When Mohammed Wardi returned to Khartoum in 2002 after more than a decade in exile, crowds filled the airport and the streets. For many Sudanese, he was more than a singer. He was the voice of their love songs, their national pride and their protests. Born in a Nubian village in the far north of Sudan, Wardi sang in both Arabic and Nubian and became the most beloved musician of his country.
Early life, radio and political songs
Wardi was born in 1932 in a village in Nubia, in northern Sudan. He trained as a teacher before devoting himself to music. He began performing on Sudanese radio in the 1950s and quickly became popular. Wardi’s rich voice and emotional delivery made him a star across Sudan and in neighbouring countries.
He sang in Nubian as well as Arabic, celebrating the language and culture of his homeland. His songs supported popular uprisings and criticised military rule. He sang about freedom and the dignity of ordinary Sudanese.
Prison, exile and death
He was imprisoned at times and, after the 1989 coup, went into exile, living abroad for many years. His return in 2002 was a major national event. Wardi was popular in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and other countries in the Horn of Africa. He died in Khartoum in 2012, and his funeral drew huge crowds. His songs remain central to Sudanese culture and were sung during later protests.
He often performed with the oud and a full orchestra. Sudanese communities around the world still celebrate his music.
Songs of the people and 2019
Many of his songs were written by leading Sudanese poets, and he set their words to melodies that ordinary people could sing. Some of his patriotic songs became unofficial anthems during moments of political change, sung at rallies and in the streets. The flooding of parts of Nubia by the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s affected Wardi’s homeland, and his Nubian songs carried a sense of a culture under threat.
During the protests that ended Omar al-Bashir’s rule in 2019, demonstrators sang Wardi’s songs, showing how his music still spoke to Sudanese hopes. Mohammed Wardi sang love songs and protest songs with the same voice. During Sudan’s later protests, a new generation sang them both in the streets.
