Personally, I have been blessed to meet highly talented Sudanese men and women. Mass-media seems to always portray Sudan as poor, violent and corrupt. These issues might be there, but there is also light! It is a rich culture to be discovered with their people’s loyalty toward their heritage. There are talents in and out of Sudan always representing the true culture. One of these talents is our guest today, Sufyan Ali who is a Sudanese music producer that has impacted the world with his authentic beats. It will not take long for you to fall in love with the sound Sufyan gives you, it will also not take long for you to start picturing Sudan with its beauty, art and strength.
Arab News sat down with Sufyan and had the below discussion:
Arab News: Was there any one moment that actually inspired you to start producing?
Sufyan Ali: There wasn’t a specific moment as far as I can remember, but I always had the curiosity for making music in general. I started making beats for the first time maybe five years ago just so I could have something to rap on; but gradually I found myself writing less, and producing more. And eventually I was 100 percent producing.
AN: You’re from Sudan, but you have lived in Kuwait. Does that factor have an impact on your music?
SA: Yes, to some extent. Growing up in Kuwait, I had a lot of friends with completely different taste in music, we would spend a lot of time exchanging cassettes, and doing mix CDs of songs we recorded off the radio, which lead us to absorb a huge variety of genres, and I think it helped in shaping my outlook on music in general. And of course, after moving to Sudan, I became more exposed to Sudanese music, which is a huge part of my sound.
AN: You’re also a dentist! Do you ever work while your tunes are playing in the background?
SA: I haven’t done that before, but I usually cannot stay focused on important tasks while listening to music without being distracted. Maybe in the waiting room, for patients, some elevator style music.
AN: I personally enjoy the samples you use, the tunes you create. Tell our readers, how would you describe your sound?
SA: I would describe my sound as Sudanese inspired beats, I try to keep a flexible approach to making beats in general, that’s why my own definition of a genre is pretty loose. I’m either making electronic music with Sudanese/East-African elements, or I’m sampling old Sudanese records into hip-hop beats, the latter being “Pseudarhythm.”
AN: Your beat-tape “Pseudarhythm” samples Sudanese music in a hip-hop style. How has the feedback been on that tape?
SA: It’s been great. The feedback was awesome, I’ve been receiving a lot of random messages from people of different backgrounds from around the world interested in knowing more about old Sudanese records. I’m always happy to help.
AN: What are your thoughts on the Arab hip-hop movement? Who do you listen to?
SA: The scene has definitely been growing in the last 6-7 years in terms of both quality and quantity of music. I get introduced to new producers and MCs every now and then, and it’s always refreshing. There are a lot of strong movements and hip-hop communities on social media and such.
Now, the scene itself is not weak, but it’s definitely under-appreciated, and there are a lot of factors in play that are keeping it underground. and of course, the social stigma attached to hip-hop still being “foreign” in the Middle East, the average listener doesn’t have much input on Arabic hip-hop besides comedy acts, and TV commercials with generic raps in them. I don’t see that changing anytime soon, but one can only hope for the best.
AN: Name your top 5 producers of all time?
SA: For hip-hop: Dre, J Dilla, Flying Lotus, Battlecat and Nottz.
I listen to a lot of Muqata’a (Boikutt) music,
I’m also a fan of The Narcicyst, Omar Offendum, Sandhill and a few others.
AN: How did you discover hip-hop? Do you remember the first song you ever heard?
SA: I discovered hip-hop through MTV, and local radio stations in Kuwait. I didn’t even have an Internet connection at first, so I’d see a music video on TV, then go look for the cassette/CD, and it was frustrating at times when I failed to get hold of a few albums.
I can’t remember the first song I heard specifically, but it was probably Outkast, Eminem, or Busta rhymes, those are the first that grabbed my attention as far as hip-hop is concerned. Eminem’s “Marshall Mathers LP” was the first hip-hop album I bought.
AN: It seems to me that you can easily score a film/documentary. Have you done that before and if not, would you be interested?
SA: Yes. There are a few independent movies, and a handful of documentaries that I contributed to with some of my music in the past few years. Most of them had very interesting visions and made the most out of it.
Yes, I’m always willing to contribute, as long as the project is interesting.
AN: What are you currently working on?
SA: I’m currently working on a few projects, one of them being an electronic album, which is a continuation to my “MEROE EP” that I released a year ago, I don’t think it will be ready before the new year though. And of course “Pseudarhythm Vol.3.”
I’m also working on a few random collaborations that should be released soon.
AN: Describe Sudan in one word.
SA: Bittersweet.
AN: Do you think that music in general can impact the youth and elevate them?
SA: Yes, music just like literature, theater, or most other art forms, can influence people of all ages, positively or negatively.
Culture and music, both affect each other simultaneously, which in turn has an impact on whole generations.
AN: I am a huge fan of Oddisee. Would love to see a collaboration. Have you guys connected? And what do you think of his music?
SA: Yes, I’m a fan of Oddisee myself, he’s probably one of the few that are equally great at both, the mic and beats. I’ve been listening to his music for the past 4-5 years!
I’m definitely planning to work with him, who knows, maybe in the future.
AN: Would you ever leave Sudan?
SA: Maybe. I’m currently in the process of moving back to Kuwait, but it’s taking some time due to processing. So I won’t hold my breath on it.
AN: What has been the sort of support you have been getting? Locally and internationally?
SA: Internationally, the support was always great since day one, even though I’ve been taking small steps with each release for the past three years. I do consider myself privileged to be associated with like-minded individuals from around the globe who’ve been doing a great job in spreading my music around.
AN: Tell Arab News readers something not a lot of people might know about you.
SA: I do oil painting occasionally.
AN: What are your social media links?
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Sufyvn
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Sufyvn
Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/Sufyvn
Sufyan Ali: Sampling Sudanese folklore in hip-hop
Sufyan Ali: Sampling Sudanese folklore in hip-hop
A 98-year-old in Ukraine walked miles to safety from Russians, with slippers and a cane
- Describing her journey, the nonagenarian said she had fallen twice and was forced to stop to rest at some points, even sleeping along the way before waking up and continuing her journey
KYIV, Ukraine: A 98-year-old woman in Ukraine who escaped Russian-occupied territory by walking almost 10 kilometers (6 miles) alone, wearing a pair of slippers and supported by a cane has been reunited with her family days after they were separated while fleeing to safety.
Lidia Stepanivna Lomikovska and her family decided to leave the frontline town of Ocheretyne, in the eastern Donetsk region, last week after Russian troops entered it and fighting intensified.
Russians have been advancing in the area, pounding Kyiv’s depleted, ammunition-deprived forces with artillery, drones and bombs.
“I woke up surrounded by shooting all around — so scary,” Lomikovska said in a video interview posted by the National Police of Donetsk region.
In the chaos of the departure, Lomikovska became separated from her son and two daughters-in-law, including one, Olha Lomikovska, injured by shrapnel days earlier. The younger family members took to back routes, but Lydia wanted to stay on the main road.
With a cane in one hand and steadying herself using a splintered piece of wood in the other, the pensioner walked all day without food and water to reach Ukrainian lines.
Describing her journey, the nonagenarian said she had fallen twice and was forced to stop to rest at some points, even sleeping along the way before waking up and continuing her journey.
“Once I lost balance and fell into weeds. I fell asleep … a little, and continued walking. And then, for the second time, again, I fell. But then I got up and thought to myself: “I need to keep walking, bit by bit,’” Lomikovska said.
Pavlo Diachenko, acting spokesman for the National Police of Ukraine in the Donetsk region, said Lomikovska was saved when Ukrainian soldiers spotted her walking along the road in the evening. They handed her over to the “White Angels,” a police group that evacuates citizens living on the front line, who then took her to a shelter for evacuees and contacted her relatives.
“I survived that war,’ she said referring to World War II. “I had to go through this war too, and in the end, I am left with nothing.
“That war wasn’t like this one. I saw that war. Not a single house burned down. But now – everything is on fire,” she said to her rescuer.
In the latest twist to the story, the chief executive of one of Ukraine’s largest banks announced on his Telegram channel Tuesday that the bank would purchase a house for the pensioner.
“Monobank will buy Lydia Stepanivna a house and she will surely live in it until the moment when this abomination disappears from our land,” Oleh Horokhovskyi said.
Amazon Purr-rime: Cat accidentally shipped to online retailer
- Galena was found safe by a warehouse worker at an Amazon center after vanishing from her home in Utah
LOS ANGELES: A curious cat that sneaked into an open box was shipped across the United States to an Amazon warehouse after its unknowing owners sealed it inside.
Carrie Clark’s pet, Galena, vanished from her Utah home on April 10, sparking a furious search that involved plastering “missing” posters around the neighborhood.
But a week later, a vet hundreds of miles (kilometers) away in Los Angeles got in touch to say the cat had been discovered in a box — alongside several pairs of boots — by a warehouse worker at an Amazon center.
“I ran to tell my husband that Galena was found and we broke down upon realizing that she must have jumped into an oversized box that we shipped out the previous Wednesday,” Clark told KSL TV in Salt Lake City.
“The box was a ‘try before you buy,’ and filled with steel-toed work boots.”
Clark and her husband jetted to Los Angeles, where they discovered Amazon employee Brandy Hunter had rescued Galena — a little hungry and thirsty after six days in a cardboard box, but otherwise unharmed.
“I could tell she belonged to someone by the way she was behaving,” said Hunter, according to Amazon.
“I took her home that night and went to the vet the next day to have her checked for a microchip, and the rest is history.”
What did people eat before agriculture? New study offers insight
- Analysis of forms — or isotopes — of elements including carbon, nitrogen, zinc, sulfur and strontium in these remains indicated the type and amount of plants and meat they ate
WASHINGTON: The advent of agriculture roughly 11,500 years ago in the Middle East was a milestone for humankind — a revolution in diet and lifestyle that moved beyond the way hunter-gatherers had existed since Homo sapiens arose more than 300,000 years ago in Africa.
While the scarcity of well-preserved human remains from the period preceding this turning point has made the diet of pre-agricultural people a bit of a mystery, new research is now providing insight into this question. Scientists reconstructed the dietary practices of one such culture from North Africa, surprisingly documenting a heavily plant-based diet.
The researchers examined chemical signatures in bones and teeth from the remains of seven people, as well as various isolated teeth, from about 15,000 years ago found in a cave outside the village of Taforalt in northeastern Morocco. The people were part of what is called the Iberomaurusian culture.
Analysis of forms — or isotopes — of elements including carbon, nitrogen, zinc, sulfur and strontium in these remains indicated the type and amount of plants and meat they ate. Found at the site were remains from different edible wild plants including sweet acorns, pine nuts, pistachio, oats and legumes called pulses. The main prey, based on bones discovered at the cave, was a species called Barbary sheep.
“The prevailing notion has been that hunter-gatherers’ diets were primarily composed of animal proteins. However, the evidence from Taforalt demonstrates that plants constituted a big part of the hunter-gatherers’ menu,” said Zineb Moubtahij, a doctoral student in archaeology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and lead author of the study published on Monday in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
“It is important as it suggests that possibly several populations in the world already started to include substantial amount of plants in their diet” in the period before agriculture was developed, added archeogeochemist and study co-author Klervia Jaouen of the French research agency CNRS.
The Iberomaurusians were hunter-gatherers who inhabited parts of Morocco and Libya from around 25,000 to 11,000 years ago. Evidence indicates the cave served as a living space and burial site.
These people used the cave for significant portions of each year, suggesting a lifestyle more sedentary than simply roaming the landscape searching for resources, the researchers said. They exploited wild plants that ripened at different seasons of the year, while their dental cavities illustrated a reliance on starchy botanical species.
Edible plants may have been stored by the hunter-gatherers year-round to guard against seasonal shortages of prey and ensure a regular food supply, the researchers said.
These people ate only wild plants, the researchers found. The Iberomaurusians never developed agriculture, which came relatively late to North Africa.
“Interestingly, our findings showed minimal evidence of seafood or freshwater food consumption among these ancient groups. Additionally, it seems that these humans may have introduced wild plants into the diets of their infants at an earlier stage than previously believed,” Moubtahij said.
“Specifically, we focused on the transition from breastfeeding to solid foods in infants. Breast milk has a unique isotopic signature, distinct from the isotopic composition of solid foods typically consumed by adults.”
Two infants were among the seven people whose remains were studied. By comparing the chemical composition of an infant’s tooth, formed during the breastfeeding period, with the composition of bone tissue, which reflects the diet shortly before death, the researchers discerned changes in the baby’s diet over time. The evidence indicated the introduction of solid foods at around the age of 12 months, with babies weaned earlier than expected for a pre-agricultural society.
North Africa is a key region for studying Homo sapiens evolution and dispersal out of Africa.
“Understanding why some hunter-gatherer groups transitioned to agriculture while others did not can provide valuable insights into the drivers of agricultural innovation and the factors that influenced human societies’ decisions to adopt new subsistence strategies,” Moubtahij said.
Palestinian prisoner in Israel wins top fiction prize
- The mask in the novel’s title refers to the blue identity card that Nur, an archaeologist living in a refugee camp in Ramallah, finds in the pocket of an old coat belonging to an Israeli
ABU DHABI: Palestinian writer Basim Khandaqji, jailed 20 years ago in Israel, won a prestigious prize for Arabic fiction on Sunday for his novel “A Mask, the Color of the Sky.”
The award of the 2024 International Prize for Arabic Fiction was announced at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi.
The prize was accepted on Khandaqji’s behalf by Rana Idriss, owner of Dar Al-Adab, the book’s Lebanon-based publisher.
Khandaqji was born in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Nablus in 1983, and wrote short stories until his arrest in 2004 at the age of 21.
He was convicted and jailed on charges relating to a deadly bombing in Tel Aviv, and completed his university education from inside jail via the Internet.
The mask in the novel’s title refers to the blue identity card that Nur, an archaeologist living in a refugee camp in Ramallah, finds in the pocket of an old coat belonging to an Israeli.
Khandaqji’s book was chosen from 133 works submitted to the competition.
Nabil Suleiman, who chaired the jury, said the novel “dissects a complex, bitter reality of family fragmentation, displacement, genocide, and racism.”
Since being jailed Khandaqji has written poetry collections including “Rituals of the First Time” and “The Breath of a Nocturnal Poem.”
He has also written three earlier novels.
Mexican doctor claims victory in $28 Cartier earrings battle
MEXICO CITY: A Mexican man has claimed a victory over French luxury brand Cartier, saying an error allowed him to buy two pairs of earrings for $28 that were supposed to cost nearly $28,000.
After a four-month struggle, doctor Rogelio Villarreal said he had finally received the jewelry, which he accused the company of refusing to deliver after his online purchase in December.
According to Villarreal, he came across the low-priced earrings while browsing Instagram.
“I swear I broke out in a cold sweat,” he wrote on the social media platform X.
Cartier declined to recognize the purchase and offered Villarreal a refund, as well as a bottle of champagne and a passport holder as compensation, according to a company letter shared by the doctor.
But Villarreal refused and decided to take the case to Mexico’s consumer protection agency, which ruled in favor of the doctor.
Cartier accepted the decision, Villarreal announced.
“War is over. Cartier is complying,” he wrote.
