Art and Peace: When Music Bridged Sudan’s Divide

By Rashid Abdelrahim

In 1990, the great Sudanese singer Mohammed Wardi travelled to southern Sudan and performed for soldiers of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and thousands of refugees at Atiang Camp. Attendance was said to have reached 300,000 — perhaps an exaggeration, but a powerful reflection of the moment.

Dr Riek Machar later recalled telling Dr John Garang, upon seeing the overwhelming response to Wardi: “If he joined the movement, he would become its leader.” Such was the influence of art — not merely as entertainment, but as a force capable of shaping sentiment and unity in the midst of war.

Yet Wardi was not necessarily the favourite artist among southern leaders. Taban Deng, who organised the event and was later praised for it, admired Mohammed Al-Amin, influenced by his daughters. Among SPLM commanders, however, Salah ibn Al-Badia held special status, thanks in part to Brigadier Arok Thon Arok, who so loved one of his songs that he named his daughter after it.

Years later, following the Khartoum Peace Agreement, an extraordinary television evening brought former rivals together with Ibn Al-Badia. They embraced, laughed and requested songs. Riek Machar dedicated “It Is Too Late” to John Garang, urging him to join the peace before time ran out. Even hardened commanders chose wedding songs rooted in tribal custom — moments that revealed the human dimension behind political struggle.

Music travelled freely across linguistic and regional divides. Southern artists embraced northern songs — even those in complex dialects or classical Arabic. Angelo Adok became known as “the Dinka Kabli” for performing the works of Al-Kabli. Conversely, northern singers celebrated Juba and southern themes in their own repertoires.

Many beloved Sudanese classics were written by the Dinka poet Abdelmonim Abdelhai, whose words were sung by some of the North’s most iconic performers.

In the end, art accomplished what politics often failed to do. It sustained a shared emotional landscape between North and South, even through war and eventual separation.

Perhaps that is why, despite living in two states, many still feel they are one people.

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