Al Balabil ( ar, البلابل, ) were a popular

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

ese vocal group of three sisters, mainly active from 1971 until 1988. Their popular songs and appearance as modern female performers on stage, as well as on Sudanese radio and television, earned them fame all over East Africa and beyond, and they were sometimes referred to as the "Sudanese

Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful ...

". After both retiring from the stage and emigrating to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in 1988, they gave a revival concert in 2007 in New York City's

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

, and later in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, as well as in their native Sudan.

Personal background and artistic career

The three sisters Amal, Hadia, and Hayat Talsam began their career as a group in late 1971. Having grown up in a neighbourhood of Greater

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...

, they enjoyed the support of their parents; their father, Muhammad Abdul Majid Talsam, was a university professor and became the group's manager. After a first period of singing in a

Nubia Nubia () ( Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sud ...

n folklore group, they were encouraged to form their own band by Sudanese musician and oud player Bashir Abbas, who later composed many of their songs. The name for the trio was proposed by Sudanese novelist and poet Ali El-Makk. The title track of their first album, ''Those Who Ask Don’t Get Lost,'' refers to an Arabic saying encouraging people to ask questions. According to a magazine article entitled "''Five Songs that defined Sudan's Golden Era",'' the lyrics tell the story of a lover’s anticipation: ''“If you cared to ask about me, you’d know where I am today / I’m still waiting for you. Have you forgotten that I invited you over?”'' Their song ''“The Boat Set Sail”,'' with lyrics in

Nubian language The Nubian languages ( ar, لُغَات نُوبِيّة, lughāt nūbiyyah) are a group of related languages spoken by the Nubians. They form a branch of the Eastern Sudanic languages, which is part of the wider Nilo-Saharan phylum. Initially, ...

, evokes the destructive effects of the

Aswan Dam The Aswan Dam, or more specifically since the 1960s, the Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. Its significance largely eclipsed the previous Aswan ...

on the region of

in southern Egypt and northern Sudan. The family of the three singers originally came from the Nubian city of

Wadi Halfa Wādī Ḥalfā ( ar, وادي حلفا) is a city in the Northern state of Sudan on the shores of Lake Nubia near the border with Egypt. It is the terminus of a rail line from Khartoum and the point where goods are transferred from rail to fer ...

, and this song talks about the flooding of a large part of Nubia and the displacement of its inhabitants. In 1988, shortly before strict Sharia laws were imposed in Sudan that stifled cultural life for the next 30 years, the sisters and their families moved to the United States and stopped performing for many years. In 2007 they appeared again, on stage in New York City, the following year in Chicago and Detroit, and again in Sudan in August 2009. This revival also included new recordings, like the Nubian song ''"Life is Beautiful"''. During their rise to fame they recorded many songs, released mostly in Sudan on

vinyl records A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...

and music cassettes. In her article about the ongoing popularity of Al Balabil in the aftermath of the

Sudanese Revolution The Sudanese Revolution was a major shift of political power in Sudan that started with street protests throughout Sudan on 19 December 2018 and continued with sustained civil disobedience for about eight months, during which the 2019 Sudan ...

, Sudanese filmmaker and author

Taghreed Elsanhouri Taghreed Elsanhouri ( ) is a British-Sudanese documentary filmmaker, film producer and author, based in London. She is mainly known for ''All about Darfur'' (2005), a film about the war in Darfur. For her 2012 documentary ''Our Beloved Sudan'', s ...

wrote about the ways the group had led the way from earlier ''hageeba'' and ''daluka'' songs to their own, very popular style:

Notes and references

External links

*
Interview with Al Balabil on Aljazeera The Stream: The ‘Sudanese Supremes’"Those Who Ask Don't Get Lost" ("البسأل ما بتوه") by Al Balabil, video with English translation"The Boat Set Sail" ("بابور كسونا") by al-Balabil, video with English translation"Life is Beautiful" ("دنيا اشري") by al-Balabil, video with English translation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Al Balabil Sudanese musicians 20th-century Sudanese artists Sudanese women artists 21st-century Sudanese artists Sudanese women musicians

Personal background and artistic career

See also

Notes and references

Further reading

External links