Abdel Gadir Salim

When Abdel Gadir Salim, the exceptional singer, composer and oud (Sudanese lute) player was a student at the prestigious Institute of Music & Drama in Khartoum, he turned for inspiration to the music of his native Kordofan.
The province of Kordofan is a desert region to the west of the country, where most of the people are nomadic cattle herders. They came to this part of Sudan from every corner of the Islamic empire, bringing with them the rich traditions of Arabic culture, which has changed, developed and adapted in response to the passing years.
So the songs of Kordofan owe much to Arabic traditions but are sung in colloquial dialect with melodies and rhythms that have a flavour distinctive of Kordofan.
Although the pentatonic scale dominates Sudanese music traditional and modern there is a tendency in Kordofan to introduce half and even quarter tones bringing the music closer to classical Arabic traditions. And there is the distinctive 6/8 rhythm of the mardoum wedding dance which has inspired so many songs throughout the region.
Salim took some of the lyrics, he took the melodies and the rhythm of Kordofan and played them on the oud. He brought together musicians to play violins, electric guitars, organ, accordion, and percussion. Together they played the music of the western nomads but they played in concert halls, on radio and television and the songs of Kordofan became known and loved throughout Sudan.
Salim is not from a family of musicians. He was born in El Obeid the first Oasis town on the western edge of Sudan. He trained first as a teacher but, already an accomplished oud player, was awarded a five year scholarship to study music at the Institute. In recent years, between giving concerts in Sudan and throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Salim is headmaster of a Sudanese school in Chad.
In 2005 Salim teamed up with young Sudanese rapper Emmanuel Jal to release the acclaimed album Ceasefire.
By H.M. Yassin (updated by Dave McGuire)