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Echoes of War, Voice of Hope: The Sudanese Artist Reviving His Career After Fleeing War

Updated: Oct 2

Sudanese singer and songwriter Mo Shabaka resurrects his music career with another release after seeking asylum in the UK.

Mo SHabaka relaxes in an armchair
Mo Shabaka relaxes with "On Photography" by Susan Sontag

As a vocalist in the popular group Igd al-Jalād, known for the political commentary in their lyrics, Mo has preformed to tens of thousands of people across his beloved home country.


Despite their popularity, Mo says that "music is seen as more of a hobby in Sudan" and so, following his father's advice, combined a career as a procurement specialist for the UN and supply chain expert in UAE and Qatar with his career as a musician. He also studied economics and social studies at Sudan's largest and oldest university, the University of Khartoum.


This was not to last.


Like many people in Sudan at the time, Mo realised that violent change was on the horizon and fled the country in 2017. He arrived in the UK as an asylum seeker - "I never looked back to my previous achievements or my struggles with the new regime", he tells us.


Mo decided to start his music career from scratch, while picking up his studies again at Liverpool Hope University.


He recently finished his MA in the creative industries after studying music production as well as film and visual culture, but the shadow of the conflict in Sudan continued to affect him.


He fell into a deep depression after losing three of his friends and musical colleagues - on of whom was a member of Igd al-Jalād - to the bombing in Khartoum (Abou Araki Mukhtar), while his mother and brothers attempted to escape the violence in Sudan by fleeing to Egypt on a bus with 10 other families, amid fears of extreme military violence.


"The military and militias would have checkpoints and there were reports they were killing people who wouldn't give them money"

"I was devastated," say Shabaka.


"It was a nightmare. I got into a serious depression ... I had to take a break from my studies and stop working on [my] album because I had no creativity whatsoever".


His mother and brother are now safe in Egypt and Shabaka has forged ahead with his musical journey becoming the first artist to release on Liverpool Hope University's student-led record label Wild Hope.


"The first thing that struck me about Mo was his passion for music and life in general," says Mo's tutor Mike Moran. "He has a golden voice ... it's an emotional experience to listen to him".


Wasting no time at all, he continues to build on his recent success and momentum.

Mo Shabaka in the studio
Mo in production mode

Mo is currently working on new material with UK musician and producer Ciaran "Muad'dib" O'Fathaigh of Renegade Production who has has written, composed, played and produced for a number of recording stars including Speech Debelle on her Mercury Prize winning album Speech Therapy, Bashy [Ashley Thomas] and jazz virtuoso flautist Nathan "Flutebox" Lee of Asian Dub Foundation among many others.


Follow Mo Shabaka's journey to see what the future holds for this incredible talent.

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