Sawa Sawa: A Sudanese odyssey of sound, art and storytelling

Long before the current instability, Sudanese percussionists Salma Omar and Ahmed Homaida, notable for their work with Drum Circle Sudan, decided to record a concept album in collaboration with musicians from across Africa.

Now, nearly six years later, and having overcome other obstacles like COVID-19 lockdowns and the Sudanese military coup of 2021, the project, which made its way from Sudan to the UK, via Egypt, Mauritius, Burkina Faso and Ghana, is out.

Titled Sawa Sawa, the multidisciplinary project couldn’t have come at a better time. Meaning ‘all together’ in Sudanese Arabic, the release represents a historic collaboration and fusion of Sudanese and pan-African sounds, stories and art. The project – composed of eight tracks, eight artworks and eight short stories – brings together a diverse collection of writers, artists, composers and musicians, creating a harmonious tapestry that transcends boundaries and celebrates the rich cultural heritage of Sudan.

Amid the challenges and conflict currently affecting Sudan and its people, Sawa Sawa is a timely exhortation about the need to end conflict and embrace our shared humanity.

“We believe in the power of music to transcend boundaries and heal divisions,” Salma Omar, who is currently in Egypt after fleeing the war in April, says. “Through Sawa Sawa we aim to convey a message of unity, urging our fellow Sudanese and the world to come together and embrace peace. This album is a celebration of our shared heritage and a call for harmony.”

Salma Omar and Ahmed Homaida (Drum Circle Sudan) spoke to Music In Africa about the story of this unique project.

MUSIC IN AFRICA: Tell about the concept of Sawa Sawa. Were art and stories always a part of it?

DRUM CIRCLE SUDAN: The story of Sawa Sawa goes back to 2018. For us at Drum Circle, the idea was to play rhythms inspired by our culture and blend it with other traditional styles, like sega tipik from Mauritius. This was inspired by their love for rhythms and the similarities between so many cultures, from the instruments – for example, kalimba in Mauritius is known as kondi in Sudan – to the shared grooves like tumtum and sega. 

Knowing that rhythms are rooted in stories, and images tell a thousand words, they came up with the concept of eight tracks, eight works of art and eight short stories. We applied for a grant from the Arab Fund for Art and Culture to work on the project and we were successful. And this is how an idea conceived on a hot summer day in 2018 at Jazz Café in Khartoum, a spot that was home to Sudanese artists before it closed down in 2019, became our biggest project yet.

Tell us more about the stories and the artworks

In Africa, rhythms go hand in hand with stories. There is a significance behind it. The artworks tell their own stories; they are an expression of what the artists felt, heard and thought at the time of creation. We wanted to spread the message far and wide in as many ways as possible, and art was one of them.

The stories are a testament to the power of rhythms to tell old and new tales, find what was once lost, explore realities and connect generations. We asked four writers for two short stories each, with a message that reflected the themes of the project: togetherness, unity, love of music, drumming, heritage and preservation of culture. The writers are from South Sudan and Sudan and their works are a mixture of fantasy and fact-based flash fiction, and even poetry. The writers are Tarig Gaidou, Hana Habeeb, Al Hadi AlRadi and Ade ‘Mandela’ Matur. 

The visual art was created in the same way as the music, in real time while listening to the album. The artists are Mosab Zakaria, Maab Taj, Reem Aljeally and Amr Badr.

What are you hoping to achieve through the project?

A fusion of cultures with one message. Sawa. Together. Three mediums of art come together to send the same message. Through this work, we acknowledge differences – the mix of languages, geographies, the varying lengths in the stories, the countries the project has been to – but focus on how our similarities can be used for creative good. 

When did the recording start?

We recorded a demo track at Step Studio in Sinai, Egypt, with producer Mohamed Mustafa in January 2019. The grant was received in late 2019 and the project was scheduled for February 2020 but the pandemic put a stop to those plans. Faced with lockdowns, mass fear and a serious power outage issue, we spent many months thinking of how to proceed in spite of those challenges. After a lot of discussions, armed with hope and sanitiser, we asked the musicians if they would be up for it. They all agreed.

There was excitement mixed with uncertainty. We created a recording plan and because the situation was not very stable, we wasted no time. We set up a recording camp in July 2020. The idea was to record the first thing that came to the musicians. No second takes. We ended up recording four tracks in four weeks, completing half the album and doing the recording ourselves. 

Then a total lockdown was enforced and we lost our little studio in Al Amarat, Khartoum, where we would gather to record. We started to get studio time in different places for vocalists, we would produce at home and record vocals in different studios using our modest equipment. Then there was a military coup in Sudan in 2021 and that stopped everything. We spent a lot of time gathering the missing pieces. Now, a war has displaced us all and we left everything behind, including our instruments, project documents and six very valuable paintings by three of the artists. 

How would you describe the sound on Sawa Sawa and what are its influences?

It’s inspired by the unique rhythms and music of Sudan. Just like the country, Sawa Sawa is a mix – French love songs as a nod to the West, odd metre rhythms heard in Ta'amal from the east, and a bluesy Sara song commonly played in central Sudan. We would describe it as a fusion between traditional and electronic music and diverse cultures. We’ve had contributions from artists in Ghana, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, Egypt, South Sudan and the UK. This speaks to the Sudanese way, which is always ‘sawa sawa’. 

What role can music play in restoring peace in Sudan?

We believe that the release of this project shows that working together in spite of differences is possible. We can all coexist, peacefully, when we acknowledge we are one. We’re also very excited that our album will be available for people to download and listen to, which is something that wouldn’t have been possible without Jinn Records’ Abraham Moughrabi. 

View the Sawa Sawa project here. Stream the album here.

Sawa Sawa tracklist

1. Al Ghobosh – Tarig Gaidou, Mohamed Bilal, Ahmed Homaida, Salma Omar, Sarra Solo (main vocals), Sara Yousif, Nasir Zack, Khatir Mustafa, Waheeba Kuku, Salaheldin Sax.
2. Africa Salam – Emylyn Marimoto, Amer Ibrahim, Jackie Saleh, Ahmed Homaida, Salma Omar, Ehab Magdy. Recorded and mixed by Mohamed Mustafa, Mastered by Abraham Moughrabi.
3. Sawa Sawa – Tarig Gaidou, Mohamed Bilal, Ahmed Homaida, Salma Omar, Sarra Solo (main vocals), Sara Yousif, Nasir Zack, Khatir Mustafa, Waheeba Kuku, Salaheldin Sax.
4. Ta'amal – Hazim Elshafei (main vocals, producer), Tarig Gaidou, Mohamed Bilal, Ahmed Homaida, Salma Omar, Sarra Solo, Sara Yousif, Nasir Zack, Khatir Mustafa, Waheeba Kuku, Salaheldin Sax.
5. Salam Alaikum – Tarig Gaidou, Mohamed Bilal, Ahmed Homaida, Salma Omar, Sarra Solo, Sara Yousif (main vocals), Nasir Zack, Khatir Mustafa, Waheeba Kuku, Salaheldin Sax.
6. Give Your Love – Ahmed Homaida, Mohamed Bilal, Chebeen [main vocal], Tarig Gaidou, Fatima El Misbah.
7. West Vybe – Abraham Moughrabi (producer), Ahmed Homaida, Linos Wengara Magaya, Tim Lloyd.
8. Zurufi – Tarig Gaidou, Khatir Mustafa, Mohamed Bilal, Salma Omar, Fatima El Misbah (main vocals).