Safaa Ali

"The morning, the prison, the warden, the rest .. If dawn two wings to you .. And if the sadness, which is the solution of these dilemmas .. And which tightened the bond of the document .. Which scattered in every valley .. The joy emanating from every heart, my country" Those words The revolutionary blessing of the Sudanese people's revolution was sung by the artist Mohamed Wardi in the October Revolution of 1964 and written by the poet Mohamed al-Fitouri, and by Wardi on the third day of the civil disobedience that overthrew the regime of General Ibrahim Abboud.

That song remained present in all its words and meanings in all the revolutionary positions of the people of Sudan until the fall of the regime of Omar al-Bashir, known as the revolution of December 2019, and her words in the final signing of the draft agreement that declared the success of the revolution and allow civilians to take power after the end of the transitional period.

Between all these events and revolutions, Wardi remained the voice of Sudan's sweet revolution present in his spirit and the lyrics of his songs despite the death and absence of the body.

Pink Artist
Mohamed Osman Wardi was born in the northern Nubian region on July 19, 1932.He worked as a teacher.He first visited the capital in 1953 at an educational conference, until he settled in Khartoum.He then started his musical career as an amateur until he passed the test of Radio Hana Omdurman. . The first time he recorded a song for the radio on July 19, 1957, and during the first year recorded 17 songs, which made the radio officials authorized him as a first-class singer after the age of four.

Shortly after an artistic partnership with the famous poet Ismail Hassan, the duo together produced 23 songs that combined Nubian and Sudanese languages.

Ouardi sang in Nubian and Arabic, introduced Nubian mold and Nubian tools such as Tambour, and won the title of "Africa's first artist" for his great popularity in the Horn of Africa and Ethiopia.

Exile did not stop him from singing
Pink fought for his day's ideas: social justice, decolonization, redistribution of wealth, African unity. His tireless activism and membership of the left-wing Communist Party resulted in his arrest more than once, until he opted for self-imposed exile for 13 years. He left the country in 1989 to protest against Omar al-Bashir's seizure of power.

He went to Egypt with 13 opponents and spent his self-exile between Egypt and the United States. In 2003, he returned to Khartoum after he was diagnosed with kidney failure. Bashir received him very well. "I didn't know politicians like songs," he joked.

He settled in Sudan until his death in 2012, after a sixty-year busy musical life during which he produced 300 songs, still called "the emperor, the legend, the last Nubian kings."

Rebel .. Dream of freedom
Sudan has endured nearly five decades of military rule since its independence in 1956, and democratic civilian governments have never been allowed to continue to govern.The songs were the only breathing space to express the hopes of the people, and this was evident in the revolutions of 1964, 1985 and 2019, which Wardi was always present.

"Green October" is one of the famous songs that he sang in the series of songs called "Octobriat" in cooperation with the poet Mohamed El Makki Ibrahim, which glorified the Sudanese people against the regime of Abboud.

He was followed by a number of revolutionary songs such as "Jelly Ana" as well as "Ya Thuwar October", which he sang in cooperation with the poet Salah Ahmed Ibrahim, and then the song "We are comrades of the martyrs" in which he collaborated with the poet Ali Abdul Gayoom.

And again flustered
In 1985, Sudan underwent a change in its leadership through a popular uprising. People took to the streets to overthrow the military government. The elections ushered in a civilian government, and songs played a key role in overthrowing the Jaafar al-Nimeiri regime this time.

Before the revolution, Wardi suffered from the regime's dictatorship, which did not prevent him from singing and supporting the coup of Hashim Atta, which lasted only three days, but he sang his famous song, "Rakeb Hunter and the Antar Worker", and because of her two years in Kober prison.

From his cell, he left his song "Go" by the poet Tijani Said, which demanded the departure of Nimeiri, and then presented his songs "Ya Baladi Ya Habboub, Asfai", which caused his arrest again in 1982.

His song "O our people is your revolution," which loosely translates to "O people whose torch is your revolution" - points to the tremendous pride and confidence the Sudanese people have in their abilities, in a pink song that the Sudanese yearn to stand up and talk about themselves and control their destiny.

And for Bashir: he handed the keys to the country
The rare song "handed the keys to the country" came to ask Bashir to leave and hand over the country with everything in its people, and says the beginning of "you must crawl forward and you the people are intolerant and assertive, says peace, peace, and what you receive .. , The minds of our children handed us. "

Love is not forgotten
Wardi also introduced the emotional song, which greatly influenced all his listeners from Mauritania to Djibouti, where his emotional songs spread in African countries compared to less Arab fame.

Some of the artists also repeated his songs such as his song "Wast Al Daira" sung by Egyptian artist Mohamed Mounir.