Emmanuel Jal’s The Key Tour Comes to Zaphod’s
By Q-ba // Photo by Che Kothari
On Friday Zaphod’s welcomed one of the brightest stars in the international hip-hop community, Emmanuel Jal. Jal brought with him an eclectic expression of hip-hop, blending its ethos with a combination of traditional African rhythms and reggae from roots to dancehall. His passion for music stems from his goal to share his experience to spark hope in rising above the violent conflict that plagued his Sudanese homeland (in a region called Bahr el Ghazal, now located in South Sudan). Jal made his arrival into the Nation’s Capital on the heels of his sixth studio album, The Key.
The evening began with Young Paris, a 10-year veteran from New York known for the rich African rhythm that layers his hip-hop vocals combined with thumping electronica. Along with the excitement of his first show in Ottawa, he was excited to see Jal do his thing on stage. For Paris, Jal’s story is a major inspiration.
Prior to taking the stage, there was a word from representatives of Amnesty International, a group Jal works tirelessly to promote music as a tool for education, spending his morning at De l’ile high school in Gatineau helping kids find passion and positivity through music and dancing.
There was a restlessness in the crowd as the band made their way to the stage, a keyboardist, drummer, bassist, guitarist, two vocalists and finally Jal garbed in baggy pants and traditional body paint decorating his arms, face and torso; taking the stage like a whirling hurricane announcing his presence with a raw soulful track with rich reggae roots. The sound reverberated into the deepest corners causing everyone to shuffle forward for a closer look of the man bearing his soul on stage.
The opening tracks introduced us to the former child soldier of South Sudan, expressing the horrors and struggles which define his experience. With each deep categorization of his persona, something else emerged. Jal was not merely content in rehashing the past, transcending the pain, flowing into the joyful reverence from his album The Key.
The show ebbed and flowed from uplifting ballads such as “Forced to Sin,” the poem recited in his 2009 TEDTalk: The music of a war child. On “Emma,” he warned the crowd that he was “going to get crazy” losing control of his limbs on an airy flow sung from the heart as tribute to Emma McCune, the British aid worker who saved him and countless children. The show reached its height converting pain to love — not a soul in the house could resist the vibes of Emmanuel Jal.
The love movement continued, turning the evening into a full-out dance party filled with roaring bass lines and upbeat powerful flows with Jal contorting to the sound while inspiring others to do the same with movements in step, hips breaking, shoulders waving, clapping, hands in the air with the crowd saluting a true champion of sound. Jal’s energy was visible by the lights reflecting his sweat covering his torso, generated from the dancing which did not impede his ability to unleash lyrical schemes in both English and his native tongue. He swung back and forth between rich African sounds, hip-hop tales, deep reggae roots and dancehall to keep the crowd on their toes. If you weren’t sweaty by the end, you definitely were not there.
As much as Emmanuel Jal’s concert was a musical experience, the event served a larger purpose of bringing awareness to the plight of South Sudan. Jal uses his music as a key to uplift not only his community but others around the world, shining light into the darkness. Although angst and anger are part of his inspiration, it is not the vehicle. To this task he takes an inner peace and compassion with sounds to excise the demons of hate, using music as a tool for education and outreach, an expression of life.
After achieving independence in 2011, war has again spread in this region with tens of thousands of people killed and 1.5 million displaced from their homes. Emmanuel Jal works with Amnesty International and other organizations in the help of establishing peace in his homeland. After his show in Ottawa, Jal and Canadian Director Philippe Falardeau hosted an event at Montreal’s PHI Center where Jal was to perform after the screening of Falardeau’s lastest film, The Good Lie.
For information on the development of the conflict in South Sudan, please visit Amnesty International‘s website.