The Sudan Handbook

250 thE sudan handbook

rhythm. The lyrics expressed romantic themes that illuminated the plight

of women in Sudanese society. Among the most popular tum tum singers

in the capital were Rabha Al-Tum Tum and Fatima Khamis. Pioneered by

ex-slaves and beer brewers in the Radif and Malakiyya neighbourhoods,

tum tum was embraced by young women across the social spectrum and

became the dominant form of music in the urban centres.

One of the most celebrated female singers of this era was Aisha

Al- Fallatiya, a Sudanese of West African origin who gained fame during

World War II when she joined several male singers and toured the camps

of the Sudan Defence Force in East and North Africa. Aisha paved the

way for a new generation of women singers. They included the highly

celebrated al-Balabil, three sisters who became the most popular singers

in the Sudan in the 1970s and the 1980s. The decade of the 1980s also

witnessed a distinctive style of women’s dance known as kashif (revealing),

en erotic dance, which took place in wedding and private gatherings. The

kashif was disapproved of by the conservative forces in Sudanese society,

particularly Islamists, which led to the harassment and persecution of

the performers.

The Golden Era, 1950s–1970s

The 1950s and 1960s were the heyday of Sudanese popular music. Based

on the haqiba and tum tum traditions, the music of this era reflected local

innovation as well as foreign influences such as rumba and samba. This

era produced a steady stream of highly gifted Sudanese singers, whose

music has not been surpassed until today. They included Ibrahim Awad,

the first Sudanese singer to dance on stage, Muhammad Wardi, Sayyid

Khalifa, Osman al-Shafi, Osman Hussein, al-Taj Mustafa and Ramadan

Hassan. During this period, the Sudanese public was also exposed to

African-American jazz and rhythm and blues singers such as Ray Charles,

Harry Belafonte and James Brown and the reggae star, Jimmy Cliff. Their

influences led to the emergence of so-called jazz bands in the Sudan,

which relied heavily on electric instruments, particularly the guitar,

The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors which came to northern Sudan from Congo, via southern Sudan. Jazz

(www.riftvalley.net).