Abdulsalam El Haj has been collecting Sudanese music cassettes since high school. After school, he hangs out in the old shops of the Omdurman souk, the historic heart of the capital, or with old labels where he collects the latest cassettes of his favorite artists such as Mahmoud Abdelaziz or Shaharbil Ahmed. This habit quickly becomes a passion for collecting and documenting the musical history of Sudan. In 2013, the cassette industry gradually disappeared, and with it a section of Sudanese music hitherto recorded on this sole medium. Abdulsalam therefore decided to collect as many cassettes as possible in order to create a collection that would pay tribute to the musical heritage of his country. 15 years later, his collection brings together more than 10,000 cassettes, which he decided to digitize after opening the Rift Digital Lab, a space in the center of Khartoum dedicated to visual and sound creation. It is with this sound archiving project that Abdusalam has given himself the mission of safeguarding the musical treasures of Sudan. It is the birth of Tonjela.
Tonjela it’s a story of identity, sound and generation. Coming from one of the Nubian languages, people of northern Sudan living on the banks of the Nile, Tonjela refers to the beauty of a girl, “ I chose this name because we have a long and magnificent musical history in Sudan with rhythms and sounds of great richness says Abdulsalam. Tonjela it is also a clever pun that brings together the concept of “tone” in music and “gila” which means “generation” in Arabic. For the young producer, Tonjela therefore speaks of generation and melodies. From the plains of the Blue Nile to the mountains of Darfur via the coast of the Red Sea, Tonjela takes us on a journey through the eras and sounds that characterize this country rich in its dozens of cultures. Ethnic music, jazz or popular music, Abdulsalam wants to transmit the richness that makes Sudan special and offer new knowledge about this country known.
It is in the premises of the Rift Digital Lab, a few minutes from the Blue Nile, that Abdulsalam hides his treasure. Behind a small door, hundreds of cassettes with colorful and kitsch covers pile up on top of each other. Placed in the middle, a radio set, open and ready to take visitors on a journey through Sudanese lands. His sound bank is a gold mine and Abdulsalam knows it well ” this project is intended for Sudanese youth, but also for enthusiasts, whether they are Sudanese or from around the world, so that our music does not disappear and that it can be listened to and taken up beyond our borders says the young artist.
Music and revolution
« For me, music has always been linked to the resistance in Sudan, be it political, social or cultural. explains Abdulsalam. If we look at the history of Sudan, many musicians have been catalysts of the revolutionary spirit, like Mohammad Wardi in particular. A national icon of Sudanese music, he has been imprisoned several times for his music committed against the military dictatorship.
When the Sudanese revolution broke out in December 2018 and the sit-in took place in front of the army headquarters in April 2019, young people seized on this historic event to also turn it into an artistic revolution. The sit-in is transformed into a place of expression for young people, musicians from all walks of life come together to appropriate the public space and play together. Groups from war zones since Omar el Bashir came to power in 1989 are even performing in Khartoum for the first time. This is the case of the Nuba Mountains Sound group, from South Kordofan.
These young people in their twenties come for the first time to the capital of their country after having spent the last decades under the bombs. Thanks to their music, part of the Sudanese discover the stories and the crimes committed in these regions, hitherto censored. The revolution then turns into a laboratory where music takes a central place in denouncing the crimes of the Islamic-military regime, as Abdulsalam recounts: “ combined with tones, rhythms from all over the country, the Sudanese used music as a weapon of resistance to fight peacefully ».
With the revolution, the youth also appropriated a part of its musical heritage, and the wind of freedom blowing over Khartoum allowed a new scene to assert itself: the rap scene. ” Such a political movement opens so many doors in the minds of young people, rap was listened to at home but with the sit-in the artists were able to perform, it was the first big concerts that took place and everything was free explains Abdulsalam. One of the rap icons of that time, Ayman Mao, in exile in the United States because of these anti-Bashir songs, even returned in 2019 to perform on the sit-in in front of thousands of people. His songs have become slogans taken up during demonstrations and in the streets. ” During the revolution you could hear his music “Rassas Al Hayat”, on every street corner, in every neighborhood, children and adults sang his song recalls Abdulsalam.
Music and Identity
For Abdulsalam, the project Tonjela is also a means of bringing together the fragments of Sudanese identity, a question that still remains today a major political and societal issue for the country. ” There has always been this debate in Sudan about identity, are we Arabs or Africans? The answer is easy, we are Sudanese, we are a people with great diversity, many tribes but our identity is Sudanese says Abdulsalam. And all the music he has compiled in his library embodies, even better than words, a form of response to this question of identity. A response in rhythms and melodies, from generation to generation. In a word, Tonjela.
