Soga Jamailé

Sweden has proved to be a fertile home in exile for many African musicians, among them the Sudanese singer and guitarist Ebo Krdum. His 2021 debut album Diversity was a Songlines Top of the World choice, praised for living up to its title with an eclectic range of global influences that included Arabic music, reggae, Scandinavian folk and West African desert blues. 2022’s Revolt for Change was more one-paced, heavily based on the Songhai style of his hero Ali Farka Touré, from whose TV and radio appearances Krdum learned to play guitar as a child growing up in Darfur before war and political upheaval forced him to seek asylum in Europe over a dozen years ago. Soga Jamailé is cut from the same cloth – indeed, if it wasn’t for the different languages in which Krdum sings, you could easily think this was a West African album by Ali, Boubacar Traoré or Afel Bocoum. His deep voice sings passionately about the existential preoccupations of exile – peace, freedom, equality, liberty and other such day-to-day concerns and it’s impressive and affecting. But you can’t help wishing he’d mix it up a little more as he did on the aptly-named Diversity.