Mohammed Wardi

Mohammed Wardi Began Singing At The Age Of Five His First Hit Was In 1960 And He Still Has The Most Extraordinary Effect On A Sudanese Audience Having Come To Embody The Collective Memories And Aspirations Of An Entire Nation. Mohammed Wardi Sings Not Only In Arabic But Also In His Native Nubian - A Quite Different Sound From Ali Hassan Kuban - Drawing On 7 000 Years Of Culture. The Soaring Voice Of "golden Throat" Mohammed Wardi Has Won Acclaim Right Across The African Sahel And The Arab World. Although This Singer From Nubia Was In Exile For 13 Years Starting From 1989 Back 2003 His Music Always Stirs Emotion For Many Sudanese Sometimes With Directly Political Allusion - To The October 1964 Popular Uprising For Example - And Sometimes More Obliquely But Always With Powerful Resonance. He Was Born In 1932 Near Old Wadi Halfa. Schooled Across The Border In Egypt He Returned As An Elementary School Teacher Then Moved To Khartoum In 1957 And Became A Professional Singer Two Years Later. Four Decades And 300 Songs Later He Can Stand On A Stage Hand In Pocket The Epitome Of Relaxation Leaving The Audience To Complete The Lines Of A Song - And Make The Hairs Stand Up On The Back Of Your Neck. He's Had Spells In Jail Which Only Confirmed His Popularity At A Human Rights Demonstration Outside The Sudan Embassy His Unaccompanied Voice Galvanised The Spirit Of An Otherwise Sombre Gathering. But The Most Compelling Occasion Of All Must Be His 1990 Concert At Itang Temporary Home To 250 000 War-Displaced Southern Sudanese In Ethiopia Performing From A Makeshift Wooden Platform In The Dusty Wastes Of A Refugee Camp. He Was Awarded An Honorary Doctorate In Literature From The University Of Khartoum For His Continuous Exposure And Research Of Nubian Language. read less