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artist.....: Kamal Keila
album......: Muslims and Christians
year.......: 2018
label......: Habibi Funk
HABIBI008
source.....: WEB
moodswing..: Ethnic
releasesize: 142,27 MB
tracks.....: 10
length.....: 62:06
encoder....: LAME
quality....: 320kbps
scenealized: 07.06.2018
About a year or two ago we started
talking to Sharhabeel, one of our
favorite Sudanese musicians, with the
help of his son and our colleague in
Khartoum, Larissa, about re-releasing
some of his old music. I had never been
to Sudan before and despite some great
help in making the release happen we
figured it would be a good idea to
actually visit Sudan and finalize the
release with Sharhabeel. In preparation
for the trip I started to dig deeper
into Sudanese music trying to identify
artists and sounds to dive into. On
YouTube I found a music blog dedicated
to Sudanese jazz bands run by Yassir
Awad, a local IT expert. The Sudanese
interpretation of jazz is fairly
different to the Western but it opened
up a new world for me of around a dozen
bands and singers that I wanted to
learn more about. Luckily Yassir was
more than happy to help me prepare my
trip and learn about the musical scene
of the nationÆs capital in the 1970s.
Kamal Keila was a name that came up
here and there, coined the James Brown
or Fela Kuti of Sudan. When I asked
Yassir about him he said that he has
extended family ties with him and that
he could set up a meeting. We spent an
afternoon in Kamal's living room
somewhere in the dusty outskirts of
Khartoum. His small house, where he
lives with his sons and their families,
is located on a little side street. In
the tiny garden area he has a number of
empty pigeon cages, a testament of one
of his hobbies he actively followed
until some years ago. Kamal doesn't
know his exact age but was born
sometime in the early 1940s and as much
as his age shows when he's moving
around in his house he still lights up
full of energy when reminiscing about
his music.
In our conversation it turned out that
even though his career seriously
started in the 1960s, he had never
released a record on vinyl and that,
apart from one album which still
remains to be found, he canÆt remember
about a cassette tape release either.
He did however record sessions for
Sudanese radio. In Sudan the radio
stations were not allowed to play the
recordings produced by music labels on
air, therefore they had their own
studios and invited musicians to record
music for their program. In most cases
the musicians would not receive a copy
of the recordings out of fear that they
would release the music themselves. But
luckily Kamal Keila had gotten his
hands on two sessions and had kept
those two studio reels all these years.
Both tapes were in the most horrible
condition with mold everywhere and
obvious signs that they had gotten very
wet at some point. Much to our surprise
they played very well. Each tape
included five tracks. One with English
lyrics and another with Arabic ones.
Musically you can hear the influence of
neighboring Ethiopia much more than on
other Sudanese recordings of the time,
as well as references to Fela and
American funk and soul. His lyrics, at
least when he sings in English which
indicates more freedom from censorship,
are very political. A brave statement
in the political climate of Sudan of
the last decades, preaching for the
unity of Sudan, peace between Muslims
and Christians and singing the blues
about the fate of war orphans called
'Shmasha'.
When we asked Kamal about the year the
recordings were made he didn't remember
and the tapes itself didn't give a clue
either. Sonically we assumed they must
be from the mid 1970s but we were in
for a surprise when we found a little
sheet in one of the cases of the reels.
The note specified the track titles,
durations and the fact that the
sessions were recorded on the 12th of
august 1992. Both sessions stand as a
hearable testament how Kamal Keila
stuck to a sound aesthetic from decades
ago, while incorporating current events
into his lyrics. Some of the songs were
already written in the 1970s and have
been part of Kamal's sets ever since,
with only small changes for some
contemporary references in the lyrics
and musically sometimes adopting to
'new' sounds here and there.
Kamal KeilaÆs album is the first in a
series of releases covering the
Sudanese jazz scene on Habibi Funk. Be
on the lookout for albums by The
Scorpions and Sharhabeel coming soon
URL: https://is.gd/2X80W9
psst, more info at http://habibifunk.com
01 Shmasha 06:08
02 Muslims and Christians 05:18
03 Agricultural Revolution 05:10
04 African Unity 07:07
05 Sudan in the Heart of Africa 06:42
06 Taban Ahwak 06:33
07 Ghali Ghali Ya Jinub 06:26
08 Al Asafir 05:22
09 Ya Shaifni 06:47
10 Ajmal Alyam 06:33