SOUTH SUDAN: MUSIC AND DANCE

For most of South Sudan’s history, they shared a common musical heritage with neighboring Sudan. South Sudan is known for a type of music called wayo, a kind of communal music circle that includes a variety of percussion instruments and chanting. It also uses a xylophone-like instrument called the kpaningbo as the center of this musical circle. It’s such a large instrument, that it takes three people to play it! The rest of the percussionists are on bells or other instruments and perform a number of African polyrhythms.

During the civil war, many of the South Sudanese fled their country and headed to nearby ones, namely Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, or Egypt. Others headed toward places like the UK, Canada, or the US. Their vocal music encompasses many different languages from English and Swahili to their local language of Juba Arabic.

Dance has been such an integrated part of music, that even in the midst of bad times, dance is still used as an escape. I came across an article by PBS about the dancehall scene in Juba, and how for many young people living in Juba, they have different lives than what typically makes the news from this area of the world. Dancehall clubs are used as a diversion from the daily grind that these people seek.

Emmanuel Kembe

There are a few artists who I found on YouTube. I first listened to Emmanuel Kembe. His style is typically is based on reggae, Afrobeat, and folk.

Yaba Angelosi

I also listened to Yaba Angelosi. He’s part of the South Sudanese diaspora who moved to the United States, which explains why his videos all seemed to have backgrounds that looked familiar to me. His musical styles are generally R&B with some zouk and Afrobeat mixed in.

Emmanuel Jal

And I was glad that I found a couple of rappers from South Sudan. The first one I listened to was Emmanuel Jal. He’s probably one of the bigger names in South Sudanese musicians, especially rappers. And if you know me by now, you know that I have a thing for female rappers, and luckily I found Queen Zee.

Queen Zee

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