ceasefire - emmanuel jal and abdel gadir salim
Posted by Brian Draper Wed, 14/09/2005 - 3:41pm :: listening
Ceasefire
Emmanuel Jal and Abdel Gadir Salim
Riverboat Records
Emmanuel Jal was a child soldier in Sudan before being resuced by the British aid worker Emma McCune and taken to Nairobi. He has an amazing story, and you can read what I wrote for Church Times about him here.
Ceasefire is Jal's first album to be released in the West. In fact, it's a collaboration with another Sudanese musician called Abdel Gadir Salim (a Muslem from the north - and thus a traditional enemy).
Jal has been in the news a lot recently - firstly for criticising Bob Geldof for not allowing him to play at the Hyde park Live 8 event (he claims he was invited to the UK to perform in London, only to be told that he could only play at the hastily arranged African concert at the Eden Project in Cornwall instead). Most recently, he has contributed a song - Gua - to the new War Child album which was recorded by all artists within 24 hours.
He also recently played at Greenbelt.
Ceasefire is a lovely album - Jal is labelled as a hip-hop artist, but really his music sounds closer to John Legend than Kanye West. And he's certainly not a hip-hop 'personality' in the usual way: he's very quietly spoken and thoughtful, and has an astonishing story to tell about his journey in life and (the Christian) faith.
The stand-out song on this album is Gua - which means 'peace' in his mother tongue. It imagines a time when Sudan has found peace and reconciliation, and is deeply moving.
Proceeds from this album will be going to help some of the projects he's involved with - from Make Poverty History to the Campaign to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
Emmanuel Jal and Abdel Gadir Salim
Riverboat Records
Emmanuel Jal was a child soldier in Sudan before being resuced by the British aid worker Emma McCune and taken to Nairobi. He has an amazing story, and you can read what I wrote for Church Times about him here.
Ceasefire is Jal's first album to be released in the West. In fact, it's a collaboration with another Sudanese musician called Abdel Gadir Salim (a Muslem from the north - and thus a traditional enemy).
Jal has been in the news a lot recently - firstly for criticising Bob Geldof for not allowing him to play at the Hyde park Live 8 event (he claims he was invited to the UK to perform in London, only to be told that he could only play at the hastily arranged African concert at the Eden Project in Cornwall instead). Most recently, he has contributed a song - Gua - to the new War Child album which was recorded by all artists within 24 hours.
He also recently played at Greenbelt.
Ceasefire is a lovely album - Jal is labelled as a hip-hop artist, but really his music sounds closer to John Legend than Kanye West. And he's certainly not a hip-hop 'personality' in the usual way: he's very quietly spoken and thoughtful, and has an astonishing story to tell about his journey in life and (the Christian) faith.
The stand-out song on this album is Gua - which means 'peace' in his mother tongue. It imagines a time when Sudan has found peace and reconciliation, and is deeply moving.
Proceeds from this album will be going to help some of the projects he's involved with - from Make Poverty History to the Campaign to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
