Small World

Listening Post 349. The world has largely turned its attention away from Darfur, where war and genocide raged between 2003 and 2010, and where conflict still simmers. Ebo Krdum is one of many from the western Sudan region who have not forgotten the carnage and he has a message in his music—expressing not bitterness but pluralistic values. Krdum was still in his teens when he began singing and speaking out against a violent, corrupt regime that had no tolerance for the indigenous peoples who called Darfur home. His activism was rewarded with expulsion from university, prison, torture and the memory of murdered friends; in 2010 he fled to Sweden where, after settling in, he started a band and released two EPs. Diversity, his first full length album, fully lives up to its name: He sings in eight languages, reflecting Darfur’s ethnic mix, blending Afrobeat, Arabic, desert blues and Scandinavian folk sounds; the 12 tracks include songs Krdum wrote in the scarred land of his birth and his adopted homeland. Coexistence drives the call-and-response Ôrré tog’íŋ dogólá (video 1), sung in Fur, the language and people that gave Darfur—meaning “Realm of the Fur”— its name. Rooted in the semi-arid Sahel, the Fulani-language Worbé é Rewbé advocates universal responsibility for protecting nature, soil and one another (video 2); while Revolution Call (video 3), inspired by a 2018 uprising in Sudan, is both a manifesto and a question, seeking unity in the face of dictatorship. Two Arabic songs describe constant struggle from different angles: Almanfa (Exile, video 4), focused on a single child raised in crisis; and Thaori (Revolutionary, video 5), a ballad about the timeless quest for freedom and justice. Forged in a cauldron of war in a seemingly remote corner, Krdum’s voice is an elegant reminder that the world is round and corners are illusory. (Supertraditional Records)

Ebo Krdum: Diversity
Ebo Krdum: Vocals, guitar, percussion
Anna Möller: Viola d´amore, violin, vocals
Robin Cochrane: Balafon, calabash, djembe, percussion, vocals
Adam Grauman: Bass, cello, viola da gamba
Anna Rubinsztein: Viola d´amore, viola
Ale Möller: Flutes, mandola, accordion, vocals
Mohamed Araki: Keyboards
Sara Parkman: Vocals
Linda Öst: Vocals

Ôrré tog’íŋ dogólá
Lyrics & music: Ebo Krdum

Sung in Fur, language of the people whose name is reflected in Darfur
An appeal for acceptance and coexistence, adapted from traditional Sudanese song.

Worbé é Rewbé
Lyrics & music: Ebo Krdum

Sung in Fulani
A song about humanity’s responsibility to nature and the soil, and of taking care of each other. It was written in Sweden in 2015. The Fulani people are one of the largest groups in Africa, nomads found in almost every country, travelers crossing the continent west to east and north to south.

Revolution Call
Lyrics & music: Ebo Krdum

Sung in English
Written during the Sudanese uprising in 2018, a call for people to stand together to defeat dictatorship and corruption.

Are you coming to the streets?/Will you take any action now?
Will you walk with us today?/To throw corruption far away?
Lifting banners proudly high/injustice falling down.

Are you joining us sister?
Are you coming out my friend?
Because I am going to be there.

I was born with sense of revolt and love of liberty/change is gonna come and we will all be breathing peace

Are you coming to the streets?/Will you take any action now?
Will you walk along my side?/Will you fight for your rights?
Will you stand with us tonight?/Shine the streets with faithful light?

Are you joining us brother?
Are you coming out my friend?
Because I am going to be there

I was born with sense of revolt and love of liberty/change is gonna come and we will all be breathing peace

Demanding justice, fighting for what’s mine
Demanding justice, fighting for my rights
Demanding justice, the future is mine

Almanfa / Exile
Lyrics & music: Ebo Krdum

Sung in Sudanese Arabic
The song focuses on a child born into a chaotic world, where it inevitably absorbs the unresolved distress of his mother’s child-self. Written in 2019.

Thaori / Revolutionary
Lyrics & music: Ebo Krdum

Sung in Sudanese Arabic
A song about life full of struggle for justice, freedom and democracy. The activism must go on. Written in Sudan in 2006.