When I first saw the title of Original Music’s 1995 release, Rain in the Hills, I assumed it would be a compilation of Rwandan or Congolese music, places I most associate with forest-filled, hilly landscapes. It came as a nice surprise when my earphones were filled with a very different sound: music by the Beja people who live in the hills of North-Eastern Sudan, in and around the city of Port Sudan.

The album was recorded by John Low who lived in this drought-prone area while he was working for Oxfam in the early 90s. As he says in the liner notes, you can sometimes hear street noise or people chatting at Oxfam parties in the background on the recordings. If anything, however, this gives the album an authentic feel as if you, too, were sitting in a steamy Sudanese apartment, chatting with Beja musicians.

The songs on Rain in the Hills are sung in the Beja language and in Arabic. Some sound distinctly Arabic/Yemeni while others have a more East African sound. It’s definitely new to my ears. The liner notes even claim that, as far as John Low is aware, the music on this disc is unknown outside of the Sudan and southern Egypt.

Until recently the Beja used only one instrument in their music, the basankob. In recent years the oud has been introduced, as you’ll hear today, since it has a greater musical range.

Great tracks like Days and Nights make me realize how much I have yet to discover in East Africa…

ps- Cheers to Gabriel who picked me out of the crowd at the Rajery show last night. Always nice meeting Benn loxo people in person.
pps- thanks again to Andrew for the music.

Musa Adem – Days and Nights
Mohamed Badri Hassan – Rain In The Hills