Ya Madhacha
7 tracks, 42 minutes
Listen and download from Awesome Tapes from Africa
This tape – courtesy of the amazing blog and music resource Awesome Tapes from Africa – is a great example of Sudanese pop that really outlines the musical geographies at play.
Mahmoud Abdelaziz was one of the most popular singers in Sudan in his time, before his death in 2013. His lyrics addressed an audience that leant towards a more tolerant, secular society, naturally drawing the ire of the more conservative government. Even though this music could perhaps be considered a protest, it’s not at the expense of any pop credentials. On this album, which is probably from some time in the 2000s, Mahmoud’s rich vocals describe truly catchy melodies and the music is a great mix of influences from classical, folk, funk and reggae. And that’s when those geographies become really evident.
Sudan is undoubtedly an Arabic nation, but its position as an African culture is also super important. Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia all share some portion of a cultural connection – they each speak different languages but they are like cultural cousins. You can hear all of that in Mahmoud’s music, and on Ya Madhacha. A big part of the album’s sound is a sweeping string orchestra and several darbuka goblet drums, which are heavily reminiscent of Egyptian film music, but whereas that style is usually based on melodies of the Arabic classical maqam systems, this music is entirely pentatonic. Although the language, instrumentation and even melodic ornaments are immediately recognisable as in the Arabic tradition, the tunes themselves have much more in common with those of neighbouring Ethiopia and Somalia even further out east.
Of course this is pop, and this sort of thing isn’t really what you’re supposed to be thinking about when you listen to pop music – it’s supposed to be light, fun music that’s easy to enjoy. And that’s exactly what Ya Madhacha is, but I just love when music as popular as this can serve as a perfect example of that country’s cultural geography, including all the musical nuances to triangulate its position in the world both physically and conceptually while still sounding simple and eminently hummable.
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