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 حان الوقت لتكريم ملك الابداع الموسيقي الفريد، الفنان شرحبيل أحمد
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Re: حان الوقت لتكريم ملك الابداع الموسيقي الفريد، الفنان شرحبيل أحمد (Re: Kostawi)
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Way up the violet tree
David Blake holds on to a space of something
Sharhabil Ahmed and his Sudanese jazz troupe; Cairo Opera House: Open Air Theatre, 16 August 2004
Whatever it is, it is intangible, rational and stylish -- a good mix if you are after something with a classy shine to it. The cry that goes around town is: It's gotta be sad, mad and crumbling because everything is on the crumble. Well, the Sharhabil is not. It has a space of its own, a colour, and it moves about with a dignity avowing disorder, but it can take care of itself and with ease and style.
Its tunes do not vary that much, but the much it has is more than enough as everything the group latches onto is very good. One can tire, but not of quality when the tune construction varies with authority and charm. Without being soft-edged or spongy, the Sharhabil troupe charms by its effortless ability to cut corners in a piece of soft music while maintaining a supportive structure. So you do not collapse into a big repetitive armchair.
As the songs proceed -- no programme news at all -- the effect which could have been tiresome gave you instead that exciting lift which some music does. "Move your body about; dance," it insinuates. "Things are beautiful. Turn the tune to a sweep-about in some sort of space." "I'm a flower," says the Open Air Theatre, "and you could be too." So it is an Invitation to Dance. And did the audience take up the challenge.
What goes on in this opera space these days. Whatever the opera does with Bartok or fails to do with Puccini something gets to work. These days with the weird wind the Open Air acquires a siren quality. The place relaxes and has done what the Main has so far failed to do -- acquire an audience of its own.
The Open Air has that thing, that magic of place like a known, much-frequented café: it exudes something, it loves you, it is like a salon. You are expected, even needed, and will be attended with loving care: relaxation and amusement, a broadening of day into night, a blooming night flower, a tree, the violet tree, the purple mauve therapy of a tree of violets there before you to give you pleasure and inspiration.
Where do these audiences come from? From all over. They come, seem to know the place, make themselves comfortable, sitting, lounging, and mooching around in cooler air under the archways. People gather, talk a bit, greet a bit, disperse a bit into other groups doing the same thing until the audience is liquid and flowing like the movement of midnight water under the palpitating violet tree.
From their behaviour, not a bad place to be. Children dance to themselves. Some of the small girls, dashing in scarlet polka-dotted dresses, show off, discourse and go on into the show of the swaying audience. No one checks them. They do not need checking. They seem to come from places where you are told how to behave. And the violet tree takes over -- throbs.
It is a small band of nine, not much vocal because that is provided almost continually by Sharhabil Ahmed, the Sudanese wonder.
Well, he is. He is very tall and diffident -- a non- glitzy man, no line at all. He is not in a dither to please you, ease you, love you and his voice is unique and does not waver: no yelps or gasps. Was he tailored to suit the special tone of the music or did they just meet, he and music, and fall into the pattern? In any case, the result is perfect.
He is a big thing as a voice. He does nothing with it but sing. That is what you are supposed to do and that is the one thing most of them, even the opera ones, cannot do.
No fuss, no effort, no suggestion that he has been at it all night, yet Sharhabil is of interest as a personality. He does not just stand and give. He is there. And the sound suits the voice which has a long range, high floats, and is a knock-out in the middle. Not quite anecdotal, his voice suggests rather than defines or states. He is in space, and you are free to do your own pictures.
But Sharhabil does not make it too easy or facile. He is neither sticky nor messy: just cool but with nary a trace of that puff-and-blow, Me-of-a-Man attitude. He doesn't give a damn -- the less puff the more tone. Would that most singers remembered this. He blows fresh as a flying fish after hours of singing -- always in tune.
Two women in the band flow about regally in topes looking like Maharanis, which helps the colour. The musicians play the instruments. The nay often blares out like authentic Chicago and the bass is dark and velvety. It is an elegant noise, the dark bass, a tone suggestive of the huge leather Sudanese drums the sound of which can travel cross- continent, positively chic, redolent of nowhere except where they dance and smell lovely and where everything is lofty.
The Sharhabil sounds were leisurely, unhurried, strung out over this far-reaching tempo -- space -- with not a machine or engine in sight. And yet the sound is very up-market, aloof, with a touch of attractive arrogance: don't bother to come in here -- we're expensive.
Everything seemed happy; no one was in a hurry; one had leave to savour and recharge. And the Violet Tree glows amethyst.
But, with even the silver voice of Sharhabil, the dark allure suggested Duke Ellington and his tones. No pressure, just something, something too lovely for words. No nostalgia -- and it is up top of the Violet Tree.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
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Re: حان الوقت لتكريم ملك الابداع الموسيقي الفريد، الفنان شرحبيل أحمد (Re: معتز تروتسكى)
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نصرالدين ليك ولي كل الحلوين التهاني بعيد الفطر...بعدين الراجل دا عملاق وما إعتقد كلمة فنان بتنطبق علي أي واحد من الغنايين السودانيين زي ما بتنطبق عليه...بس قف في حالة الفن الخلقها في كل محيطاته وتأمل...إبتداء من الصغار وتقليد رسومات عمك تنقوا مروراً بالشباب والحداثة الموسيقية الفتح بابها عشان ما تنطلق الفرق التي لم تعمر طويلا إبتداء بناس وليم أندرية لحدي شباب الربيع وإدعاءات الجيلاني الواثق وإنتهاءً بالأسرة التي يتنفس الفن في كل تفاصيلهامواصلة في المسيرة
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 Re: حان الوقت لتكريم ملك الابداع الموسيقي الفريد، الفنان شرحبيل أحمد (Re: Kostawi)
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الفنان شرحبيل احمد
ولد عام 1935 بامدرمان.
يتميز بادائه الجذاب والحانه الراقصة التى هى نتاج لتمازج الايقاعات السودانية المختلفة والكلمات الشعبية وباللغة الدارجة مع الالحان قصيرة الجمل الموسيقية والعزف على الات النفخ كالساكسفون والترمبيت والترمبون بالاضافة الى الباص جيتار والجيتار ومؤخرا الارغن.
في اواسط الاربعينات تركت اسرته امدرمان واتجهت الي الابيض حيث ظهرت موهبته في حفظ واداء الاغاني.
التحق بكلية الفنون الجميلة بالمعهد الفني.
بعد حصوله علي دبلوم الفنون الجميلة عمل بوزارة التربية والتعليم فنانا تشكيليا وهكذا اصبح شرحبيل رساما بل ورائدا خلاقا من حيث المهنة ومطربا.
اجيز صوته في اواسط الخمسينات. في اواخر الخمسينات عمل مع فرقة اجنبية كعازف ايقاع بصالة غردون.
تلقي دعوة لحضور افتتاح المسرح القومي عام 1960 وعرفته الجماهير باغنية (يا حلوة العنيين) للاستاذ ذو النون بشري وتم تقديم هذه الاغنية كاستعراض راقص.
وظف شرحبيل احمد كل جهوده لتطوير الاغنية السودانية الراقصة بكل يمكن من نوظيفه من حداثة مع الحفاظ علي الروح القومية للاغنية .
من اشهر واجمل اعماله: مين في الاحبة - خطوة خطوة - لو تعرف الشوق.
كانت زوجته زكية ابو القاسم تعزف معه علي الة الجيتار وهى أول سودانية تشارك فى العزف الموسيقى مع فرقة موسيقية.
ابتكر شرحبيل بوصفه فنانا و رساما شخصية العم تنقو الكاركتورية والتى تميزت يها مجلة الصبيان والتى كان يصدرها مكتب النشر التربوى.. وشخصية العم تنقو كانت الشخصية التى داعبت الاطفال فى الستينات من القرن الماضى وكانت المنافس السودانى لشخصيات والت ديزنى ومجلات الاطفال المصرية.
المصدر: سودان جورنال
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المايسترو كوستاوي..
جاهزين..
كل عام والجميع بخير..
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Re: حان الوقت لتكريم ملك الابداع الموسيقي الفريد، الفنان شرحبيل أحمد (Re: عبد الله بولا)
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أستاذنا و أخونا بولا.....
Eid Saeed
Pls, take your time
We meant to have Sharhabil with us in this day to show him how we enjoying him
You have already hit him with "2 Marhaba Eidiya" in one day...that tells us how much you love the man.
Take your time and tell "be bara7" without any rush......it doesn't have to be tomorrow or after tomorrow...this post is here to stay.....
And Eid Saeed to you and sis Nagat "the Queen of Bolla"
Till then have the best of it
Both of you
and the kids
Haggam
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Re: حان الوقت لتكريم ملك الابداع الموسيقي الفريد، الفنان شرحبيل أحمد (Re: Kostawi)
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Here is the English version of Dr. Mahgoub El-Tigani's article:
___________________________________________________________
The Creative Art of Sharahbil Ahmed and Bashir Mohsin
[
Mahgoub El-Tigani
November 11, 2004
When Sharahbil Ahmed sang his first song “Dumu’ al-hirman” with a slight “kasra” ya galbi laih habaitu [Why did you fall in love, my heart?!] by Bashir Mohsin, the prevailing songs of the time were much based on the traditional Hagiba songs that, despite their touching melodies, mostly preached pre-independence male-female censored relations or perpetuated biological admiration of a female’s body.
Sharahbil voice and his artistic style were new. The meanings of the songs were also new because they emphasized rejection of the socially determined male-female torturous emotions and called for an alternative personal equalitarian exchange. Dumu’ spoke about a lover who, unlike many traditional love appeals, rebelliously decided “not to love any more, even if he might be abandoned for that” – a new challenging tone of love decision making versus the imposed ‘Abla and ‘Antar asymmetrical homologies.
It wasn’t long when another lyric by Mohsin “Ana laih wahid hairan” penetrated the arena with a new graceful melody by Sharahbil bearing the same innovated styles of music and singing. The next works were similarly creative: “you can’t cheat me with a nice word made of love: what do you think you are!” contained one of Sharhabil’s harmonic pieces followed by ”Ya ma bukra tan-dm” and “Khalas ya zaman” – all musically exuberant and unique. The 1950s decade ended with the masterpiece “Mon-I ashuf-ik tani” [I wish I could see you again].
Sharahbil’s innovative music evolved into another creative stage, with a jazz band dancing “Raqsat al-mambo.” The Jazz Era was probably initiated by the lovely contributions of the late Osman Allamo that included “Jan-at al-angham,” and the other Jazz music by the distinguished musician Marjan and the army and police bands. The southerner musicians and singers Arthur Mohamed Sa’id and Richard McCarthy were among the first to innovate the Sudanese songs with the Swahili guitar combinations of the western church hymns. Sharahbil blend was perhaps a mixture of all these sources, founded on his deep western Sudanese rhythms.
It was Mohsin’s “meen fi al-ahiba” [who of all lovers, ever sincerely loved, as much as you did] with its delicious lyrics, however, that elevated the Sudanese Jazz to an advanced level. The other Sharahbil-Mohsin Jazz songs included “why should I blame you,” and “my heart beats when I saw you.” These beautiful works boosted Sharhabil’s popularity, which further motivated him to produce a series of wonderful songs, for example al-lail al-hadi.
The decency of the lyric poet Mohsin and the melodist singer Ahmed is worthy of many specialized writings to probe the ideological and the ethical messages of their works. Bashir was a bank employee. Ahmed was an employee at the ministry of education whose Uncle Tngo animated caricatures together with the attractive stories of the late Jamal Mohamed Ahmed, al-Sibyan’s founder and chief-editor, made of that weekly the top national children’s journal of the Sudan decades before the Egyptian-made educational policies of the May regime (1969) helped to replace al-Sibyan with the Cairo-based Samir.
In a way, both of the poet and the singer represented the deprived youth of the 1950s who were destined to wage strenuous struggles against the meagerness of education and market opportunities in the daily striving to earn a decent living or to enjoy the facilities of modern life in a society tightly controlled by status quo political and social elite. At this point, it is possible to assert the two Sudanese artists honorably placed their lifetime art in the service of society addressing a significant portion of its human sentiments and loving souls.
The aesthetic content of the Sharahbil-Mohsin team is self-assertive and is innovative, as it expressed over the years some of the deep challenges and aspirations of a whole generation – one whose distinct contributions still beautify the poetic and musical activities of our colorful society, and will probably continue to influence the social life inasmuch as their works are fairly assessed.
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Re: حان الوقت لتكريم ملك الابداع الموسيقي الفريد، الفنان شرحبيل أحمد (Re: Elmosley)
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لك العيديه أستاذنا الموصلي...و أمنياتنا تتمد لانتذاع juce الخلايا بتاعتكم كا مبدعين و عايزنكم تجوا جارين تورونا انتو بتغنوا لينا ليه...شرحبيل غنالنا 50 years
His wife had done and still doing the same...She is the first woman in Sudan to play a Guitar. He has seven--artists-musicians-children, -- and many artists-musicians--grand children--
The man should be appreciated world wide!
What we are doing here is dropping a tiny ball of (hope) water that may vanish in a fraction of a second. Hope not!
We need collectively to come strong to celebrate our music, art and the rest of our cultural treats. It takes a lot to do that
Eid Mubark
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Re: حان الوقت لتكريم ملك الابداع الموسيقي الفريد، الفنان شرحبيل أحمد (Re: Kostawi)
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August 12-18, 2004
Issue No. 703
Sharhabeel Ahmed: Sudan's king of jazz
Nimble fingers and a velvety voice
"Napata my love ... I wish I could stop the sandstorm from enveloping you."
So sang Sharhabeel Ahmed in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. The words might have seemed prophetic, though Napata -- the ancient Nubian kingdom which in its heyday rivaled Egypt -- is a euphemism for Sudan. It survived as an independent kingdom for many centuries at a time when Egypt was reduced to the status of a distant province of first Rome and then Byzantium.
With a militant Islamist regime in power in Khartoum the glittering, all-singing, all-dancing extravaganzas of the past are now no more than a memory. The deteriorating economy has simply served to compound the problems faced by performing artists in Sudan.
"There is something about music that brings out the best in people. It touches their hearts and stirs their innermost feelings," Sudan's king of jazz muses. "Yet musicians are often among the least appreciated and most maligned, especially so when their music has a political message, no matter how subtle."
Sharhabeel Ahmed generates a degree of excitement when he speaks.
"Sudan is synonymous with war and want these days. But not all is gloom and doom," he explains.
War, economic recession and the repressive, anti-art policies of the regime in Sudan have taken their toll on the country's artistic outpouring. But, Sharhabeel insists, Sudan's cultural traditions ensure that music and art, however small the niche that remains open to them, cannot be altogether eradicated. Indeed, he is himself about to dash back to Khartoum to jazz up a wedding party following an electrifying performance of tweeting guitars, throbbing bass and racing falsettos at the Open Air Theatre of the Cairo Opera House.
Band leaders, like Sharhabeel, still find steady work in Sudan, but they face a new set of problems -- a less favourable economic climate and the rise of religious zealotry which frowns on music, dance and the arts in general.
Once upon a time Sharhabeel spent much of his professional career traveling Sudan with his band, going from one performance to the next, living out of suitcases. Now he takes his music to Sudanese audiences scattered around the world. At 70 he maintains a punishing schedule -- composing, performing, recording and traveling.
Sudanese music has over the millennia absorbed many streams and tributaries, fed by musical strands from both east and west. The most important of them, however, emanate from the heart of Africa.
Like other musical traditions in the Horn of Africa, the pentatonic scale of Sudanese music contrasts sharply with the septatonic scale of Arabic music.
Contemporary Sudanese music might be a potpourri of diverse traditions, but it has emerged as a unique blend, with a character all of its own. It is rooted in the madeeh (praising the Prophet Mohamed in song). The genre filled out into something quite irreverent in the 1930s and 1940s when haqiba music, the madeeh 's secular successor, caught on.
Haqiba, a predominantly vocal art in which the musicians accompanying the lead singer use few instruments, spread like wildfire in the urban centres of Sudan. It was the music of weddings, family gatherings and wild impromptu parties.
Haqiba drew inspiration from indigenous Sudanese and other African musical traditions in which backing singers clapped along rhythmically and the audience joined in both song and dance. The lead singer's incantations induced a trance-like experience in which spectators swayed along to the rhythm of the beat.
Sharhabeel Ahmed's music has the quality of a dream, of not quite knowing where you are. His is one of the most distinctive voices to have emerged out of Sudan. His repertoire includes a motley collection of arias, ballads, reggae, jazz and traditional Sudanese songs. Above all, he produces tunes that he feels are fun to play.
"We know we have to keep our audience entertained. We make sure we keep the night fresh, full of surprises and fun," he says.
Composer, band leader, singer, story-teller, painter and illustrator, Sharhabeel Ahmed is many things. But above all he is an entertainer, and that's all he ever wanted to be.
His father was a stern and religious man, but the family did have a phonograph at home. Even though music was frowned upon in the religious household, the family enjoyed the madeeh and even haqiba music.
Sharhabeel says he was influenced as a youngster by Abdul-Karim Karouma, perhaps the most celebrated Sudanese singer of the 1950s. "He had a unique and melodious singing voice," Sharhabeel remembers.
Abdullah Al-Magi was the first Sudanese singer to record his music in Egypt. Others like Karouma and Sarour followed. Omar Al-Banna, too, was one of Sharhabeel's all-time favourites. These musicians traveled regularly to Egypt to record, returning to Sudan with new musical instruments.
It is ironic, he muses, that in the 21st century there is not a single recording studio in Sudan. It is a sad testament to the country's sorry state of affairs.
The situation Sudan finds itself in contrasts sharply with the exuberance and optimism of the 1950s, immediately preceding Sudan's independence from Britain in 1956, a period Sharhabeel remembers as one of artistic and cultural renaissance. He was an impressionable teenager when, at a family wedding, he saw Karouma perform. "He sat on a settee and he promptly produced his riq, or tambourine, which he had bought in Egypt, and performed the new songs he had just recorded in Egypt."
The 1940s, 1950s and 1960s saw the introduction of tonal instruments such as the piano and qanun into Sudanese music. Other percussion and string instruments soon followed -- the violin, accordion, tabla, bongo and oud.
Sharhabeel learned how to play the oud before the guitar. The instrument was incorporated into Sudanese music at a much later date than in other Arab countries.
Sharhabeel mastered the oud and accompanied himself singing Egyptian, Sudanese and even Indian songs. He was good at learning the words of songs, even in languages he did not fully comprehend.
The guitar and brass instruments were introduced into the Sudanese musical repertoire somewhat later. Curiously enough the guitar was introduced from the south. Southern Sudanese musicians learned about the guitar from the neighbouring Congolese. Congolese music, itself heavily influenced by South American and Caribbean sounds, especially Cuban rumbas, left an indelible mark on southern Sudanese music.
Sharhabeel remembers the first time he saw a guitar. It was in Al-Obeid in 1947, and he stood transfixed for 20 minutes as a man, a southern Sudanese, played it. Years later, in Khartoum, he had the opportunity to "touch and feel" the magical instrument.
"I had seen the guitar in Westerns -- cowboys on horses playing the guitar -- but I had never seen the instrument until I met some southern Sudanese musicians who played it. I was fascinated. I wanted to try, and they taught me how to play the guitar. At first I thought it was like the oud, but it isn't."
He received a couple of informal guitar lessons, but it wasn't until several years later that he seriously took up the guitar, along with a host of other instruments -- the saxophone, trombone and trumpet. But it was the electric guitar which touched his heart and hit a nerve.
Born in Omdurman in 1935, Sharhabeel entered the kuttab (Quranic school) at the age of four. He was later sent to Babiker Badri, the first public school in Sudan, and matriculated from Al- Madrassa Al- Abbasiya, another distinguished colonial school.
His father was a truck driver and the family frequently moved from one part of Sudan to another. He grew up in Al- Obeid, capital of Kordofan Province, western Sudan, and eventually enrolled at Khartoum College of Fine Arts where he studied graphic design. After graduation he joined the Ministry of Education as an illustrator of textbooks, a job that gave him ample opportunity to explore his musical capabilities.
Sharhabeel grew up in a tight-knit extended family -- uncles, aunts and cousins galore. His grandfather was born in northern Nigeria and moved to Sudan as a child, but Sharhabeel's father was born in Sudan. The nomadic Fulani people have roamed the savannas of West Africa for millennia though many eventually settled in western Sudan, in Darfur and Kordofan.
"Isn't it amazing how the leader of the band is always the worst musician in it," Zakia Abul- Gassim Abu Bakr, Sharhabeel's wife, chips in. She winks at me, teasing her husband. She was the first woman guitarist in Sudan. An accomplished artist in her own right, Zakia is the daughter of Sharhabeel's maternal uncle. Her mother was also Sharhabeel's paternal aunt. They were family.
"She knows everything about me. She knows me inside out, even more than I know myself," says her husband.
From the start of Sharhabeel's musical journey, says Zakia, the sense of exhilaration was palpable. "He was always inspiring and he encouraged both me and the children to join in his musical life."
Zakia was a kindergarten teacher who became very interested in music. "She sang and played the flute and the oud, but then, like me she became obsessed with the guitar. Indeed, she became the first woman in Sudan to play the guitar professionally," Sharhabeel tells me.
The couple have seven children -- four sons and three daughters, all of them interested in music. Nahed, his eldest daughter, was a professional acrobat and dancer. She has three daughters of her own, whom Sharhabeel fondly calls Al-Balabel, the Nightingales, after the 1960s sister band.
His eldest son, Sherif, works with Sudanese Sounds and his twin passions are the drums and guitar. He has two sons of his own and lives in Khartoum. His second son, Shehab, studied engineering and worked for a while at Khartoum International Airport. However, he abandoned his career for music, moved to the Netherlands and now plays the bass and organ. Sharhabeel's daughter, Shahira often sings with her father's band. Married to a Sudanese of Fulani extraction, she has chosen to live in Egypt with her mother who spends most of the year in Egypt, in the family's Sixth of October apartment.
Ahmed, Mohamed and Noha are also very musical. Noha sings while Ahmed plays the bass and dreams of emigrating to the United States, while Mohamed is studying television production, cinematography and photography.
Economic ruin and political repression have driven many of Sudan's performing artists into exile as the regime in Khartoum created a climate in which artistic talent and creativity are of little, if any, value.
The first time any of his children played with him on stage was when Sherif, playing drums, and Shehab on organ, joined him in Baghdad for a theatre festival in 1988. Sharhabeel and his sons were part of the cast of the musical play Napata My Love, adapted from a novel by Gamal Mohamed Ahmed.
The play has long been banned in Sudan, initially by president Jaafar Al-Numeiri. It revolves around the power struggles and intrigues that surround a weak Napatan king. The high priests for long hold sway, though the play ends with the triumphant breaking of the stranglehold the high priests maintained over political life in the ancient kingdom. The play also contains a love story between a princess and a courtier, the king's praise-singer -- played by Sharhabeel -- who marries the beautiful princess and is crowned king after the demise of the high priests.
Today Sharhabeel sings for the cause of Sudan and for the plight of the people of Sudan. Whether it is in the Roman Theatre, Alexandria, in Asmara to celebrate Eritrean Independence Day or at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, Sharhabeel lights up the stage. He has a genius for instrumental combinations and for improvisation. He has a voice capable of conveying deep feeling. He pours out his heart in a stream of gorgeous sounds.
So how did his musical career take off?
Reda Mohamed Othman, the editor of As- Sibyan (The Youngsters), encouraged Sharhabeel to sing professionally. "I remembered him from As-Sibyan days. He always encouraged me to embrace the arts and music. His younger brother was my best friend. They felt that I was talented and they wanted me to sing professionally. 'The Sudanese Broadcasting Corporation is looking for new voices, for new talent,' Reda Mohamed Othman said. 'Why don't you enter the competition?'
"My biggest worry was how not to upset my father, who was interested in Sufism, and was fond of madeeh but felt that music and art distracted me from my studies."
"Reda Mohamed Othman wrote a beautiful poem about our hometown, Al-Obeid, Arous Al- Remal (The Bride of the Sands). I composed the music to his lyrics. It was my first attempt," recalls Sharhabeel.
He drummed up the necessary courage and braced himself for an ordeal. There were 15 judges and they were determined to put Sharhabeel and the other budding artists through the hoops.
"It was a very intimidating experience at first. The judges scrutinised everything, commented on every sound and every word I uttered. Some were academics and musicologists, others were professional singers, poets and composers. Every critic had something to say, a question, a remark. It was very frustrating," he now laughs.
But in the end they selected only eight competitors, and Sharhabeel was among them. There was no looking back. He had a gift of playing by ear and could improvise on traditional themes.
"My father heard me on the radio and said, 'So you've made it.' He didn't say anything more, but I breathed a sigh of relief."
"It was a huge turning point for me," Sharhabeel remembers.
An Italian entrepreneur then "discovered" Sharhabeel. In those days there were two dance halls in Khartoum: St James' and the Gordon Music Hall.
"My best friend at the time was Mario, whose father was Greek and mother southern Sudanese. Mario was a bundle of energy and was talented musically. He liked Farid El-Atrash, and I was very fond of Mohamed Abdel-Wahab," Sharhabeel remembers. Together they frequented the cinema halls of Khartoum and watched Egyptian, Indian and Western films.
One evening, they were introduced to the enigmatic Italian who was looking for new talent. "The Italian wondered if I could sing Island in the Sun. I knew all Harry Bellafonte's songs by heart.
"He said, 'Sing Banana Boat.' I did. His face went bright red with excitement as I sang. 'Very good, excellent.' Then the Italian inquired if I could sing River of No Return. I did. He wanted to know what musical instrument I played. I said that I never played the drums, only congas. The khawaga (white man) was very impressed with my music and singing ability."
It was the enterprising Italian who taught Sharhabeel how to read music. "I trained with the khawaga. He gave me money, shiny ivory trousers, white shoes and socks to match and a red bow tie."
It was the beginning of a very busy period.
"I was still working at the Ministry of Education. In the morning I went to the ministry and clocked out and went straight to the radio station and then I rushed home to have a shower and something to eat, before slipping out again. At 8pm sharp I was at the Gordon Music Hall."
This was a hectic time for Sharhabeel but he remained convinced that music was he way forward, and after a decade of musical apprenticeship Sharhabeel began to find his own voice.
Helwat Al-Ainein (The Girl with the Beautiful Eyes), the first jazz song he composed, was an instant hit in Sudan. Other hits followed: Betgool Moshtag (You Say You're Longing for Me); Haram ya Galbi (What a Pity My Heart); Al-Gammar, (The Full Moon); Lau Taaraf Al- Shoug (If You Only Knew the Meaning of Desire); Al-Bahja (Joy); and Al-Lail Al-Hadi (Peaceful Night), which took Cairo by storm in 1973. His synthesiser-driven renditions of traditional songs brought further success and recognition.
Sharhabeel launched a new genre of Sudanese song, melding jazz vocals with a big band sound, and Sharhabeel and his band became Khartoum's most sought after ensemble. It was a popularity that mushroomed.
"We went to Ethiopia to sing before Emperor Haile Sellasie After Ethiopia we toured East Africa, stopping in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and then on to Tunisia and North Africa."
He has performed in Germany, Chad, Somalia, and Ethiopia "countless times", and in the Arabian Gulf where large communities of Sudanese exiles reside.
It is time to leave, even though he has a zillion other stories to tell. A firm handshake and a smile, and the septuagenarian says good-bye.
By Gamal Nkrumah
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Re: حان الوقت لتكريم ملك الابداع الموسيقي الفريد، الفنان شرحبيل أحمد (Re: Kostawi)
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محبي وأصدقاء الفنان شرحبيل..
تحية وود..
شكرا د. محجوب على هذه الواحة التي اهديتها لهذا الفنان ولنا في هذه المناسبة..
شكرا ايمان..
في انتظار ما سيهدينا له أستاذ بولا.. والذي اتوقع ان يكون لوحة مشاعر ووفاء..
يا كوستاوي..
اتابع معك.. ولدي مشروع اتمنى ان انجح بصدده.. وهو صور حفلات شرحبيل احمد في المسرح المكشوف بدار الأوبرا.. اعوام 2000، 2001، 2002، 2003، وهذا العام.
اتعشم في مساعدة من الأوبرا بعد اجازة العيد..
قول خير..
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Re: حان الوقت لتكريم ملك الابداع الموسيقي الفريد، الفنان شرحبيل أحمد (Re: Kostawi)
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February - 3 March 2004
Issue No. 679
Al-Ahram Weekly
A solid niche
Sonali Pahwa speaks with Sudanese musician Sharhabeel Ahmed about musical beginnings and futures
It comes as a mild surprise that a singer who has been packing in young audiences at recent shows is well into his 60s. Sharhabeel Ahmed's music was synthesised in the melting pot of 1960s Sudan, when music was emphatically youthful and heedless of tradition, and it seems to have aged as little as the singer himself. His dignified presence and jazz and reggae rhythms seem to dovetail with the recent resurgence in live music venues in Cairo, and the Sudanese singer is enjoying a new popularity more than 30 years after his first Egyptian hit, Al-Leil Al-Hadi (Peaceful Night).
"I began to visit Cairo to perform and record songs in the 70s," Sharhabeel recounts, "particularly for the Wadi Al-Nil radio station's Sudan Corner. I even made what you would now call a video clip for Al-Leil Al-Hadi. In those days there were several of us Sudanis who produced records in Egypt -- facilities were better here than in Sudan. As early as the 1930s and 40s the big names of haqiba music, Sarour, Karoma, Zingar and Aisha Al-Falatiya, came to record with the Cairophone company. Haqiba music, you know, was traditional vocal music with little accompaniment beyond a tambourine. When our generation came in the 1960s, we came with a new style. It was a time of worldwide revolution in music. In Europe, the rhythms of swing and tango were being replaced by jazz, samba, rock- and-roll. We were influenced by this rejuvenation in Sudan, too. I started out by learning to play the oud and traditional Sudanese music, and got a diploma from the music institute of Khartoum University. But my ambition was to develop something new. For this, the guitar seemed like the best instrument."
"Western instruments can approximate the scales of Sudanese music very well. After all, a lot of Western music is originally from Africa. I have absorbed different influences, from traditional Sudanese rhythms to calypso and jazz, and I hold them together in my music with no difficulty."
Sharhabeel's blending of Western and local music traditions for a new genre of live music evokes the era of Mohamed Abdel-Wahab, concerts in formal dress and a time before the lounge singer was regarded as an imitator. For Sharhabeel, the 50s represent a high point in Egyptian music. "I followed the renaissance led by Abdel-Wahab, Kamal El-Tawil, Ali Ismail, and later Abdel-Halim Hafez. They truly tried to advance Egyptian music and develop something new. But Western- style orchestration had a less lasting impact in Egypt than in Sudan. After many years, there is again a movement in that direction by Ammar El-Sheray'ei and Amr Diab, for instance, but Egyptian singers' links to traditional Eastern music are stronger and this has been a more dominant influence for them."
Sharhabeel maintains, nonetheless, that Sudanese music has a solid niche in Egypt. The intertwined histories of the two countries make this inevitable. "The Sudan Corner on Wadi Al-Nil radio was widely listened to because it was used for political purposes. That was an important channel for Sudanese music in Egypt. Now Sudan radio has expanded and we have satellite television channels, too. So Sudanese music is once again well-known, even stolen by Egyptian artists."
The Arab and African hybrid of Sharhabeel's music has brought him invitations to perform throughout East and Central Africa, as well as at European venues such as the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. When queried about the irony of his being billed as an Arab musician, Sharhabeel simply shrugs and says that Sudan is a member of the Institut, substantially Arabic-speaking and Muslim. He will play wherever there is an audience. But he sets little store by identifying labels, and takes a quiet delight in confounding presumptions about Sudanese music. "European audiences had no idea there was modern Sudanese music," he recounts of one of his tours. "And they were astonished to see my wife, with her covered head, on stage with me and playing the guitar." She is Zakiya Abul-Gasim Abu Bakr, by her own account the first female guitarist in Sudan. Now their daughters Noha and Shahira and sons Ahmed and Mohamed perform with their father, too.
Perhaps a focus on folk traditions would have provided Sharhabeel with a more marketable genre identification on the world music market, but his distinctive style has won him a local following all the same. He has performed at the Roman Theatre in Alexandria and every summer since 2000 at the Open Air Theatre of the Cairo Opera House. His sophisticated dance music and stage presence have made inroads into some doggedly classical institutions. He has recently performed twice at El-Sawy Cultural Centre as well. Although Sharhabeel is guarded about the possibility of a wider audience for his music in Egypt, this is encouragement enough for the time being. It is proof, as well, that a non-conformist can become a classic.
(عدل بواسطة Kostawi on 11-20-2004, 07:26 AM)
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Re: حان الوقت لتكريم ملك الابداع الموسيقي الفريد، الفنان شرحبيل أحمد (Re: Kostawi)
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من مواقع سودانية متفرقة على الإنترنت:
الجريدة السودانية:
Quote: الفنان شرحبيل احمد
ولد عام 1935 بامدرمان .
يتميز بادائه الجذاب و الحانه الراقصة التى هى نتاج لتمازج الايقاعات السودانية المختلفة و الكلمات الشعبية و باللغة الدارجة مع الالحان قصيرة الجمل الموسيقية و العزف على الات النفخ كالساكسفون و الترمبيت و الترمبون بالاضافة الى الباص جيتار و الجيتار و مؤخرا الارغن.
في اواسط الاربعينات تركت اسرته امدرمان و اتجهت الي الابيض حيث ظهرت موهبته في حفظ و اداء الاغاني .
التحق بكلية الفنون الجميلة بالمعهد الفني .
بعد حصوله علي دبلوم الفنون الجميلة عمل بوزارة التربية و التعليم فنانا تشكيليا و هكذا اصبح
شرحبيل رساما بل و رائدا خلاقا من حيث المهنة و مطربا .
اجيز صوته في اواسط الخمسينات .في اواخر الخمسينات عمل مع فرقة اجنبية كعازف ايقاع بصالة غردون .
تلقي دعوة لحضور افتتاح المسرح القومي عام 1960 و عرفته الجماهير باغنية ( يا حلوة العنيين) للاستاذ ذو النون بشري و تم تقديم هذه الاغنية كاستعراض راقص
وظف شرحبيل احمد كل جهوده لتطوير الاغنية السودانية الراقصة بكل يمكن من نوظيفه من حداثة مع الحفاظ علي الروح القومية للاغنية .
من اشهر و اجمل اعماله مين في الاحبة و خطوة خطوة و لو تعرف الشوق.
كانت زوجته زكية ابو القاسم تعزف معه علي الة الجيتار و هى أول سودانية تشارك فى العزف الموسيقى مع فرقة موسيقية.
ابتكر شرحبيل بوصفه فنانا و رساما شخصية العم تنقو الكاركتورية و التى تميزت يها مجلة الصبيان و التى كان يصدرها مكتب النشر التربوى .. و شخصية العم تنقو كانت الشخصية التى داعبت الاطفال فى الستينات من القرن الماضى و كانت المنافس السودانى لشخصيات والت ديزنى و مجلات الاطفال المصرية.
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http://www.sudanjournal.com/Whoswho/Whoswho064.html
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Re: حان الوقت لتكريم ملك الابداع الموسيقي الفريد، الفنان شرحبيل أحمد (Re: Kostawi)
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AnwarKing
My younger brother
طبعا من ناحيتك أنا نايم و ما بتقلب....عارفك ح تجي
wa do something like this....thank u bro.
لكن الانت ما عارفو
your older brother has something with time......beside that I don't even search for the best way to write in Arabic....All my Arabic writtings were done by alfar/a (Gender issues involve here) ---or the mouse (using the western law, there is no gender issues involve here--thank God--I can use my free time to make some money for my kids' college education"
Eid Saeed to you, ur family, Sharhabil, friends, ur enemies; and enemies to be....and others.
Haggam
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Re: حان الوقت لتكريم ملك الابداع الموسيقي الفريد، الفنان شرحبيل أحمد (Re: Raja)
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Thank Raja of keeping this post runing
I am back now for my shift
***************************************
This message was rec'd from one of Sharhabil fans:
***************************************
Salaam Mr.Kostawi How are you I hope your doing fine.
I'm here to give props and tribute to al Ustaz Sharhabeel refering to your post at sudaneseonline.com I couldnt make it there for I dont have access there.
Thank you. The world need to hear Sharhabeel...when ever I listen to him I feel confused and mad a simple question pops on my head which is "Why Sharhabeel is not world wide known"
Sharhabeel is a Jazz/Reggae/Blues master not less than Hugh Masakela , Ismael Isaac, Ali Farka , Salif Kieta..etc. All the mentioned above are world wide known african musicians except Sharhabeel.
Is it the Sudanese poor media? Is it Sharhabeel him self who didnt promote him self to the world? Is it a curse on all the great Sudanese musicians?
I'm into music business I have musical ears and I almost dig all types of music I can say it loud that Sharhabeel is true genius that can be compared to giants such as Miles Davies.
Thank you again.
Abdalla Moe. Ali
P.S. I'm thinking about making a website for Sharhabeel and invite the world to hear his music.
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Re: حان الوقت لتكريم ملك الابداع الموسيقي الفريد، الفنان شرحبيل أحمد (Re: Hussein Mallasi)
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Reports: Music in Sudan
Foreign artists
Source: http://www.sudanupdate.org/REPORTS/MUSIC/MUS08.HTM
During the 1960s, Ray Charles ("Hit the Road, Jack") and Harry Belafonte made a big impression on urban Sudanese musicians such as Osman Alamu and Ibrahim Awad, who became the first Sudanese singer to dance on stage. (Fast forward to 1985: Sherhabeel Ahmed, a quietly progressive musician and illustrator whose wife used to play bass guitar, sings "Kingston Town" at a famine concert echoing Live Aid. Harry Belafonte is in the audience, representing the charity USA for Africa, and is openly moved to tears.)
In the 1970s it was the turn of James Brown and Jimmy Cliff (who is still a frequent, low-profile visitor to Sudan, although not to perform). The ebullient Kamal Kayla modelled his funk-shout style on the hugely popular JB, although he was in retirement last I heard, raising exotic pigeons.
The 1980s made Bob Marley and Michael Jackson household names in the most unexpected places. Marley was recognised by some as the spiritual kinsman of Sudan's own Sufi dervishes, and an inspiration to thousands of ghetto children. As for Michael, well, he shared the Sudanese problem with skin colour (skin bleaching is still in vogue) and showed the nimbler ones the possibilities of moonwalking.
There was loveable trash, too. A trip to the cinema for the street-kids wasn't complete until they played Carl Douglas' "Kung Fu Fighting" in the auditorium, vaguely in honour of Bruce Lee.
Quirks of fashion turned a short-lived Welsh disco queen, Tina Charles ("I love to love", "Dance little lady, Dance"), into an idol: buxom and heavily made-up, looking like the cover of an Egyptian magazine. They liked her even more than Diana Ross, who was a bit skinny for their tastes.
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Re: حان الوقت لتكريم ملك الابداع الموسيقي الفريد، الفنان شرحبيل أحمد (Re: Kostawi)
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من بوست الترحيب بالأستاذ عبد الله بولا
و شكرا للدكتور النور حمد لذلك البوست التاريخى
mustadam
مصطفى آدم
هل يمكن ان نعدم الفنان العظيم شرحبيل أحمد بتهمة إغواء الصبية؟ فقد أغواني منذ الصبا الباكر في العام 1963 في مدينة كوستي , في حفل في السينما الوحيدة المتاحة و كان أول حفل عام اسمح لنفسي بحضوره رغم انف اساتذة المشروع الحضاري العام آنذاك!ومن بينهم مولانا شيخ آدم ,والدى , رحمة الله عليه فقد كان من أبكار المعلمين. ولم يكن اطلاقا من مروجى البدعة الأثينية: اعدام السقراطيين؟؟؟؟ الديمقراطيين, المطلوقين!فرض على فرضا رقيق القيد , عظيم الفائدة: قراءة الغزالي وغيره من متون المعرفة السلفية دون اكراه و بدعوى ضعف البصر وليس البصيرة.فكان عونا على التخلص من اسرها جملة وتفصيلا بقراءة بصيرة!!!!
لم ينكر حقي وآخرين في التعرض لأغواء الصبيان وتنقو وشرحبيل ومن بعده , لاحقا, طبطب , قدس الله فضائه الممتلىء بحب الآخرين ,ولكم جميعا الحب , وبغيره, اسودت سماء الوطن الذي يمكن أن يتسع للجميع!
مصطفى آدم
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Re: حان الوقت لتكريم ملك الابداع الموسيقي الفريد، الفنان شرحبيل أحمد (Re: Kostawi)
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From our previous post:
الأستاذ و المسيقار شرحبيل أحمد
ismat.abdelrahman
الأستاذ كوستاوى
شكرا لهذا البوست عن الفنان ا لشامل شرحبيل احمد...كان جار لنا
فى حى السروجيه بامدرمان وهذا الحى يقع خلف حى الهاشماب..رسمنى
لمجله الأطفال فى 1958..وكنت زمنها فى نهائيات الاوليه..عاصرت بحكم
الجيره تكوين بدايات فرقه شرحبيل والمدخل كان وقتها ابن عمى على
نور الجليل الان هو بروفسير على نور الجليل جراح القلب المشهور .
معا تفرقا لتكوين الفرقه ..وصاحبت هذا التكوين من موقع الجيره ومن
موقع استعمال بيتنا للتدريب.وتطورت الجوقه كما كان يسميها المرحوم
الاعلامى محمد صالح فهمى..وكانت تضم شرحبيل ,على نور الجليل,كامل حسين,
حسن سروجى .طيوبه,ومهدى على اخيرا.وكانت السيده ذكيه ابنه خالت شرحبيل
وزوجته حاليا تتدرب على العود..وتطورت الفرقه..وضمت بابكر عوض.محمد ضحيه,
كراقصين, واحمد عوض مترامبت,واحمد داؤود.ولفتره عثمان المو.ومحمد عبد الله
محمديه كعازف كلارنيت..ثم دخلت السيده ذكيه كعازفه لييد جيتار بعد ان اكملت
تدريبها عليه...شرحبيل رمز وفنان مطبوع وعملاق .وهو اول من انشأ فرقه
جاز فى افريقيا.قدم نقلات مزسيقيه..وهو بدا كعازف كمنجه فى اركوسترا الأذاعه
السودانيه ثم اجتاز اختبار الصوت.وهو دفعه المرحوم احمد الجابر ى اذاعيا
قدم للسودان فنا راقيا..وقدم للسودان ابنائه وبناته وهم وهن يسرن ويسيرون
على النهج الفنى لوالدهم العظيم..استطاع ان ينفذ للمجال العربى واكد سطوته
فى مصر مما اتيح له ان يقيم حفلا سنويا فى دار الأوبرا المصريه.وكان قد
اكد ذاتيته فى افريقيا.فنان مثقف ,وموسيقى بارع,له صوت فراديسى,وفنان تشكيلى
متمكن سعدنا به فى زيياراته للندن ..وكما هو بطيبته وعفويته,وعذوبته
شكرا لك فمن اجل التوثيق لهذا العملاق
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Re: حان الوقت لتكريم ملك الابداع الموسيقي الفريد، الفنان شرحبيل أحمد (Re: Kostawi)
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من بوست
الأستاذ و المسيقار شرحبيل أحمد
By
kh_abboud
الأستاذ كوستاوى
شكرا على هذا البوست عن الفنان الاصيل شرحبيل
هذا الفنان الوفى زارنى مشكورا بمنزل إبن أخى الفنان التشكيلى أحمد الشريف عبود خلال إجازتى القصيرة فى الخرطوم فى مايو الحالى ...... وقد سعدت بلقائه بعد طول غياب أيما سعادة ...كان راجعا من القاهرة بعد إقامته لعرض غنائى موسيقى فى الأوبرا ...
تزاملنا كرسامين بدار النشر التربوى ... وكان الدكتور عبد الله بولا صديق الطرفين من أقرب الناس إليه ... تبادلنا ذكريات الرسم للأطفال فى كتب دار النشر ومجلة الصبيان التى إغتالوها أخيرا فى وضح النهار ... كنت فى حالة من الحزن الشديد وأنا أستمع للأستاذ شرحبيل يحكى لى قصة توقيف صدور مجلة الصبيان ، أول مجلة أطفال فى العالم العربى ... بالرغم من صمود رساميها وكتابها الذين إستمروا مع شرحبيل... عمر جوز وعادل الماحى والمشرفة فاطمة موسى ...
سبقنا شرحبيل فى العمل بالمجلة قبل سنوات طويلة فقد بدأ منذ عام 1948 ...وبدأنا نحن فى عام 1971 ...
شخصية عمك تنقو إرتبطت بالأستاذ شرحبيل وأحبه الأطفال والكبار ،أجيالا بعد أجيال ... حتى أمهاتنا كن يحفظن أشعار عمك تنقو والعازة فى الخمسينيات ...
أما شرحبيل الموسيقار والمغتى فلا يحتاج منى إلى تعليق
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Re: حان الوقت لتكريم ملك الابداع الموسيقي الفريد، الفنان شرحبيل أحمد (Re: Kostawi)
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من بوست
Re: الأستاذ و المسيقار شرحبيل أحمد
willeim andrea
عمق وانسجام اغنينه لهاري بلفوند ( كسنتج تاوووووووون ) وكان هاري بلفوند من بين الحضور ضمن نجوم العالم في ذاك الوقت ... وهنا كانت تلك اللحظات القمه في التحليق بنا علي الافاق .... فعلا من تجويد فنانا الشامل الشامخ لم يتمالك النجم العالمي هاري الا وانا صعد للمسرح وغني معه اغنيته وكان ثنائي رائع لتحفه موسيقيه ذات طعم خاص ... ولا ادري انا كانت هذه الماده مسجله في اي مكان ... اموووووووووووووووووووووت واسمعه تاني لانو فعلا بتوضح بجلاء مقدرات الاستاذ الفنان الشامل الرائع شرحبيل احمد ... متعه الله بالصحه والعافيه وشكرا ليك يا كوستاوي
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Re: حان الوقت لتكريم ملك الابداع الموسيقي الفريد، الفنان شرحبيل أحمد (Re: Kostawi)
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و ماذا تعرف عن الفن لو كنت تهين قبائل شتى من جماهير شعبنا؟
أليس لقبائل البقارة التى تهينها بالإيحاء الجنسى الواضح حق فى حب شرحبيل؟
أهو ملك لك أو لأصفياءك؟
؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟
؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟
؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟
التحية للفنان شرحبيل أحمد
و الباشمهندس بكرى
و شريف شرحبيل
و شعبنا الأبى؛؛
سودانى،،
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Kostawi
إيمان أحمد
فرح
عصمت العالم
الفاتح يسن
معتز تروتسكى
Sinnary
عبد الله بولا
Raja
Nagat Mohamed Ali
Elmosley
الجندرية
Ahmed Elmardi
AnwarKing
Rakoba
Elsadiq
Hussein Mallasi
أحمد أمين
حبيب نورة
tmbis
محمد الامين احمد
لؤى
Ehab Eltayeb
عبدالرحمن عزّاز
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست