Country in north-east Africa. The largest country on the continent, it has an area of 2,505,813 km2 and a population of 29.82 million (2000 estimate). Approximately 70% of Sudanese are Sudan Arabs, 10% are Nubian, and 20% are Southerners belonging to numerous Nilotic and Bantu ethnic groups such as the Dinka, Shilluk (Colo), Nuer and Azande (Zande). These southern ethnic groups practise traditional religions or Christianity, while most other Sudanese are Sunni Muslim.
1. Music of the Muslim peoples.
2. Music of the Nilotic peoples: Shilluk and Dinka in the White Nile area.
3. Music of the Bantu-speaking peoples: the Bongo, Azande and Ndogo in the south.
A. SIMON
(i) Islamic religious song and music.
(iii) Music of the Hadendowa in the eastern Sudan.
(v) Blue Nile: Ingassana, Gumuz and Berta.
Sudan, §1: Islamic song and music
Popular Islamic customs and orders include song and music as an integral component of religious life and ceremonies. A distinctive musical practice has evolved out of local traditions over the centuries, resulting in solo songs such as qasīda and madīh, and in collective performances such as dikr. The motivating force of this development was Sufism. The dikr is a part of a larger ceremonial in the northern Sudan called lailiya (evening session, the meeting on Thursday evening), mūlid (birth festival of the Prophet) or karāma (honouring a person, pilgrim or deceased person). In other parts of the Sudan, it is also called noba, which can be accompanied by several percussion instruments (Simon, 1980).
Madīh means praise, praise poem, glorification and, in this context, praise hymn in honour of Allah and the Prophet Muhammad. One of the most famous madīh traditions in northern Sudan can be traced back to its founder Hajj El-Mahi, who lived in Kassinger near Kareima from c1780 to 1870. He is said to have composed about 330 religious poems that continue to be sung with an accompaniment of two tar. His descendants still cultivate this tradition (fig.1). The song texts often reveal rapturous religiosity or moral intent. Their performance is part of private celebrations or public festivities, and can also be heard in the streets of the markets.
In addition to Sufi ceremonies strictly reserved for men, there are other group ceremonies of supraregional distribution such as zār and tambura that belong to the domain of women. The apparent purpose for these ceremonies is spirit possession. It stands as a vehicle for a complex system of beliefs, social restrictions, social psychological and mental disturbances, the curing of even organic diseases, group therapy, and group amusement for the female participants. For case studies and details of the ceremonial procedure see Simon, 1983, pp.290–92; Ibrahim, 1979, p.171; Zenkovsky, 1950, and Kennedy, 1967. The pantheon of zār-spirits consists of Muslim, Christian and Ethiopian spirits. Each of them is invoked by its special tune. These simple antiphonal songs are begun by a designated female principal singer and responded to by other participants who accompany themselves with hand-clapping. The principal singer accompanies the singing by beating a clay drum called daluka (fig.2) or a drum substitution such as a portion of a fuel drum or a kerosene tin. The latter produces such a degree of sound that the singing is barely audible. This intensive, but monotonous hammering of percussion rhythm, sometimes intensified by increasing tempo, and the ostinato type of singing are the musical tools for inducing possessing trance.
While a zār ceremony may take place anywhere, the tambura ceremony is performed only at its sacred residence. The main object of the cultic requisites is the tambura or rababa, a large lyre with six strings generally, which must be played by a man. Other musical instruments are two or three drums (noggaara), calabash rattles played by women, and a rattle belt (mangūr).
Sudan, §1: Islamic song and music
Musical instruments in Nubia include the lyre, called kisir in Nubian and tanbūr or tanbūra in Sudan-Arabic; the frame drum taar; and the single-headed clay drum, dalūka, or the smaller drum, shatam.
Nubians usually celebrate only the wedding ceremony (balee) on a large scale with music and dance, while other life-cycle ceremonies are modestly accompanied with a few relevant songs.
Nubia's
traditional musical life can be summarized as follows: Male
Sphere
(1) Dance songs with instrumental accompaniment (kisir
or taar), especially at weddings
(2) Dance songs or dances without instrumental accompaniment,
especially at weddings
(3) Dance music without singing, with kisir or taar,
hand-clapping and foot-stamping, especially at weddings
(4) Songs with instrumental accompaniment for entertainment at
weddings and other festivities or social occasions
(5) Songs for entertainment in a small group of men: songs
while drinking date wine (kalakiya), other occasions, or personal
enjoyment
(6) Work songs, for example at the bucket water wheel (eskalee)
and during work in the fields
(7) Religious songs
(8) School songs, using a part of repertory from no.1, some of
modern character Female Sphere
(1) Songs during domestic work with religious or narrative
content
(2) Songs for weddings and excisions
(3) Lullabies
(4) Dirges, songs at death
(5) Songs for taking leave of and for welcoming returning
Mecca pilgrims
(6) School songs for girls
(7) Zār songs
There are also several regional musical styles. (1) Wadi Halfa and New Halfa Region. Typical for this region is the alternation between one or two solo singers and a choral group, accompanied by two different-sized frame drums, taar. A special feature of the Halfa style is ollin aragiid (hand-clapping and dancing). In this dance the dancers accompany themselves with complicated clapping patterns, a style also found among the Kenuzi Nubians in Egypt (Hickmann, 1958; recordings: Dikr und Madīh, 1980).(2) Sukkot and Mahas. The kisir is the dominant instrument. An important element in this musical style is the rhythmical accompaniment of hand-clapping and foot-stamping to song and lyre-playing, carried out by a group of at least four young men who may also function as group singers who alternate with the soloist.(3) Dongola Region. The lyre is here, too, the predominant instrument. The musical style is less uniform than in the other regions and more arabized.
The tuning of the invariably five-string kisir (fig.3) in Nubia is anhemitonic pentatonic. The typical tuning may be outlined with the following European notes: e1–g–a–c1–d1. The kisir is played with a plectrum, and if the plectrum strikes all five muted strings at once, a pentatonic sound cluster occurs. Melodic playing results from the strings vibrating freely, one after another, by the player lifting the appropriate finger from the string. A finger-plucked technique is used especially for small figures inserted between the main beats of a rhythm, acting as melodic fillers (Plumley, 1976, recordings: Musik der Nubier, 1998).
Sudan, §1: Islamic song and music
The Hadendowa (Hadendoa) belong to the Beja (Bedawi) group (Ababda, Bisharin, Amarar, Hadendowa and Beni-Amer). The most important musical instrument is the lyre with five strings called bāsān-kōb (basamkub) (Emsheimer and Schneider, 1986). The playing technique is the same as in northern Sudan. In former times, chiefs of the Beja possessed large kettledrums, naqqāra or nahas as a symbol of power. These were played only at important ceremonial occasions such as the enthronement or death of a chief, or during periods of war.
Sudan, §1: Islamic song and music
The Arab peoples have a rich oral tradition of memorizing genealogies with special songs. Among the Baggāra there is a special type of praise or satirical songs or songs of censure called gardagi. When performed in small gatherings they are accompanied on a one-string fiddle (umkiki).
The string is tuned to give only one tone, but the player who is at the same time the singer, called locally al-hadday, produces extra notes by stopping the string in different positions and hence creating a hemitonic pentatonic pattern of scale (Al-Daw, 1985, p.51).
A harp with five strings, called kurbi (Al-Daw, 1985, p.63) or al-bakurbo (Grove6), may be played instead of the umkiki. The Baggāra have a strong tradition of female hakamma poets and bards. These hakamma are considered among the most respected individuals within the society. As in other parts of arabized Sudan, the ruling families of the Baggāra own copper kettledrums called nihas that are a symbol of power and tribal sovereignty and are played at exceptional occasions only. Hadramaut in Yemen is often claimed to be the region of origin for nihas.
Most Kordofan and Darfur songs are associated with dances. This is also the case among the Fur and Nuba. According to Carlisle (1973), the Fur have a small instrumental ensemble, kolokua, that plays at harvesting and circumcision festivities. It consists of two drums, an end-blown flute and two side-blown antelope horns. Some names of the instruments, such as gangan for the cylindrical drum and tumble for the bowl-shaped drum, indicate relations with Chad and northern Nigeria.
Many ethnic groups of the Nuba mountain area are strongly Islamicized (e.g. the Miri near Kadugli). Traditional music and dances, however, are still practised as important elements of ethnic identity. Each of the 50 language groups has characteristic songs and dances. The favourite instrument, played by young men for musical entertainment and song accompaniment, is the lyre with five strings. It has different names, such as fedefede (Tumtum Nuba), benebene or beriberi (Masakin or Ngile), kazandik (Miri), among others. The generally small-sized instrument is played with the plectrum technique used in other parts of the Sudan. Among the Masakin, the women play a variation of a frame zither or musical bow with a separate calabash serving as resonator. A string is tied four times within a rounded bough so that four sections of a string with different pitches are produced (Wegner, 1984).
Two kinds of drums are generally played, a cylindrical dance drum with two skins (umva/Miri; bamba/Masakin; bajé/ Tumtum) and a ceremonial drum played only at special festivals and death ceremonies. Among the Miri, it is an earthen pot drum, kola, played at the rain-making kola-festival (Baumann, 1987). Sometimes a bukhsa (gourd pot) struck with a thin piece of wood replaces the dance drum when played together with a lyre. A set of four to six small gourd trumpets is also called bukhsa or kanga. End-blown horns made of wood or side-blown horns of the kudu antelope are played at special events such as wrestling tournaments, signalling their beginning or merely producing a particular sound atmosphere before the fighting starts. During nights with full moons in the dry season, unmarried youth meet at particular dancing places for so-called ‘moonlight dances’. These are the principal occasions for entertainment, flirtation and courtship (Baumann, 1987). More frequently, traditional dancing is replaced by so-called daluka songs with Arabic texts from northern Sudan.
In the Nuba mountains the major music and dance events are the three to four seasonal festivals that usually take place in the dry season. One of the outstanding dances in the western hills was the kambala dance (Corkill, 1939). It continues to be performed during the rainy season among the Miri (Baumann, 1987). At harvest festivals (October–December) ensembles of gourd trumpets (lela ma sorek) play to accompany special dances.
Each oracle night is concluded by the performance of the dance Sorek. … The music for Sorek is played by adult men forming an ensemble of at least five, and up to twelve, slim tubular gourd trumpets, called Lela ma sorek (‘children of the gourd’). Each of them is tuned to a different pitch. Their joint musical performance creates an instrumental transformation of the men's bawdy songs Tazu ma sorek (‘songs of the gourd’) by using the hocket technique: each player contributes one pitch or one short pattern of a continuous musical phrase which results from the well-timed and most subtle interlocking of single phrases. The Tazu ma sorek songs, short couplets of a content considered bawdy or often obscene, are the most popular songs of married men, and their performance, as well as ideally knowledge of their words, are reserved for males in informal company. (Baumann, 1987, p.85)
Sudan, §1: Islamic song and music
The most characteristic music of the Ingassana (Gaam) is bal music played at wedding ceremonies and harvesting festivals as an accompaniment of the bal dance. A bal ensemble generally consists of five bal, vertical stopped bamboo flutes without finger-holes, a gourd trumpet singar, and a gourd rattle, played by one of the bal players (Kubik, 1982). Additional bal might be added in the lower octave. All players are boys or men, while women, together with other men, form a group of singers and dancers. The patterns played on the one-pitched bal interlock in a cross-rhythmical manner that produces the melody sung by the dancers or outlines its melodic contour by playing the main tones. The low pitch of the singar provides a rhythmical counter-pattern to the melodic process (recordings: Sudan II, 1986).
The lyre, played with the plectrum technique, is called jangar or jaηar and sangwe by the Gumuz. The songs with lyre may be accompanied by three or four gourds called pina (penah), each with a hole at the end of the gourd. The player blows or hums into that hole. Mahi Ismail mentions such an ensemble used as the accompaniment for the exorcism dance, moshembe da,
‘performed to free a sick person or a house from evil spirits’ (1980, p.328).
Another ensemble, played by women, is the ba tum-tum. The women beat on a variety of kitchen utensils made of gourds while singing to it; others are clapping hands. Music for light recreation together with singing and dancing is played by the kome-m'dinga ensemble consisting of ten end-blown vertical flutes kome and a large barrel drum m'dinga, played on both sides with the hands. The kome-m'dinga is one of the one-pitch wind instruments ensembles typical throughout the region. An additional signal instrument is a trumpet called trumba, made of animal's horn or aluminium. Another important genre of Gumuz music is gaya (‘song’), performed by villagers at special occasions such as death, or during epidemics and war (recordings: Sudan I, 1986).
The Berta live in the southern most part of the Blue Nile Province. The main categories of traditional music among the Berta are: songs with the abangarang lyre (abaηgaraη); music of the waza trumpet ensemble; bolo shuru, the music of the bolo flute ensemble; bal naggaro, music of the bal flutes and the naggaro drum; and dancing songs for the hokke harvest festival (Simon, 1989). The waza trumpet ensemble (fig.4) is considered the most distinguished instrumental music of the Berta with groups consisting of 10–12 trumpets. Today the waza is played at public or communal events and family festivities that are celebrated on a larger scale. The waza instruments are cone-shaped trumpets that vary from 50 to 180 cm in length. They are made of conical segments of calabashs that fit into each other. A complete set of wazas must consist of ten trumpets which are divided into two groups (trumpets 1–5, and 6–10). One or two additional higher instruments may be added. The trumpets are accompanied by percussion sticks, wooden crotches carried over the right shoulder and beaten with a cowhorn. The trumpet is held with the left hand and the horn with the right hand. Another instrument is a calabash rattle called asεzaghu or asoso played by trumpet no.7. Some of the women who participate as group singers and dancers wear leg rattles made of dried tree fruits called atitish. These sticks and rattles provide the basic beats or pulses. A performance of a waza composition generally begins with a woman singing a tune once or twice, which the entire group will then play. The trumpet players then try to find their starting points. In order for this ensemble of one-pitched instruments to produce a single melody, players must have alternating starting points to create a pattern. The wazalu player begins by beating the elementary pulses on his bali, and then plays his part, generally starting at the beginning of the time-line pattern. Trumpet no.2 then begins to play a cross-rhythmic pattern against the wazalu, and so on.
The White Nile area is inhabited by so-called Nilotic peoples: Shilluk (or Colo), Dinka and Nuer. Information on songs, music and dance of the Colo was first published by the missionary Hofmayr (1925), and A.N. Tucker (1932, 1933). Dinka music and song texts were later recorded and published by F.M. Deng (1973, recordings: Music of the Sudan, 1976).
One of the important Nilotic peoples are the Shilluk, or Colo, as they refer to themselves. Leading the Colo is a Reth or king, who traces his genealogy back to Nyikang, the god-like first king of the people. In numerous songs, Nyikang's deeds or one of the historically proved kings are praised. The instrument accompanying these songs is again a lyre, called tom (fig.5). As in the north, it has five strings. In contrast with the plectrum technique of the north, the tom strings are plucked individually with the fingers in the African style.
Following the old Colo religion, there is a strong ceremonial life accompanied by music, songs and dances. They distinguish three kinds of dance ceremonies: tom, the pleading- or rain-dances, bul, the festival dances and ywok, the funeral or memorial dances for a deceased, performed at koje feasts. The bul dances are performed mainly for the entertainment of the youth. Many of the young men dance with characteristic wooden dancing clubs. There are generally young female principal singers who sing along with the chorus. The bul is a long conical drum played on both ends. A smaller cylindrical or conical drum is called bul as well. Also among the royal drums are two small kettledrums called leleng.
One of the most important and creative institutions of Colo society is the bard, a poet-composer-singer-tom player called ček or wau. The most esteemed compositions are those praising the Reth and his predecessors.
The Dinka distinguished several song categories: ox-songs; ‘cathartic songs’ (a type of complaining song); age-specific insult songs; initiation songs; war songs owned by a warring unit; women's songs; songs from bedtime stories; children's play songs; religious hymns addressed to God, spirits or ancestors; and school songs (Deng, 1973). The importance of the ox as a symbol of wealth is also demonstrated in certain war dances, where a dancing man faces a woman and forms the horns of a bull with his arms. War dances are accompanied by a large drum, called loor, and a small one known as leng.
An exceptional instrument of the Bongo is the mandjindji, a large wooden trumpet most often anthropomorphically shaped with a carved head on its top (W. and A. Kronenberg, 1981). The dances of the Bongo are usually accompanied by three drums and two of these trumpets.
The kundi harp is the most exceptional instrument of the Azande, carved as an anthropomorphic figure. Today, older pieces demand a fairly high price in the international art market. Zande harp music has been analysed by Kubik (1964, 1983) and Giorgetti (1965). The tuning of the kundi according to Kubik is approximately anhemitonic pentatonic. The log xylophone, kpáníngbá (kpaningbo, kpäningbä), with generally 12–14 keys, is tuned in the same way. Quite different from this xylophone is the rongo (fig.6), of the Ndogo, with long gourds serving as resonators. Other instruments of the Azande are the kondi lamellophone and the gugu slit-drum.
During the first half of the 20th century a new urban music emerged in Khartoum and Omdurman, known as Sudan city music. It was an amalgamation of traditional Sudanese, Egyptian-Arabic and European elements. More recent influences include international popular music (e.g. reggae music). A basic musical structure, melodic conception, rhythm, phrasing and vocal intonation form the basis of this Sudanese popular style. Ensemble playing, and particular musical instruments such as the Arab lute, drums and the violin, are the principal Egyptian contributions, while other instruments such as the accordion, guitar (electric and acoustic), electric bass, transverse flute, saxophone, electric keyboard, synthesizer and others were imported from Europe and other industrialized countries.
The first musicians propagating a new urban popular style were singers who accompanied themselves with wooden sticks, which were soon replaced by the Egyptian Riqq.
In the 1920s another source of urban music occurred in the private circles of poets and music lovers. At that time the ramyah, a kind of free rhythmic vocal introduction, was very popular. The best-known singer of this tradition was Serror, who worked together with the poet Ibrahim al-Abadi. A central personality of the new music was Khalil Farah, whose friends, Al-Amin Burhan and others, made his compositions popular.
Records, record players and the new instruments have been sold in Khartoum since 1925. In 1931 recordings were produced in Cairo for Serror and Khalil Farah, the latter accompanied by lute, piano and violin. These recordings quickly became popular in coffee shops in Khartoum. This popularity encouraged businessmen to produce more records with Sudanese singers, including Ibrahim Abdul Jalil, An-Naim Mohammed Nur, Karoma, Al-Amin Burhan, Ali Shaigui, and the female singers Mary Sharif, Asha Falatiya and Mahla al-Abadiya. They were accompanied by lute, accordion, piano, violin, flute, riqq, tabla and, later, bongos. Other famous artists of that epoque were Zingar, Ismail Abdel Mu'ain, Hassan Atya and Awonda. The first city music concert took place in 1938. On 9 April 1940 Radio Omdurman began its broadcast service, which included a weekly radio programme with city music played on records.
After World War II, development of the modern instrumental ensemble occurred with the inclusion of electric guitars, basses and organs. The lute, however, remained the most prominent instrument.
Several musicians have a personal style of lute playing, such as Mohammed El Amin, whose lute playing has influenced many younger musicians. He is the prominent representative of the ‘great songs’ tradition, called al-aġānī al-kabīra (Simon, 1991, pp.178, 180). The Institute for Music and Drama was opened in 1969 under the direction of Mahi Ismail. Most professional musicians studied at this institute, among them artists such as Abdel Aziz El Mubarak and Abdel Gadir Salim (fig.7) and, above all, the musicians of their ensembles (recordings: Sounds of Sudan I, 1987; Sounds of Sudan II, 1987).
Most of the songs are love songs, although many of their texts suggest critical underlying meanings. ‘Nura’, one of the famous songs of Mohamed Gubara (recordings: Sounds of Sudan III, 1989), is a political song with text by Mohamed Al Hassan Salim. ‘Nura’ is the name of a girl, but in reality the Sudan is invoked.
Grove6 (M. Ismail)
W. Hofmayr: Die Schilluk: Geschichte, Religion und Leben eines Niloten-Stammes (Mödling bei Wien, 1925, 2/1979)
A.N. Tucker: ‘Music in the Southern Sudan’, Man, xxxii (1932), 18–19
A.N. Tucker: ‘Children’s Games and Songs in the Southern Sudan’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, lxiii (1933), 165–87
A.N. Tucker: Tribal Music and Dancing in the Southern Sudan, Africa, at Social and Ceremonial Gatherings (London, 1933)
N.L. Corkill: ‘The Kambala and Other Seasonal Festivals of the Kadugli and Miri Nuba’, Sudan Notes and Records, xxii (1939), 205–19
S. Zenkovsky: ‘Zar and Tambura as Practised by the Women of Omdurman’, Sudan Notes and Records, xxxi (1950), 65–85
H. Hickmann and C.G. Herzog zu Mecklenberg: Catalogue d'enregistrements de musique folklorique égyptienne (Baden-Baden, 1958)
G. Kubik: ‘Harp Music of the Azande and Related Peoples in the Central African Republic’, African Music, iii/3 (1964), 37–76
F. Giorgetti: ‘Zande Harp Music’, African Music, iii/4 (1965), 74–76
J.G. Kennedy: ‘Nubian Zar Ceremonies as Psychotherapy’, Human Organization, xxvi (1967), 185–94
M. Ismail: ‘Musical Traditions in the Sudan’, REM, nos.288–9 (1972), 87–93
F.M. Deng: The Dinka and their Songs (Oxford, 1973)
R. Carlisle: ‘Women Singers in Darfur, Sudan Republic’, BPM, iii (1975), 253–68
G.A. Plumley: El Tanbur: the Sudanese Lyre or Nubian Kissar (Cambridge, 1976)
H. Ibrahim: The Shaiqiya: the Cultural and Social Change of a Northern Sudanese Riverain People (Wiesbaden, 1979)
W. and A. Kronenberg: Die Bongo (Wiesbaden, 1981)
G. Kubik: Ostafrika, Musikgeschichte in Bildern, i/10 (Leipzig, 1982)
G. Kubik: ‘Kognitive Grundlagen afrikanischer Musik’, Musik in Afrika, ed A. Simon (Berlin, 1983), 327–400
A. Simon: ‘Musik in afrikanischen Besessenheitsriten’, Musik in Africa: mit 20 Beitragen zur Kenntnis traditioneller afrikanischer Musikkulturen, ed. A. Simon (Berlin, 1983), 284–96 [incl. 2 cassettes]
U. Wegner: Afrikanische Saiteninstrumente (Berlin, 1984)
A. Al-Daw, A.-A.Mohammed and A.-S.H. Ibrahim: Traditional Musical Instruments in Sudan (Khartoum, 1985) (Arabic and Eng.)
E. Emsheimer and A.Schneider: ‘Field Work among the Hadendowa of the Sudan’, AnM, xxxix/xl (1986), 173–88
G. Baumann: National Integration and Local Identity: the Miri of the Nuba Mountains in the Sudan (Oxford, 1987)
A. Simon: ‘Trumpet and Flute Ensembles of the Berta People of the Sudan’, African Musicology: Current Trends, ed. J.C. DjeDje (Los Angeles, 1989), 183–218
A. Simon: ‘Sudan City Music’, Populäre Musik in Africa, ed. V. Erlmann (Berlin, 1991), 165–80
Music of the Sudan: the Role of Song and Dance in Dinka Society, i: War Songs and Hymns, ii:Women's Dance Songs, iii: Burial Hymns and War Songs, Folkways F–4301–3 (1976)
Musik der Nubier – Nordsudan/Music of the Nubians – Northern Sudan, Museum Collection Berlin 9 (1980) [incl. notes by A. Simon]
Sudan I: Music of the Blue Nile Province, the Gumuz Tribe, Bärenreiter Musicaphon BM30SL 2313 (1986)
Sudan II: The Ingessana and Berta Tribes, Bärenreiter Musicaphon BM30SL 2312 (1986)
Sounds of Sudan I: Songs from Kordofan, Record World Circuit 2 (1987)
Sounds of Sudan II: Songs from the City, Record World Circuit 4 (1987)
Sounds of Sudan III: Mohammed Gubara, Record World Circuit 5 (1989)
Dikr und Madīh: islamische Gesänge und Zeremonien im Sudan, Museum Collection Berlin 22 and 23 (1998) [2 CDs, incl. notes by A. Simon]