B6 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22 , 2021

obituaries

BY ISMA’IL KUSHKUSH

Abdelkarim Elkabli, a Suda-

nese singer, songwriter and com-

poser whose music — an exuber-

ant marriage of modern and

traditional sounds — embodied

the hopes of many ordinary Su-

danese in their struggle for prog-

ress and national identity, died

Dec. 2 at a hospital in Flint, Mich.

He was 89 and lived with family

in Alexandria, Va.

The cause was complications

from Parkinson’s disease, said his

son Saad Alkabli, who transliter-

ates his surname differently.

His death was mourned by top

Sudanese social and political fig-

ures including Sudan’s civilian

prime minister, Abdalla Ham-

dok, who described Mr. Elkabli in

a tweet as “a symbol of Sudanese

art, a large literary monument

who engraved his name in the

consciousness of our people with

letters of light.”

Reflecting Sudan’s far-ranging

musical heritage, Mr. Elkabli per-

formed solo with an oud (a lute)

or backed by a big-band orches-

tra, and his songs addressed love,

folk song themes of heroism and

chivalry, and politics.

His recordings encompassed

songs in colloquial Sudanese and

classical Arabic and works writ-

ten by contemporary and histori-

cal poets. He sang and composed

in a manner and language ap-

pealing to contemporary urban

listeners and sensibilities. And

he performed in the five-note

pentatonic scale common to sub-

Saharan Africa — a sound that

distinguishes Sudanese music

from the seven-note heptatonic

scale more common to the Mid-

dle East and North Africa.

A promising young musician,

Mr. Elkabli completed his educa-

tion in Omdurman, a major city

near Khartoum and the center of

nationalist and cultural move-

ments. He worked as a court

clerk but retained his literary

and musical interests while

building a reputation as a poet,

intellectual and artist. He initial-

ly performed privately among

friends but soon began to write

and compose for well-known

singers. In the 1950s on Radio

Omdurman, the country’s main

radio station, he served on a

literary and musical evaluation

committee when singers and mu-

sicians performed live sessions

for broadcast.

His major break came in 1960,

when he was asked to perform in

front of the visiting Egyptian

president Gamal Abdel Nasser.

At the height of anti-colonial

fever in the region, Mr. Elkabli

sang one of his most celebrated

pieces, “The Asia and Africa

Song.” It was written by a fellow

poet to commemorate the fifth

anniversary of the Bandung con-

ference seeking solidarity and

cooperation among newly inde-

pendent nations of Africa and

Asia. Mr. Elkabli had composed

its melody and delivered it with

timely references to independ-

ence leaders such as Mohandas

Gandhi of India and Jomo Ke-

nyatta of Kenya as well as the

Algerian revolution, and it also

celebrated Sudan’s historical ties

with Egypt.

“It was the first time he per-

formed in front of a [public]

audience — in front of Nasser,”

said Omer Elgozali, a longtime

Sudan Television presenter as

well as his brother-in-law. “His

performance echoed widely.”

Mr. Elkabli never belonged to

a political party, but he marked

important political develop-

ments in song. His piece “In the

University’s Path” honored Su-

dan’s 1964 student-led October

Revolution, the first nonviolent

popular uprising in the region to

successfully topple a military

dictatorship.

But Mr. Elkabli’s greatest pop-

ularity derived from his many

songs that elegantly celebrated

love, beauty and nature. They

include “Habibat Umri” (“The

Love of My Life”) and “Zaman

al-Nas” (“People Used To”) and

the lighthearted upbeat hit “Suk-

kar Sukkar” (“Sugar Sugar”), in-

spired by the 1960s American

dance craze the Twist. He also

composed music to accompany a

10th-century classical Arabic

poem, “Arak ‘Assi al-Dam’ ” (“I

See You Holding Back Tears”),

sang about the ancient city of

Marawi in northern Sudan along

the Nile River, and paid homage

to Darfur’s picturesque environ-

ment with “Mursal Shog (Jebel

Marra)” (“Message of Longing

[Mount Marra]”).

In his music, Mr. Elkabli advo-

cated for women’s rights in “Fa-

tat al-Yom wa al-Ghad” (“The

Woman of Today and Tomor-

row”) and children’s rights dur-

ing times of war in “Limaza?”

(“Why?”). In 2004 he was named

a United Nations Population

Fund goodwill ambassador, join-

ing grass-roots peace efforts in

Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region.

He settled in the Washington

area in 2012, arriving on a visa

offered to individuals with ex-

traordinary ability or achieve-

ment.

“Elkabli will not only be re-

membered for his great role in

developing the modern Suda-

nese song but also for his signifi-

cant role in preserving the heri-

tage of Sudanese music and cul-

ture in his own unique style,” said

Souad Ali, an associate professor

of Arabic literature and Middle

East and Islamic Studies at the

University of Arizona.

The eldest of three siblings,

Abdelkarim Abdelaziz Elkabli

was born in the eastern Sudanese

town of Port Sudan on the Red

Sea on April 13, 1932. His pater-

nal grandfather migrated to Su-

dan during Egyptian-Ottoman

rule in the early 19th century

from Kabul (hence the name

Elkabli, the Kabulian) and set-

tled in the ancient port city of

Suakin, where he became a mer-

chant. Mr. Elkabli’s mother had

roots in eastern Sudan and the

western region of Darfur. This

multiethnic and regional back-

ground would influence his out-

look and music.

“The east [part of Sudan] is my

region, [but I] consider all of

Sudan my place,” he said in a

2019 documentary that aired on

Sudanese TV.

As a child during joint Anglo-

Egyptian colonial rule in Sudan

in the first half of the 20th cen-

tury, he first received a tradition-

al religious education in his ma-

ternal uncle’s khalwa (Koranic

school). He then continued to

modern public schools, first in

Port Sudan, where he showed an

early interest in Arabic poetry

and music after hearing the

songs of contemporary Sudanese

and Egyptian singers on a pho-

nograph in a neighborhood cafe.

He taught himself to play the

penny whistle, flute and oud and

sang in a boy’s school group. At

16, he continued his schooling in

Omdurman.

Survivors include his wife,

Awadia Elgozali; five children;

two sisters; and nine grandchil-

dren.

While tremendously popular

at home and in neighboring

countries, Mr. Elkabli didn’t re-

ceive the same level of global

attention that producers of

“world” music have given to

other African and Middle East-

ern singers and musical styles.

“Elkabli’s subtle playing and

tremendous ability deserves wid-

er recognition, but Western at-

tention to Sudanese music has

always been patchy at best,” said

researcher Peter Verney, who in-

cluded some of Mr. Elkabli’s

songs in the 2005 CD compila-

tion “The Rough Guide to the

Music of Sudan.”

Beyond performing, Mr. Elk-

abli lectured on Sudanese music

and folklore at universities and

institutions, including the Li-

brary of Congress in 2015. That

same year, he co-wrote a book in

English, “Melodies Not Mili-

tants: An African Artist’s Mes-

sage of Hope.”

At an event in Khartoum hon-

oring Mr. Elkabli in 2019, almost

anticipating his death and ex-

pressing his spirituality, he recit-

ed from his poem “The Divine

Essence”:

I look forward to meeting you

my Lord

In the eagerness of a Sufi at

ecstasy

My soul to Your sky precedes

me

As for my mortal hands and

body

Will return to Your soil as

flowers and roses

A workshop of colors

obits@washpost. om

ABDELKARIM ELKABLI, 89

Performer embodied Sudan’s hopes

ELKABLI FAMILY AND DAL CULTURAL FORUM

Abdelkarim Elkabli performed solo with an oud or backed by a big-band orchestra, and his songs

addressed love, politics and more. Sudan’s civilian prime minister called him a “literary monument.”

said in a statement Tuesday that

Jurkowski was placed on paid

leave, which is “the normal

course of action while a staffer is

under investigation.”

“Let’s make no mistake — these

are serious charges,” the union

wrote in a statement. “Everyone

has a right to due process and

that is why the WTU supports a

thorough investigation.”

D.C. Council member Charles

Allen (D-Ward 6) wrote to Fere-

bee late Sunday requesting more

information about Jurkowski’s

hiring. Allen wanted to know if

DCPS conducted a full back-

ground check on Jurkowski and if

the school system was aware of

the previous criminal charges

and license revocation.

“I, like so many others, read

these reports in horror,” Allen

wrote to Ferebee. “The antisemi-

tism and hatred described by

students has no place in the

District of Columbia and the hate

and harm caused by these actions

are difficult to put into words.”

Reports of the Friday episode

prompted howls of outrage from

parents across the country and

efforts locally to heal. More than

50 households tuned into a Zoom

meeting Monday night hosted by

Hill Havurah, the Jewish commu-

nity on Capitol Hill, to discuss the

episode and its meaning. Among

those present were parents from

Watkins, Watkins alumni, two

members of the D.C. Council, a

Holocaust survivor who spoke

about her experiences, and mem-

bers of the city’s Muslim commu-

nity who joined to offer support.

[email protected]

Michelle Boorstein contributed to

this report.

Schools Chancellor Lewis D. Fere-

bee said at a Monday news con-

ference.

“We do a thorough background

check on all of our employees

when they are hired,” Ferebee

said. “We’re doing an investiga-

tion into the hiring process spe-

cifically to the staff member.”

The D.C. Public Schools hiring

investigation usually includes a

criminal-background check, ac-

cording to a background sheet on

its website. It also screens for any

history of child abuse or neglect,

and any allegations of sexual

misconduct.

In a letter to parents, Watkins

Principal MScott Berkowitz said

the DCPS Mental Health Crisis

Response team had dispatched

four counselors to the school

Monday. A social worker visited

the affected third-grade class and

“supported students in process-

ing their feelings and sharing the

level of support they may need

later in the day.” Later, the coun-

selors led the class through “a

healing circle.”

Berkowitz promised that

school and district administra-

tors would “plan age-appropriate

lessons about the Holocaust,” be-

cause “this incident resulted in

an inappropriate exposure to this

historical event.” Jurkowski cast a

Jewish student as Hitler and told

him to pretend to commit suicide,

as Hitler did, according to the

parent of a student in the class.

Jurkowski, who has been with

DCPS for seven years, makes

$104,000, according to public

records.

Jurkowski is also listed as a

member at-large in specialized

services of the Washington Teach-

ers’ Union. The union’s leaders

BY NICOLE ASBURY

The Watkins Elementary
School staffer who directed third-
graders to reenact scenes from
the Holocaust on Friday was con-
victed of two crimes in New
Jersey. The staffer is librarian
Kimberlynn Jurkowski, accord-
ing to the parents of two children
instructed to pretend like they
were digging mass graves and
dying in gas chambers.
Jurkowski forfeited a job as a
school librarian in Hamilton
Township, N.J., after a jury con-
victed her of fraud in 2013. Pros-
ecutors said the city paid for
Jurkowski to provide tutoring for
her children but that she contin-
ued billing the district for nearly
$24,000 for months after the
tutoring had ended.
She was also arraigned on ani-
mal cruelty charges in 2019 after
she left one of her Rottweilers
outdoors in freezing winter tem-
peratures. The dog died. Police
had responded to several com-
plaints of animal cruelty at the
home.
Jurkowski, 61, did not reply to
messages to her email and cell-
phone seeking comment for this
article.
D .C. Public Schools officials
have not said whether the school
system knew of the incidents
during its hiring process in 2014.
Officials were moving “quickly
and decisively” to investigate,

THE DISTRICT

L ibrarian embroiled in c ontroversy

was convicted of fraud charge in N .J.

Elementary school staffer

instructed 3 rd-graders to

reenact Holocaust scenes

BY JUSTIN GRIESER

Dec. 21 was the winter solstice,
when the sun takes its lowest and
shortest path through the sky and
the Northern Hemisphere sees its
shortest period of daylight.
While it hasn’t felt much like
winter in many parts of the coun-
try recently, Tuesday’s solstice —
which happened at 10:59 a.m.
Eastern time — is a reminder that
winter is still young.
It also means we’re about to
turn the corner toward longer,
brighter days.
In Washington, t here are
nine hours 26 minutes of daylight
on the winter solstice, with sun-
rise at 7:23 a.m. and sunset at 4:49
p.m.
Starting Wednesday, the day
will be a scant two seconds longer,
according to T imeandDate.com.
But come early January, daylight
will increase by about a minute
per day, with most of the addi-
tional light tacked on to the eve-
ning.
It’s important to always pay
close attention to the winter sol-
stice, which signals the inevitable
return of the sun’s light as we
climb out of the darkest stretch of
the year. For the past six months,
we’ve watched the sun gradually
sink lower in the sky with each
passing day, causing shadows to
elongate and daylight hours to
continually shrink.
But when the winter solstice
arrives, our descent into darkness
finally pauses before reversing
direction, much like a pendulum
does as it swings back and forth.
On the solstice, the sun takes its
lowest and shortest path across
the southern sky, which is why it’s
dark for a good portion of the day.

A sunny winter day can feel blind-

ingly bright, even rejuvenating,

as the shallow rays wash over the

landscape. Yet the winter sun is

always fleeting and never far

from the horizon.

That’s especially true at more

northern latitudes, which experi-

ence greater extremes in daylight

between summer and winter be-

cause of Earth’s tilt.

I’m a D.C.-area native but

spending winter in Maine, where

the days are noticeably shorter

than I’m used to. At this latitude,

roughly as far north as Green Bay,

Wis., the sun spends just eight

hours 50 minutes above the hori-

zon on the solstice, compared

with about 9½ hours of daylight

in the nation’s capital.

It will be a full month before

the length of day here is the same

as it is in D.C. on Dec. 21.

The shorter days are especially

pronounced because Maine —

like much of New England — is in

the eastern reaches of our com-

mon time zone. Despite being

farther north, Maine juts so far to

the east that the sun here actually

rises 14 minutes earlier than in

D.C. However, it also means

Maine sees some of the earliest

sunsets anywhere in the Low-

er 48. Along the mid-coast of

Maine, the earliest sunset comes

around 3:56 p.m., and evening

darkness starts nearly an hour

earlier than in D.C.

Living at a more northern lati-

tude teaches you not to take the

sun’s light for granted. The days

are so short, they seem to pass

quickly. The soft, pink hues of

morning light slowly crescendo

into a brief hour or two of midday

brilliance, before the afternoon

sun drops back toward the hori-

zon, and suddenly it’s getting

dark again.

Of course, even in northern

New England, the winter solstice

sees more daylight than parts of

the Upper Midwest or far north-

ern tier. In Alaska, the winter sun

hardly makes much of an appear-

ance. On Dec. 21, Anchorage sees

about 5½ hours of daylight, while

in Fairbanks, the sun is up for just

three hours 4 2 minutes. North of

the Arctic Circle, the sun doesn’t

rise at all; apart from a few hours

of faint twilight, the winter sol-

stice is shrouded in darkness.

However little daylight we see

around the solstice, accepting —

or even embracing — the dark

days of winter is one way to stay

energized during these longest

nights of the year.

Fortunately, we’ve already

turned the corner toward more

evening sunlight. Though the sol-

stice has the least daylight, our

earliest sunsets are already be-

hind us. D.C.’s earliest sunset was

at 4:45 p.m. on Dec. 7. On the

winter solstice, sunset was four

minutes later than it was in early

December.

Meanwhile, even as the days

start to lengthen, the time of

sunrise will continue to shift later

until the first week of January.

This misalignment between the

earliest sunset and latest sunrise

happens because of Earth’s tilt

and the fact that we orbit the sun

slightly faster this time of year.

As we head past the winter

solstice and into a new calendar

year, the increasing daylight al-

ways happens slowly at first. But

whatever the rest of winter

brings, brighter days are ahead

even if we can’t quite see them

yet.

[email protected]

CAPITAL WEATHER GANG

Winter solstice signals brighter d ays

Come early January,

daylight will increase by

about a minute per day,

with most of the

additional light tacked

on to the evening.

Sun takes its lowest and

shortest path as we turn

a corner out of the dark

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