Ceasefire is a soon-to-be-released album that does a risky and unusual thing within this Sudanese context. It brings these many faces of Sudan together — in the form of Emmanuel Jal a 21 year old ex-child soldier from the south together with the older Abdel Gadir Salim from the north. These two men themselves bring their two very different musical styles together: Jal’s up and coming African hip hop and Salim’s venerated Arabic sounds from northern Sudan.

And somehow it works; it’s not at all self-conscious in this mixing and blending. Each track has one of the two in the spotlight with the other featured in there somewhere — Salim’s instrumentation weaving behind Jal’s rap or Jal’s voice peppering Salim’s own singing and compositions.

‘Ya Salam’ is Salim’s own thoughts on peace coming to Sudan. In it Jal’s rap talks of the atrocities in Darfur and John Garang the newly appointed Vice-President, who recently (and tragically for the country) died in a helicopter accident, making the track about as contemporary as you can get.

‘Nyambol’ is a good dance track with Jal’s own lyrics and rap from his Reborn Warriors accompanied by a tone and rhythm that is unmistakably Arabic, all mixed up with jazz-inspired saxophone brought by Salim and his band the Merdoum All Stars.

The track ‘Hadiya’ is the best example of the Salim/ Jal collaboration. It is Salim’s composition featuring old style sounds from the north, rippling Arabic singing, the accordian and pattering percussion. But Salim and his band have given an elegant nod to Jal’s hip hop world. The rhythm and instrumentation drives like a hip hop track and then Jal’s silky voice and slow-paced rap adds another seamless layer.

The best known track ‘Gua’, which topped the charts in Kenya and features on The Rough Guide To The Music Of Sudan, has been re-recorded for Ceasefire.

The respect each musician feels for the other is palpable — there’s no jostling for attention or a predominance of one style over the other. Salim’s mature and total understanding of his craft complements and enables Jal’s youthful rap and his multi-lingual talent. Each of them have taken on, and accommodated, the other to create a new unique sound.

The process for producing this album must have been an inspiring one to witness, as well as bringing these very different styles together it is also the first time that musicians from north and south Sudan have collaborated to make music. In a time of over-use of the phrases: ‘first ever’, ‘fusion’ and ‘ground-breaking’, Ceasefire really is all of those things.

Ceasefire will be released by World Music Network/ Riverboat Records on the 26th September 2005 www.worldmusic.net