Abdel Gadir Salim
Abdel Gadir Salim's rich
powerful voice and dynamic arrangements make music which is less
fussy and more hard-driving than many of his urban counterparts.
His concerts and record releases abroad have made him one of the
most familiar Sudanese singers for western listeners. The content
of his songs strives to be closer to countryside directness, while
the arrangements reflect his studies of both Sudanese and western
music. Abdel Gadir Salim was born in Dilling, in the Nuba Mountains,
the same village as Hamid Osman Abdalla, the inspired saxophonist
who features in his All-Stars. He studied European and Arabic
music at the Institute of Music and Drama, and became a primary
school headmaster in Chad somewhere along the way. After his studies,
he shifted in 1971 from composing "Khartoum city songs"
to folk songs, and had a hit with "Umri Ma Bansa" (I'll
never forget you), which is still part of his set. His home area
of Kordofan and Darfur has its own unique rhythms and beautiful
songs, with which he has flavoured his own music.