Sounds of Sudan Music Workshop for Y7/8

A group of 35 lucky Year 7 students and a similar sized group from Year 8 got to enjoy an incredible performance and immersive workshop exploring the traditional sounds and music of Sudanese / Saharan traditional music and storytelling.

The two hour workshop treated students to the stories of Ali and Knud, from Sudan and Germany and how their lives have intertwined through the unifying power of music and storytelling, as their life-paths brought them individually to Bristol and their meeting through their shared love of Music. Ali captivated students with his story of having to flee Sudan as a political refugee after the documentary that he was filming uncovered the brutality inflicted upon West Sudanese people by their government.

Ali and Knud both started out life as keen footballers as well as musicians and their workshop of music and storytelling introduced Fairfield students to the traditional rhythms and pentatonic harmonies played on two traditional ouds, which is a stringed instrument that dates back thousands of years and is the precursor to our modern string instruments including orchestral string instruments as well as guitars and bass guitars.

Students were captivated over the course of two hours and learned some Islamic words for ‘love’, and ‘rhythm’ and how to say, ‘good morning’ and ‘thank you’. Ali, who has three children at Fairfield thrilled and mesmerised the audience with his charismatic singing and engaging storytelling, supported by Knud who wove his own story around Ali’s.

It was a wonderful workshop that will live long in the memories of all who were there, and the sounds of traditional Islamic singing and Sudanese Music were soaked into the walls of the Music Department enriching and adding to our already vibrant and diverse multicultural energy.