the most human's greatest possession, and then trumpeted in it a unique poetry, sweet songs and tunes to be heard by all. Unaware of the current war, the value of the bullet, suddenly, was equivalent to that of the song within the logic of the poetic conception of patriotism, shining in the darkness of the present days and, illuminating the savagery of alienation, the days of loss and displacement caused by the great diaspora. Patriotism is reflected in a tune of an inaugurated song performed in a gently thrilling manner by Khalil Afendi Farah as he whispered to the "day-spring, a melodious tune played by Colonel Ahmed Marajan as he touched the national identity with music, or poetic words, entitled: "Hush, the canary bird", inscribed by the pen of Captain Abubakr. Do all these values belong to death or to life and a large enterprise called the homeland and patriotism?
The Khartoum War and the Transformation of the System of Values
One of the oddities of the Khartoum War, marked by absurdity, even by its custodians, after taking the lives of thousands of innocent Sudanese and displacing millions of people in a diaspora that is unprecedented in the country's history, is that it has not found a legitimacy to justify its outbreak and to take it as a pretext for collective polarization for the State's survival, other than the legitimacy of patriotic value.
Therefore, with the lack of the efficiency and effectiveness of the military force in resolving this war and ending it prolongation, the questions of symbolic value appeared rather than those of military power, the only power known by the two conflicting parties. Military power alone is no longer enough in the race to win this war. Before that, the military power has not been favorable to the two parties, after six months, and there is nothing new on the horizon.
It is known that the consumption of legitimacy makes it to lose the symbolic value in terms of the loss of credibility at the moment of realization. For instance, the Islamized legitimacy has been completely exhausted in recent decades and lost the influential competency which it enjoyed in the South War. This happened after the resounding failure of the Islamized state's utopia, the involvement of the state in the activities of the market, and the betrayal of idealism. The ideological legitimacy is no longer reliable because it is unacceptable by the people for of its excessive immorality and falling into contradictions. Constitutional legitimacy suffered from absence after being slaughtered by the parliament of the Salvation Revolution which legalized the crime and granted it a constitutional instrument, medals of honor and rhetoric stained with the blood of innocent people. The legitimacy of sovereignty is absent, because there is no sovereignty except for the peoples, who have not been consulted by the two parties on the war.
George Bernard Shaw once said: "Patriotism: your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it."
Sure, patriotism is the thing that there is much debate about.
Songs to Death and Others to Life
After the war, the Sudanese life has desisted from the state of singing and mirth for more than one month. Gloominess prevailed, sounds of the guns clattering intensified, bullets came in from the windows of the safe rooms, and heavy artillery hit homes and buildings. The closest sound to the ear was the sound of the deafening fighter aircrafts. Life stopped, suddenly, and people forgot the sounds of music. The clamor of war swallowed them, and they had no way but to flee, whenever available. The change of hearing in the smoky city is an anti-life change in terms of its hostility to the nature of things. The fear and anxiety created by the sounds of fighter planes, bombs and bullets are disturbing and alarming, and they are causing rapid heartbeat and heightened breathing. In contrast, besides feeling the state of existential diaspora and the corruption of the city's taste in listening because of the war, the unity of identity is also beginning to be an existential requirement. The songs have been relatively re-emerged and involved in different ways; some of them are old and locally known as iddat alfadiya (food utensils that appear only on banquets). Such songs indulgently participate in serious matters, but nevertheless they play an influential role in cohesion in times of disintegration of the State and society. Some other songs are national, visionary, somehow affiliated to a large nation enterprise, and related to the heritage of the national song, building the nation, the enterprise of resistance and adherence to the right to public life and presence in safe urban spaces outside Khartoum, under any circumstances.
On the electronic website of the Al-Morasel Magazine, the female journalist Shamael Al-Nour wrote an article entitled: "The War Attack us with its Inherited Songs". In her article, she meant to return to the field of war an age-old question to revisit the pretentious negative role played by the Sudanese enthusiasm songs, exaggeration of the historical qualities and facts about individuals, groups and peoples, the connection of such exaggeration with the widespread culture of war and the collective self-aggrandizement, and glorifying good morals that individuals lack. But in the same article, she presented the most important works of the new pop songs born after the war, and took her positions in favor or against these songs. Shamael wrote: "It is the same water wheel, but with springs gushed out by the Khartoum's five-month war. The enthusiasm song entitled: "Kings of the Extraction" came, to adopt, with its war vocabularies and its enthusiastic and popular rhythm, the military decisiveness as a single solution and a right position. The female singer, Mayada Gamar Al-Deen posed her deplorable question to the torrent of critics and the public controversy that prevailed in the social media, when she said: "Who said the mission of art is only to call for peace?" In her song entitled "The Rain Bursts of Pebbles", the famous female singer Nada Al-Galaa sang for the Air Force, which the Sudan Army Forces depend on in their war against the Rapid Support Forces. According to Shamael Al-Nour, other songs, or rather videos have gone viral in social media in support of the Rapid Support Forces and their commander. Nada also engaged in numerous altercations on the social media about her position in support of the war. This situation forced her to abandon singing and devote her time to live broadcasting and video recording in an effort to strengthen her position in supporting the army through shallow arguments, from the attitude of the enthusiastic singer, not the enlightened singer. Like all warmongers, she turns a blind eye to the thousands of victims and millions of displaced people, whose lives are marred by unknown fate. Singing in favor of the power is a well-known craft to a large number of singers. But, is it after the blood of the Mahdist fell on its soil, Khalil Farah sang to it, and virile poets doused it with their words, that Nada Al-Galaa became the symbol of the patriotism, at this time?
A popular song from the heritage of Dar Hamar had been prevalent before the war. The song touched on the situation of the three parties to the Sudan's conflict at the time. The three parties were at that time were: the Prime Minister, Abdalla Hamdok, Head of the Sovereign Council, Abdel Fatah Al-Burhan, and his Deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (knouwn as Hemedti). After the war, it was revealed that the former, who was Hamdok, exited the circuit game at the time and did not able to pull the strings, where the latter, who was Hemedti, was ready in his camp from that time, and then the song described Al-Burhan as the "oblivious". The song says:
"Hemedti in in the camp,
They said that Hamdok is a boozer,
Al-Burhan is an oblivious;
You cannot take, but a smuggled cheap car."
Just as Shamael wrote in here article, there are also those who tried to stand on the other bank and employed the songs against the war, as it was the case of the female singer Aisha Al-Jabal. In her song entitled "The War, the Strike", she has created a space for grief and pain and concerned about ravage and destruction. Not far from her, emerged the female singer, Elaf Abdulazeez, whose song, entitled: "Agony will be leaving us Tomorrow" went viral, after she sang for hope and the nostalgia for returning to the normal life all over the Khartoum State.
Although the song of Aisha Al-Jabal has been criticized in the social media, however, in the context of matching the speech to reality during this battle of values, it raised the most radical and philosophical question in this war: "Why This All Happened?" This question is embodied in the search for the lost legitimacy under any justification.
Before, the goona (the rebellious female singer to the origins of mainstream singing) climbed on the stage with a Marxist dignity. But, she has gone to the moon, this time, as she belongs, with her "unmade instinct", to a higher value, as the value of life, instead of siding with death and destruction which look like a pale color within many colors of the makeup box of the "values and colorful feelings of the elite."
It is of course known that commercial art is not reliable; it is a commodity like yogurt, aims to profit, available upon request, and it often falls for the whim of power without any critical attitude. This does not, of course, negate the popularity of this kind of art, but it is a low-value art in terms of value reference and reliability. We saw with our own eyes, in the days of the revolution, those who sang for its values, but soon sold it in the commercial advertising at the fist sign at famous Obeid Khatim Street.
In the same context, the young singer, Ramaz Merghani, produced a song entitled: "The Closed House" trying to express the voice of nostalgia for the occupied house and the lost reassurance with the state of mass displacement. During this war, she has also participated with other singers, in the production of operetta entitled "Tears of the Nile". The poem of this operetta was composed by Mohmoud Al-Jaili and performed by a constellation of Sudanese stars in the field singing and music, among them: Issam Mohamed Nour, Insaf Madani, Sabah Abdalla, Akram Saad, Waleed Zaki Al-Deen, Ashraf Dahab and others. The female singer, Fadwa Fareed, also produced a new song in which she compared the conditions of life before the war in the Sudan, and recalled the memory of the safe festivals in the countryside and cities:
"But the eyes of evil deed,
Set their traps on the way.
They deprived our souls of contentment;
They cultivated war in every house.
The female singer, Nancy Ajaj launched the "Let us Sing" imitative from the headquarters of The Sudanese Social Club in Dubai. The initiative aims to help those affected by chronic health needs during the war. Contrary to the position of Huda Arabi and Mayada Gamar Al-Deen, Nancy said, in a telephone call with Alarabiya FM, that she is planning to organize three public concerts with which to open the campaign. She declared her rejection to the war, saying "The singer should not sing war songs. This is a great contradiction with a remarkable dissonance and inconsistent with the role of singing in life.
The Committed Signing and the Cultivation of Song for the Homeland
The concert organized by the Awad Mashawi Cultural Center on the evening of June 22, 2023 in Al-Gadaref was not just a concert, as the concert was marked by extensive discussion about war, displacement conditions, and the future of the necessary values required for survival in a complex landscape. The singer, Assim Al-Tayib and the well-known performer Osman Al-Naw participated on the event, in a partnership imposed by the circumstances of war itself and the public concern for the sustainability of cultivating the offspring of life.
Assim Al-Tayib chose a group of new and old songs belonging to a broad enterprise to emit values of imitative, kitchen gardening, and liberating the mind and active affiliation of the homeland enterprise. Attention to life and the values of love, perseverance and charity are the values that were spread in that evening. We quote from the words of that song:
How wonderful is the watercress!
That was cultivated in the school, near the drinking pot.
It was cultivated by the sentry and water by the headmaster.
How wonderful is the watercress, how wonderful is the watercress!
We quote from the words of the song entitled "The Weapon Bearer":
You, Kalashnikov bearer, just try the take the vase,
A combat vehicles loaded with bullet will never solve the issue.
Blurred vision and rule by force,
Are not the routes of salvation for people cheered the freedom.
Blazing Summer and Displacement: A City Saturated with Art
After the war separated him from his family by the Sudanese-Egyptian borders, Al-Safi Mahdi, Professor of music composition, Faculty of Music and Drama, returned to Port Sudan. In coordination with the Writers and Singers Union in Port Sudan and some active musicians of the city such as: Mohamed Al-Badri, Adil Mosalam, Sidi Doshka, Mahmoud Direr, Mustafa Bakri, Nadir Osman Jamal Al-Deem and some professional and amateur musician, Al-Safi Mahdi launched an extended musical singing initiative. The initiative began with a workshop on musical composition and preserved, in very difficult circumstances, in producing new songs and private works for youth singers such as: Mustafa Bakri and Nadir Osman, as well as operetta, under the title: "The Heart Sang your Love."
Al-Safi Mahdi is a sort of advantageous person in many fields. His initiative evolved, after several continuous works ranging from his two works entitled: "Songs for the Homeland" and "Art is the Solution" to popularity and working with the clubs in the neighborhoods. The city of Port Sudan was buzzing with well-attended events, and the Port Sudan Theatre hosted singing event for children, symposiums on drama and revolution, and events created synthetically. Al-Safi Mahdi, as always, revived the spirit of teamwork, the spirit of patriotism and belonging to the national song enterprise. This embodies the perceived identity and classical rooting in the field of singing and music that restores collective conscience and memory and sing for defeat if it is for national enterprise and defeat of an outside enemy. Identity is not necessarily a constant thing, so it is not surprising that its demonstrations celebrate so many contradictions that are incompatible with logic. However, identity belongs to the anthem of the democratic national state in the daily morning reveille parade.
Not all this drudgery redeems Al-Safi Afendi to climb on the stage with a Marxist dignity like that of Aisha Al-Jabal, or even a neoliberal dignity like that of Nada Al-Gala and Huda Arabi. The stage caused him to fall as it did with Hassan Al-Tahir Zaroug, who advocated his national enterprise from within the first parliament formed after independence. Didn't the poet of the song of the independence himself die during this war, while he was suffering from amnesia, like the country which he sang for waving the flag of its independence, after seven decades?
One of the shortcomings of this big national enterprise, that ever-expanding, is that it lets its devoted sons climb on the stage of history with a Hegelian dignity. It makes them to stand on their heads instead of standing on their legs, as Karl Marx said, modifying the statement of his master that criticizes the horizon of identity in thinking.
Singing Outside Borders, Singing Within Borders
The coincidences of displacement also brought together another group of young musicians and singers outside the homeland. After an internal displacement in the Sudan, between several cities, a number of Sudanese singers gathered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Some singers, after temporary stay, crossed into other countries such Kenya and Ethiopia. Singers started organizing and holding various cultural and artistic activities and events. We care about singing and music here.
The skilled violinist, Hussam Abdulsalam, came to Addis Ababa from Port Sudan. The star of the City Voices Band, Ibrahim Ibn Al-Badiya, had preceded Hussam Abdulsalam to Addis Ababa. He began to group his musical band and to evacuate them to Ethiopia. Mustafa Al-Bakri, Hazem Al-Safiai, and one of the founders of Ashraf Band Project, the singer Mohamed Adam Abuho joined the group. The female singer, Mahdiya Ibrahim came for several days and then she came back.
With the heavy clouds of the sky of Addis Ababa, which look like the drawing of the international artist Abdala Al-Tayib, music and singing clouds gathered in the Fendika Cultural Center and the melodious anxiety gushed with recalling the violin of Hussam Abdulsalam. It was a long dark night, when hundreds of Sudanese, fleeing the hell of war, gathered and spent their night crying, cursing, groaning, clapping, and screaming. Thirst for feeling of homeland, when one is outside it, explodes with the music of identity that is replete with an overwhelming nostalgia. Tunes of the violin played by Hussan open a tender wound titled leaving the scene and lacking the feeling of familiarity with the world that is easily restored by the sounds of national songs and heritage songs as well. Hussam Adbulsalam excelled in conveying these feelings during his participation in the opening performance with Ethiopian Jazz Music Band in Fendika Theatre.
Weeks later, in the honor of the closing ceremony of the exhibition of the plastic artist, Dr. Abdulrahman Sangal that was held at the hall of the Fendika Cultural Center, with a great help and coordination from some Sudanese singers and performers, a large concert was organized at the end of the exhibition. The concert was attended by an enormous gathering of Sudanese who recovered the voice of the lost homeland with songs through a unique singing and playing experiment that brought together a selection of young singing stars. The singers performed some of their own songs and well-known national songs, and the audience responded greatly to them. The singers participated in this concert were: Mustafa Bakri, Ibrahim Ibn Al-Badiya, Mohamed Adam Abuho, Hazem Al-Safiai, Mahdiya Ibrahim, in addition to an orchestra consisting of Hussam Abdulsalam, Ibrahim Ibn Al-Badiya, Ahmad Beram, Jaafar Amin, Ahmed Gasim, Katir, and Nizar Mubarak.
Mustafa Bakri recovered the airwaves by the voice of the late famous singer Mohamed Wardi. The scene of the concerts Mohamed Wardi had in this city almost matched Michael Jackson's concert when he sang to the drought and famine in the same city. Mustafa Bakri blew the melodies' trumpet, restored to the city a voice that it is familiar with, and found a response from the Ethiopian audience before the Sudanese audience. Therefore, he landed the concept of the national identity in a trouble against a transitional phenomenon such as art. Sudanese singing is an inherent part of Ethiopian sense and identity, as it is the case with the Sudanese Belt states. The voices of Mohamed Osman Wardi, Abdulkareem Al-Kabli, Khojali Osman and Mahmoud Abdulaziz are all familiar voices in bars, restaurants and taxis in this city. It is rare to find an Ethiopian player who grew up and raised in this city and is not good at playing the Sudanese songs, in general, the songs of Mohamed Wardi, and the song of Khalil Farah entitled "In the Love of Azza, in particular.
This day was made with a great love and an overwhelming longing for human meeting under the pretext of art. This day was not expected to succeed without the spirit that prevailed among the Sudanese singers, who were in Addis Ababa at that time. This success was achieved despite the fact that the singers were working with each other for the first time in this experiment, and without sufficient rehearsals.
Ibrahim Ibn Al-Badiya, with his well-known hot temper and enhancing proactivity, participated in the performance of the national song entitled "In the Love of Azza" in his own way. He participated in the piece in which the groans are repeatedly frequent with different tones. He said, "Groans are my only share of this national song of yours." Ibrahim re-performed an old work of the City Lights Band, within an album entitled "Street Language." The song is entitled "Khartoum", which is written by the poet, Atif Khairi, composed by Ibrahim, and performed by the Band.
The concerts were then circulated among many countries. The female singer, Huda Arabi, gave a big concert at the Officers Club, in Abu Dhabi. The singer, Atif Anees organized a concert in Doha and another one in Saudi Arabia. The singer, Mohamed Adam Abuho, participated in a singing evening in Nairobi with a group of musicians and singers such as: Muawia Nayil, Isalm Al-Biti, Biryan Sigo and Nairobi Horns Band.
The Sudanese Singers' Gathering in Cairo also organized a number of concerts initiated by the concert of the king of jazz music, Sharhabil Ahmed and his wife, as well as other singing sessions. The female singer, Mona Majdi Saleem participated in a concert in the State of South Sudan, where the audience welcomed her and her popular song entitled "How Much love We Have." The young singer Mazin Hamid returns with a concert in Cairo, organized by the Red Amber in collaboration with Rateena Café. The announcement came under the slogan: "We Sing in the Presence of the Sudan, our Beloved Homeland: It is Longing Despite Separation."
The Country of Light: Immense Darkness and Lighting with Songs
The country of light has been in an immense darkness for six continuous months. The smoke of bombs and fires did not leave access to light in the sky of the country that has been covered with death and smoke. Goodness is no longer expected, but what are expected are killing, looting, disease, hunger, migration, and diaspora. The floodlight that gave hope was extinguished with the outbreak of bullets. However, from under this large debris, the second session of the Country of Light Festival was held in Al-Damar in a pure Sudanese way. The director, Al-Tayib Al-Sidiq started with a group of singers and musicians by raising the idea to the people of the city of Al-Damar. The people of the city seized the idea and completed it with care and unlimited support through simple community funding. This was enough to illuminate the Teachers' College Theatre in the city with an exceptional session of the Country of Light Festival, before completing a year of launching its first session at the beginning of this year.
A constellation of singers participated in the festival, among them Khojali Hashim, Nadir Talsam, Hashim Al-Damar, and others. The able actor, Abdulrahman Al-Shibli, participated with a theatrical monodrama. A large group of plastic artists involved in the preparation of the place, calligraphies, and sings, on the top of them was the plastic artist Rashid Dirar.