Nugara: when rhythm becomes a language

Musician and activist Mohamed Adam, widely known as Wd Abu firmly believes that music alone is enough to reach people’s hearts; a belief rooted in his childhood, when he spent cherished summer holidays with his grandmother in the “Almada” yard in Nyala city, the capital of South Darfur state. This area was renowned for its folklore festivals, where people gathered to sing and dance to traditional beats, each tribe forming its own circle and expressing itself through distinctive dances.

There was a natural social integration in these festivals: each tribe knew the moves of the others. Some dances even became shared between different groups due to seamless cultural blending—such as the Garari dance, now considered common among both Afro-Arab and African tribes.

This vibrant environment filled Wd Abu’s young mind with cultural diversity and sparked creativity within him. The varied cultural elements, sounds, colours, and stories he encountered at these festivals would later shape his journey as a musician—one who sees music as a means of confronting one of humanity’s greatest challenges: war.

Wd Abu knows what war is—he lived it. But rather than succumbing to its effects, he chose to resist through art. The 2003 war in Darfur resulted in the mass displacement of numerous Sudanese communities and tribes, forcing them to flee the atrocities of civil conflict and abandon lands that embodied their identities and cultures. Massive camps such as Kalma, Otash, and Beliel were established, over time becoming permanent neighbourhoods.

This displacement drastically altered traditional patterns of life. Many were compelled to abandon their ancestral languages to adapt to the broader social environment. Consequently, entire generations grew up knowing little to nothing about their history, culture, or heritage.

These painful experiences inspired Wd Abu to establish Nugara, a project aimed at collecting ethnic and traditional Sudanese music (rhythms and songs) alongside related cultural elements—such as dances, costumes, and crafts—with the goal of strengthening Sudanese identity and promoting peace and peaceful coexistence. The situation of the Sudanese people at that time ignited deep personal and communal motivations within the young artist. One of these was the importance of reconnecting displaced communities with their homelands by documenting their histories, customs, and traditional crafts—such as pottery-making among the Bergo tribes, or GadoGado in Hausa. His objective is to ensure that these memories are not lost through war and displacement.

A second major motivation was the poor management of Sudan’s cultural diversity and the limited role of national media, which only showcased this diversity during official visits to the states. This neglect underscored the need for an independent initiative capable of authentically and consistently portraying Sudan’s cultural richness.

From this realisation came the Nugara Festival, first held in November 2022 at the Omdurman Cultural Centre. The event featured a film about the Kanin tribe—“the Tuareg of Sudan”—as well as traditional dances, Sudanese cultural showcases, a sound installation featuring songs collected from across the country, and an exhibition of folk and traditional instruments.

The vision was for the festival to become a regular platform to document and exhibit Sudan’s cultural and musical heritage in the capital, where all Sudanese communities converge. However, the outbreak of war in April 2023 presented a major new obstacle.

Artists often face challenges when merging traditional and contemporary music, and Wd Abu’s journey has been no different.

“There was an inner voice whispering: Khartoum and the universities are a miniature reflection of Sudan. It’s our duty to carry our values and languages there, not abandon them,” Wd Abu says, explaining the origins of his first song, Batomi, performed in the dialect of western Sudan. “It was a humble attempt to carry the voice of my region in a different language—and prove that diversity is a strength, not a flaw,” he adds.

Artists often face challenges when merging traditional and contemporary music, and Wd Abu’s journey has been no different. One of his greatest obstacles was accessing original sources, the local people who know the accurate pronunciation of the words, their meanings, and the values embedded in traditional songs.

Wd Abu’s time at the University of Khartoum, and his firsthand experience of how biased media glorifies certain cultures while ignoring others, deepened his resolve to share his community’s cultural heritage.

Yet through patience and dedicated research, he carved a path forward. He was fortunate to perform with Aslaf, a group of Sudanese artists who share his passion for musical diversity and his commitment to reinterpreting heritage and traditional works through contemporary arrangements.

Wd Abu’s time at the University of Khartoum, and his firsthand experience of how biased media glorifies certain cultures while ignoring others, deepened his resolve to share his community’s cultural heritage. Not as a substitute for others, but as an authentic and integral part of Sudan’s diverse cultural mosaic.

He explained that, at Nugara, they hold a firm belief that war and violence sever people from their roots, silencing songs and leaving cultures suspended in exile and broken. “Through music, ancestral rhythms, and the broad tapestry of heritage, we seek to mend these threads,” he emphasises.

He believes Nugara can help Sudanese youth rediscover their cultural heritage from a modern perspective by transforming music and group dance into a space for solidarity—where participants realise that their struggles are shared and their pain is not isolated.

Nugara’s workshops for children and youth in displacement and refugee camps offer safe spaces for artistic expression through music, dance, and storytelling. These experiences empower young people to articulate their feelings, build resilience, and—most importantly—open a window towards a brighter future by helping them share their voices and stories with the world in an honest, meaningful way, paving the path towards reconciliation.

Throughout his dynamic journey, Wd Abu established his own band with Kenyan musicians who, despite speaking different languages, connected beautifully with the lyrics and melodies.

“Nugara is not just an artistic exhibition—it’s also a workshop and an open laboratory for documenting cultural heritage in East Africa and understanding the deep connections between East Africa and Sudan through rhythms, beats, and expressive traditions,” says Wd Abu. Nugara, he explains, “is a way of exploring shared cultural elements and how they unite communities.”

Throughout his dynamic journey, Wd Abu established his own band with Kenyan musicians who, despite speaking different languages, connected beautifully with the lyrics and melodies. This collaboration resonated across stages in Nairobi, Kampala, and Zanzibar, as well as in concerts held within refugee camps hosting diverse populations from East Africa, united by a shared history of armed conflict and displacement.

These East African collaborations allowed Wd Abu to “draw Sudan’s voice onto the musical map of the continent.” By singing in local languages, he and his band created wider spaces to introduce their music and artistic vision. The Sauti za Busara Festival—“Voice of Wisdom”—in Zanzibar was Wd Abu’s first continental festival appearance. “I was one of 25 African artists. That experience marked the beginning of a dream coming to life,” he reflects.

Wd Abu does not see music as merely a form of entertainment. For him, it is a means of uplifting society, achieving coexistence, and fostering social reconciliation. He describes it as a safe haven for peace—especially when politics falls silent.

Within this vision, he continues to pursue his dream of reaching an international audience and inspiring youth from across Africa to realise the ultimate goal: making art a central force in the peacebuilding process.