Khartoum rediscovers Nubian music

Nubian music, which hails from the northern Sudanese people, is heard in hundreds of households across the Sudanese capital, often expressing their traditional music with enthusiasm and rapture.

Many say the emotive depth of the Nubian music is the main reason that Nubians and non-Nubians are revisiting this type of singing.

Fatima Abbas, a Nubian housewife in Dangla, says she is proud of her Nubian heritage especially the singing. Although her wedding did not feature Nubian music, she was keen on including it in her children’s weddings this year. I wanted my children and even their non-Nubian friends and acquaintances to be familiar with this kind of singing,” Abbas explains.

Nubian singing is full of nostalgia and longing.”
Fatima Abbas

Nubian singing is full of nostalgia and longing, and even the music and the Tanbur (a long-necked string instrument) can take you to nature, family and faraway people.”

The Nubians are the ancient people and kings of Sudan. Their civilisation dates back to 20,000 years B.C. According to the Swiss historian Charles Bonuet, who excavated in Sudan for 40 years, they are the basis and origin of the pharaohs in Egypt. The Nubian language was written and spoken in ancient Sudan.

Nubian is still the first spoken language in northern Sudan but it disappeared from the rest of the country due to the dominance of the Arabic culture and language and the increase of the Arab presence in Sudan starting from the eighth century.

As a modern-times’ result, the Nubian tongue is no longer used by the government apparatuses and media outlets, national radio and television channels do not broadcast Nubian songs.
 
Dawla Ata, a Nubian singer, describes the magic of the music. For him, the secret of the Nubian singing including its melody, rhythm and lyrics is speaking to the sentiments as its nature-inspired rhythms create harmony between the listener and his surroundings”.

Nubian music uses the Kisar, an ancient Nubian string instrument, also known as the Tanbur. It uses a five-note musical scale and creates strong and upbeat rhythms.

Nubian music does not contain a war rhythm.”
Samir Bikab

Ata recalled with a laugh how he was singing at the national theatre and the Swiss Ambassador and his wife were attending the concert. He was amazed that they kept dancing for the entire concert and did not leave until it ended.
 
Samir Bikab, Nubian heritage researcher and activist, believes that the listeners are also attracted to the Nubian music due to its unique quality. Nubian singing is the only one which has twelve musical rhythms in Sudan – it is very rare,” he says. It is interesting that the Nubian music does not contain a war rhythm, which is all over Sudan.”

Bikab explains that the Nubian rhythms are inspired by nature’s rhythmic movements in the Nubian areas in the north such as the voice and movement of the waves, the palms, birds’ singing, the voice of water streams and the plough and other sounds.

The rhythms of Nubian dancing are also inspired by nature. One dance emulates the wave movements in the Nile and another the movements of the Hazar bird. Moreover, the Nubian dancing is the only one where men and women dance with each other. This dancing gave the Nubian singing more momentum and made it more attractive,” he says.

However, some say the return to the Nubian singing is not entirely positive.

Abu Zar Mohamed Saeed, a Nubian young man from Mahs, says: The rise and return of the Nubian singing are a good sign, but they reflect the negative trend among Sudanese people who express national sentiments while returning to look for the tribal identity and tribal support for families and clans.”

Saeed warns that the return to the Nubian music should not fuel an emphasis on tribalism, which would set back the modern Sudanese state.
 

Different literary works described the people’s feelings, states, conditions and their sense of estrangement and loss.”
Abdullah Hajj

But for many Nubians, the songs do not mean dismissing the Sudanese identity but instead is a journey of self-discovery.

Displacing one branch of the Nubians from Halfa city to Khashm Qarba to the south-west of Sudan, and drowning it to build the High Dam in Egypt in 1964 devastated the Nubian areas in the north of Sudan and impacted their culture, says Abdullah Hajj, a Nubian from Halfa.

They simply did not accept the removal of an entire cultural city. They were shocked and their feelings became sluggish. That was evident in their culture and songs. Different literary works described the people’s feelings, states, conditions and their sense of estrangement and loss,” he explains.

The Nubians did not stop explaining about this tragedy to their children. After more than 50 years since this incident, a whole new generation emerged and started to search for and listen to the Nubian songs and stories.

Some Nubian young men organise tours to visit their cities and villages in northern Sudan including Halfa. They cherish their ancient city and work to rebuild it, Abdullah says. Immigration, which was supposed to be a dispersing factor, has become a sentimental unifying thing. This is evident in the Nubian Festival held in Helfa two years ago in which all the Nubian tribes took part,” he adds.