Igd el Djilad
The multi-vocalist band
Igd el Djilad was formed in the mid-1980s by a dozen young music
students with progressive aims. With half a dozen harmonising
voices and half a dozen players, they are revolutionary (for Sudan)
in their readiness to use material from the whole country - north
and south, African and Arab. Their song lyrics reflect their progressive
concerns, and their music strives to be both forward-looking and
reflective of the country's roots, using rhythms and chants from
right across the country. To an outsider this seems innocuous
enough, but it's an approach that takes guts. Members of Igd al-Jalad
have been arrested on several occasions, questioned by security
police and threatened. Rather than being stopped from playing
altogether they were forced to give written assurances that they
would not provoke the authorities with songs about poverty and
famine. The name, by the way, refers to a circlet of musky perfumed
hide traditionally worn by a bride at her wedding. Their best
moments recall early Steeleye Span.