Mohammed Wardi


Mohammed Osman Hassan Salih Wardi was a Muslim Nubian Sudanese singer and songwriter.

Early life

Wardi was born on 19 July 1932 in a small village called Sawarda close to Wadi Halfa in Northern Sudan. His mother, Batool Badri, died when he was an infant, and his father, Osman Hassan Wardi, died when he was nine years old. He was brought up in a diverse and culturally rich background and developed an interest in poetry, literature, music and singing. Wardi traveled to Shendi in Central Sudan to complete his education, and returned to Wadi Halfa as a secondary school teacher.

Music career

In 1953, Wardi went to Khartoum for the first time to attend a convention as a teaching representative for his area. After this, he moved to Khartoum and started his career as a musical performer. In 1957, Omdurman Radio chose him to record and sing on national broadcast in an arena with singers such as Abdelaziz Mohamed Daoud, Hassan Atia, Ahmed Almustafa, Osman Hussein and Ibrahim Awad. Wardi recorded 17 songs in his first year. and worked together with poet Ismail Hassan, resulting in more than 23 songs.
Wardi performed using a variety of instruments, including the Nubian kissar and sang in both Arabic and Nubian languages. He has been described as one of "Africa's top singers", with fans mainly in the Horn of Africa. His songs address topics such as romance, passion, Nubian folklore, heritage, revolution and patriotism, with some of his political songs resulting in him being jailed. After the military coup in 1989, he left Sudan for exile in Cairo and Los Angeles. In 1990, Wardi played a concert for 250,000 Sudanese refugees at a refugee camp in Itang, Ethiopia. He returned to Sudan in May 2002, and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Khartoum in 2005.

Death

Wardi suffered from kidney failure later in his life. He eventually underwent a kidney transplant, after one of his fans donated a kidney to him in 2002. He died on 18 February 2012 and was buried in Farouk Cemetery in Khartoum.

Poets/Songwriters, with whom Wardi collaborated