Sudan's pop idol spreads the gospel

15 May 2005

Cliff Richard stand aside: the British pop singers Christianity has nothing on Emmanuel Jals muscular born-again beliefs.

His religious fervour is so strong that the record company that is about to bring out the former Sudanese child soldiers next album is a little nervous.

The company is aware that religion is not big in Britain - as 25-year-old Jal noticed with shock during his recent visit and prefers to downplay that side of the new stars persona.

But for Jal, conscripted from a refugee camp into the rebel Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army at the age of eight, belief is core.

Oh God, we will praise, Oh my God, I cant wait for the day when my people will be free in the land, I cant wait, he sings on Gua (Power or Good, depending on the language), the hit that took Kenya by storm, topped the charts and set him on the path to possible musical fame. He had already had a gospel hit, Praise the Lord.

He says he witnessed miracles during his fighting days, which included a dangerous three-month trek to safety, along with hundreds of other young soldiers, after an unsuccessful rebel assault on government-held Juba. Desperate for food and water, the boys and a handful of adults considered suicide, cannibalism and drinking urine. Only a dozen of the Lost Boys survived.

But at Waat, a rebel stronghold, he met and was adopted by Emma McCune, the British aid worker who had married senior rebel commander Riek Machar a love story that may soon be the subject of a feature film, perhaps with Nicole Kidman in the lead role.

McCune was subsequently killed in a car crash in Nairobi, but by then Jal had started school, was reunited with his sister and his life was on an upward curve. The music came out of the blue and most of his initial performances were in churches. His lyrics are based on his experiences and his commitment to peace; he hopes to use his earnings to ensure that other child soldiers and street-children get schooling. He is a spokesman for the Campaign to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.

Gua is featured on The Rough Guide to The Music of Sudan, released by World Music Network on 23 May, and has been re-recorded for the album that Jal and venerated Muslim musician Abdel Gadir Salim have just completed. The album symbolises the recently-signed Sudanese peace accord; both men have been scarred by violence: Salim was stabbed by a fundamentalist campaigning against music at a club in Khartoum.

* Jals outlook chimes with one of the closing statements in a new film Just Peace: "What we can be sure of is that the children of Sudan are ready for peace.

Like Jal, one of the children featured in the film, Sulwa, emphasises the importance of schooling, I want to equip myself so that I can help my country when I go back. My ambition lies in education my salvation lies in my education.

The 24-minute film was made with the support of the Sudan Advocacy Coalition (Christian Aid, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund, International Rescue Committee, Care International), and was previewed in May at the ICA in London. It will be shown in Nairobi at a special screening for civil society organisations on 2 June, at the Wychwood music festival in early June and at the Ritzy cinema in London on 29 June.

Nima Elbagir, a Sudanese journalist currently working for Reuters in London, told the ICA screening: Sudan is not just the sum of its conflicts. Theres a beauty there. Theres music in the strangest places.

Emmanuel Jal is living proof of that.