Emmanual Jal has appeared on some big stages live: Live 8 at Eden, the excellent Africa Soul Rebel Tour and Womad, he’s due to appear at Nelson Mandela’s 90th Birthday Celebration in Hype Park on the 27th June.

Apparently Eminem and The Spice Girls will be in attendance for that one but talking of real soul rebels, you’ll recall that Jal was a former Sudanese child soldier who turned to hip hop to spread a message of peace and reconciliation. An extraordinary performer who has so much to say, especially on the title track, ‘Warchild’, ‘Forced To Sin’ (“I lived with an AK-47/By my side/Slept with one eye open wide/Run/Duck/Play dead.”) and ‘Vagina’.

He takes on ‘Many Rivers To Cross’ made most famous by Jimmy Cliff with The Harder They Come well known with a church choir section and there’s another deep track called, ‘Shadow Of Death’ (as in, I walk into the valley..); Jal is from the Christian south of Sudan.

Jal’s history has gained him loads of media attention (CNN, Radio 5, BBC One to name just three) and while none will be playing ‘Vagina’ (which is about the exploitation of Africa for its oil, you get the idea), it’s not all serious. De-stress yourself with the ‘No Bling’, ‘Baaki Wara’ and the warning of, ‘Skirt Too Short’.

Not sure what 50 Cent would have made of ‘No Bling’ (“No hoes, no bitches, no bling, I don’t need none of those things…”) or what ‘50 Cent’ is about. Ol’ 50 probably isn’t Jal’s cup of tea; a track best avoided but if you’re after a R&B style rap ‘Nine Ward’ is critical of “the land of the brave and the free”, the message of hope on ‘Stronger’ and ‘Hai’ reaches out in a one love type way.

Emmanuel Jal has produced a really solid album and it’s a shame that the the closing track, a tribute to Emma McCune who rescued Emmanuel, suffers from dodgy (to my ears) rocky guitar solo. Still, that’s only two out of the 13 to avoid, a very high hit rate for a debut solo album and if you’ve not heard it, try and get the Ceasefire album he did with Abdel Gadir Salim.

Hectic Mix nominations: ‘No Bling’, ‘Warchild’, ‘Forced In Sin’, ‘Many Rivers To Cross’, Vagina’, ‘Skirt Too Short’.

Reviewed: Emmanuel Jal — Warchild (Sonic360) Cat. No. SONIC360CD18 Release date: 12th May 2008
Tracklisting:
1 Warchild (3:52)
2 Forced To Sin (4:08)
3 Many Rivers To Cross (3:42)
4 Baaki Wara (3:48)
5 Shadow Of Death (3:13)
6 Vagina (4:14)
7 Hai (4:44)
8 No Bling (3:38)
9 Skirt Too Short (3:37)
10 50 Cent (3:57)
11 Ninth Ward (3:40)
12 Stronger (3:46)
13 Emma (4:13)

Links:
www.emmanueljalonline.net
www.myspace.com/emmanueljal www.sonic360.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_McCune