What Comes Next: Sudanese Artists Invited to Think Post-war Art

Ati Metwaly

Wednesday 23 Apr 2025

The Cairo-based Sudanese musician and researcher Dafallah Al-Haj launched What Comes Next, an initiative that invites Sudanese artists to think about projects to be implemented once the war in Sudan ends.

Dafallah Al-Haj

The initiative's launch coincided with World Heritage Day, an international observance held on 18 April each year, with various activities around the world.

The day aims to promote awareness of humanity's cultural heritage diversity, its vulnerability, and the efforts required for its protection and conservation.

The initiative is affiliated with the Sudanese Traditional Music Centre, a cultural centre based in Khartoum and is concerned with Sudanese traditional music.

Although the war in Sudan destroyed the centre, its founder and manager, Dafallah Al-Haj, continues to organize activities that bring people together around the Sudanese heritage.

Al-Haj's call addresses Sudanese musicians and their colleagues worldwide, asking them to share their artistic plans and ideas that could be implemented after the war in Sudan ends.

A conference, whose date has yet to be revealed, will be held to discuss these plans and ideas "so that they can be incorporated into Sudan's cultural policies, free from political affiliations," Al-Haj announced.

He emphasized that artists have a strong influence on their communities throughout Sudan.

All interested artists should fill out the form here, including a summary of their ideas. The application deadline is 15 May.

Al-Haj: Voice of Sudanese music heritage

Al-Haj is a distinguished Sudanese academic, musician, and advocate for cultural heritage, renowned for his extensive contributions to preserving and promoting Sudan's traditional music.

As the founder and former director of the Sudanese Centre for Traditional Music, established in the 1990s, he dedicated over three decades to documenting and revitalizing Sudan's rich musical heritage.

His efforts encompassed the collection and crafting of several hundred traditional instruments, some of which dated back more than 90 years.

He also established the only museum in Sudan dedicated to classical folk instruments. The museum, with all its instruments, was destroyed during the first weeks of the war, a fact that Al-Haj began addressing over the past months.

Al-Haj has already taken many steps to restore the heritage by assigning craftsmen from regions unaffected by war to produce instruments.

Moreover, he remotely manages small-scale events that raise awareness of the country's cultural history among citizens in cities distant from war-torn areas.

Al-Haj's work extends to performing Sudanese traditional music through his Camerata troupe, which has toured the world and participated in many major festivals dedicated to folkloric arts.

The outbreak of war in Sudan in 2023 forced Al-Haj to relocate to Cairo, where he continues his mission to safeguard Sudanese musical traditions.

He remains committed to his craft, creating new instruments and organizing concerts, with the newly re-established Camerata for Folkloric Arts, which highlights Sudanese folklore within the diaspora community.

Being one of the most vocal members of the Sudanese diaspora in Egypt, his resilience underscores an unwavering dedication to cultural preservation.

Still, Al-Haj is hopeful about returning to Sudan to rebuild and continue his work once peace is restored.