MY DEBUT ALBUM- DUNYA, will be out on the 27th of September. I gave it all of me, it’s taken so much from me. I considered burying it with everything else I lost but what’s the use of all this digging? We’ll take it to the sun, make use. For the love of God, for the love of the hood, for the love of graveyards with enough friends to host a ceremony, a pickup game. There are no words for how this album has held me, there are less words for how the world let me go as I wrote it. Dunya in all its illusion.
Some of these songs are skies, some of these songs are ground and no escape.
Thank you all for your patience, and thank you to every person that lifted just a finger to see this come forward, I owe you all my years.
Album cover by @Renellaice
SNL is out now everywhere
Yesterday, we raised 5.5 million dollars for the Palestine Children’s relief fund and the Sudanese American physicians association, a historic victory for people being buried with the hands of hells that are subsidised by us. I am forever indebted to every artist, every organiser, every believer. I am nothing but a bridge and if all I’ve done in this life is walk artists to each other, and walk artists to people whose voices are missing, then I’ve lived a life worth dying for. I’ll be going offline for a while to find my voice again, be well everyone. @thepcrf@sudanese_american_physicians , A4ALA
photos by @yasminediba@aidancullen1@voadanfilms
Couldn’t have done it without my team, too many to name, it takes a country
the words here are by dead poets from Sudan and Palestine- many of them murdered before their time. This is a cento we made for them, for what they left behind. A cento is a poem composed entirely of verses taken from other poems, it was arranged by myself and Safia Elhillo- recited by these beautiful artists I have the gift of knowing. Scored by the only Dev Hynes. Head to artistsforaid.org to donate aid to both countries and receive livestream details for our show on the 10th. The poet lives forever.
Edited by: Anthony Miralles
Score by: Dev Hynes
Corrections: Naomi Shihab Nye is the one poet here that’s fortunately still with us, may God preserve her.
Munira Al Najar wrote “I write to you from a place that no longer resembles life” and we failed to credit her at the end. My apologies. May God protect her as well.
Artists for Aid, Los Angeles, January 10th. Head to Artistsforaid.org now to sign up for news on the pre-sale, we will be on sale next week. A gratitude unfeigned for all these artists who have agreed to donate their time & voices to this, the journey here has not been a simple one. All proceeds from this live show will support the Sudanese American Physicians Association and the Palestine children’s relief fund equally.
I had the perfect honour of executive producing this album alongside Daniel who I would die for and have died for and will die for again someday. We stopped at perfect days. I’ll hold the umbrella and the microphone and the story and the note for him forever, for this voice to emerge again and again and again. I love you Danny. There’s much I can say about the album, but it always ends back at this proverb- If you feel far from God, who moved? 📍Son of Spergy out now.
Tiny desk is out now, means many worlds to me.
Thank you NPR, my beautiful team of performers
Fletcher
Yunus
Wesley Hornpetrie
Nadine El Roubi
SAFA
Dua Kheiry
Batool Ibrahim
Bousaina Ibrahim
Music directed by Dylan Wiggins, My dear Dev Hynes with the cello arrangements, Taylor Torres- master of sound
A lifetime in the making, my first ever poetry publication- Nour, on ceremony, on worship- is out now. I want to thank all the poets for believing in me, the new ones and the ones who built new languages for us. Link in my bio to download it, I’ll choose a few of you to give the physical to for free. In collaboration with @wepresent@wetransfer . Liv, thank you. Worship began as a stranger and it later became the only call worthy of this breath in my body. All the contributors I’m indebted to forever. Warsan Shire, who helped me see the world in colour as a child, George Saunders- who gave me a new ink to write with that never runs out, I am so moved by your trust in me. My artists, I’m transformed by your words and your eyes. Deep thanks to Daniel Kaluuya who has always been a giant to me; for leading the conversation on faith today. These are the poets, these are the doorways. Safia- what am I without the library we built? The editor and artist and sudaniya I hoped for. And Yasin, my reminder of God.
Enjoy it, live with it.
Time is an animal but I’ve always believed I could step outside of it. Into that backyard, into a poem, into someone’s heart. The first ceremony was robbed from me,
but I’ve always believed it could be repeated. As long as there’s a question in the throat and a light in the sky,
even if that light comes from fire, even if the sky is the
only audience, watching from the stage.
My first ever tour. Head to Mustafathepoet.com, all tickets are available there now. My performance of some songs off Dunya are on YouTube- directed by @bytanima
For Ethiopia and Sudan you’ll be directed to email addresses, send them a note & you’ll receive information on the shows.
Photos by @misanharriman
Styled by @reemith
See you out there
Thank you for listening to Dunya, and a deep thank you to the most integral people I know for leading conversations around the album this week; around faith, community, Sudan and light. Angelina & the atelier, Dua, Ramy, Anok and Daniel ❤️. the Kitaba listenings. Looking forward to returning to the stage to sing this time. In an age where all systems that once protected art have been decentralized and a lot of us are being forced into doing undignified work to compete in this war on attention, the listenings and conversations have served as an alternative pathway. we have to meet each other somehow. Nour nour nour nour nouriiiiii
