Sudan
Alsarah is a Sudanese-born singer, songwriter and ethnomusicologist. Born in the capital city of Khartoum where she spent the first 8 years of her life, she relocated to Taez, Yemen with her family to escape the ever-stifling regime in her native country. She abruptly moved to the US in 1994, when a brief civil war broke out in Yemen. Alsarah started her musical training at the age of 12 upon arriving in the US. After attending the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter High School, in Hadley MA, she spent the next 4 years at Wesleyan University studying music with a concentration in Ethnomusicology.
Residing in Brooklyn, NY she is a self-proclaimed practitioner of East-African Retro-Pop working on various projects. She has toured both Nationally and Internationally with critically acclaimed groups such as the Nile Project, where she was featured on their debut CD, Aswan (named in the top 5 must hear international albums by NPR). She has also released 1 full-length album with French producer Débruit titled Aljawal (Soundways Recordings), as well as 1 full-length album with her current band, Alsarah & the Nubatones, titled Silt (Wonderwheel Recordings) touring internationally since its release in 2014.
Alsarah & the Nubatones were born out of many dinner conversations between alsarah and rami el aasser about nubian ‘songs of return’, modern migration patterns and the cultural exchanges between sudan and egypt. A common love for the richness of pentatonic sounds, and shared migration experiences, expanded the conversation to include armenian – american oud player haig manouki- an and french born togo raised bass player mawuena kodjovi. Under the leadership of alsarah, the brooklyn based group’s sound grew into what they have dubbed as ‘east – african retro-pop’.
In march of 2014 the group released their debut album “silt / طمي “ via wonderwheel recordings to in- ternational acclaim and great reviews, with the single soukura (it’s late) debuting on spin magazine’s blog.
Alsarah and The Nubatones - Ya Watan (ياوطن)
Single: Ya Watan // ياوطن
Album: Manara (out 9/30/2016)
Written & performed by Alsarah & the Nubatones