Cerys Matthews 🔊 (BBC 6 Music) - 4

A soundtrack of Sudan's revolution and the first ever international release of the Beja sound, performed by Noori and his Dorpa Band, an unheard outfit from Port Sudan, a city on the Red Sea coast in eastern Sudan and the heart of Beja culture.

Electric soul, blues, jazz, rock, surf, even hints of country, speak fluently to styles and chords that could be Tuareg, Ethiopian, Peruvian or Thai—all grounded by hypnotic Sudanese grooves, Naji's impeccable, airy tenor sax, and of course, Noori's tambo-guitar, a self-made unique hybrid of an electric guitar and an electric tambour, a four-string instrument found across East Africa.

A truly ancient community, Beja trace their ancestry back millennia. Some say they are among the living descendants of Ancient Egypt and the Kingdom of Kush. Beja melodies—nostalgic, hopeful and sweet, ambiguous and honest—are thousands of years old.

The Beja community has been on the forefront of political change in Sudan for decades because successive Sudanese governments have turned a blind eye to their calls for recognition and access to the gold wealth of their own soil. Noori believes an unleashing of Beja music would form the most potent act of resistance in their quest for equity and justice.

BEJA POWER! Electric Soul & Brass from Sudan's Red Sea Coast

PRE-ORDER

Saagama

Hardcore Jollies - 2015 Remastered Edition

Comin' Round the Mountain (2015 Remaster)

Hypnotic Guitar of John Ondolo

Olalekanga

Dylan in Dubuque

Dylan In Dubuque (Single Version)

Night Reign

Saaqi (feat. Vijay Iyer)

Mountain

Life Is What It Is

Empty Trainload Of Sky

A Thousand Pokes

Marin, San Francisco, Sept '71

Domino

Jamaican DJ Story

Wake the Town and Tell the People

Colossal Youth

Music For Evenings

Rumor And Sigh

1952 Vincent Black Lightning

Paul Robeson: The Complete EMI Sessions 1928-1939

Hammer Song

Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid

Main Title Theme (Billy)

Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie!

Stella By Starlight

Blue Note Beach Classics Presented By José Padilla

(Fallin' Like) Dominoes (UK Single Version)

RANIL's cumbia sin nomber (song title) available on MASSTROPICAS RECORDS, 2010.

RANIL Cumbia sin nomber from RANIL's JUNGLE PARTY by Masstropicas 2010

Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter

I Love Paris

Yarmouth

Sandcastles

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Cerys Matthews 🔊 (BBC 6 Music) - 4

Rusty Sleeves