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Mohamed Adam hopes launch of album will help bring peace in Sudan
Mohamed Adam, a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Darfur, Sudan, now living in exile in Kenya. His debut album “When Peace Comes” launches on September 19, 2025.
Sudanese singer, songwriter, and guitarist Mohamed Adam was in the process of completing his debut album in 2023 when a civil war broke out in the country. “I started recording the album four years ago, but it stalled when the war broke out,” recalls Adam.
He and a group of other artists fled to Kenya and started rebuilding their lives, and for him, that included starting afresh on his album with a new set of musicians, the majority of whom were Kenyans. “It took me a while to meet the musicians, but when I did, it leveled up everything. I am very proud of my band; they are very tight musicians,” he says.
Tonight, the album "When Peace Comes" will finally be launched at a concert by the artist and his band here in Nairobi.
For Adam, this is a poignant moment in a life that has been witness to extreme conflict, from Darfur, the region in western Sudan where he was born and raised, to the current fighting that started in Khartoum and has once again spread to his home area.
During these periods of war, art has been an outlet for human suffering. As a child, Adam was a member of a theatre group that performed skits and music to displaced persons in camps around Darfur.
“You can imagine that in my 35 years of life, I have experienced so much conflict. The civil war, the conflict in Darfur, and the war since 2023, which exiled me and other Sudanese from our country,” he says. “That is why the title of the album is significant. The next generation of Sudanese people cannot have the same experiences that we have endured.
“The war will end sooner or later, and we will go back home. We have to rebuild everything, and it is the music that will bring a better future for the generations that are coming after us,” he says.
Mohamed Adam, a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Darfur, Sudan, now living in exile in Kenya. His debut album “When Peace Comes” launches on September 19, 2025.
Photo credit: Pool
Even after recording the 14 songs on the album, he sent the music back to producers and arrangers in Sudan to confirm that the cultural nuances in the songs were accurate. They recorded some vocal overdubs and sent the music back to Adam.
The golden-voiced musician has grown in stature and in February this year performed to a rousing reception on the main stage at the world-famous Sauti za Busara Festival in Zanzibar.
His group, comprising Kenyan musicians and Sudanese refugees, performs under the name WD Abbo (Son of Abbo), making music that reflects their shared cultural experiences.
The band strikes a balance between Adam’s melodies steeped in Sudanese folklore and their own contemporary patterns of drums, guitars, keyboards, and percussion.
Adam was born and spent his childhood in the village of Grabbishi, Darfur, where he began taking a keen interest in the musical and cultural diversity of Sudan.
He studied engineering at Ahlia University in Khartoum, winning numerous prizes in music competitions among students. In 2018, Adam co-founded Nugara, a project researching Sudanese cultural traditions through music and dance.
The following year, he joined the Global Music Academy to study music and co-founded the Aslaf Band, a group that performed music from different parts of the country.
His passion has been in projects that introduce the world to various Sudanese musical styles that can bridge the religious and ethnic barriers between different cultures.
He also aims to correct the historical bias that had been perpetuated by the dominance of only those styles of music associated with Khartoum and the surrounding region.
“We need to know each other. We need to share our different heritage, not to change me to be like you. Let’s celebrate our diversity,” he says. “Back in Sudan, the media only allowed light-skinned people to appear on television, so dark-skinned girls try to change their appearance by applying chemicals. The reality is that we are Africans and have to accept ourselves for who we are.”
In October 2021, Adam created music for a touring sound exhibition based on his personal engagement with the music traditions from different regions of Sudan, addressing questions of heritage and cultural identity in the face of the challenges of conflict.
Mohamed Adam, a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Darfur, Sudan, now living in exile in Kenya. His debut album “When Peace Comes” launches on September 19, 2025.
Photo credit: Pool
He got the SEED Award 2022 by the Prince Claus Fund for promoting racial justice, gender equality, and free expression through music.
Working with a band of six Kenyan and two Sudanese musicians has reinforced his belief in the universal power of music as a unifier. “Music connects us and brings us together. Even when my band didn’t know what I was signing about, but they played the music so beautifully,” says Adam.
His concert tonight at the Alliance Francaise, Nairobi, is part of a multidisciplinary art project called Sudan: Exile & Hope, including a photo exhibition showcasing the cultural richness of Sudan, from communal dances to Sufi traditions expressed in poetry, music, and rituals.
“We need to play our part as artists to help in the process of bringing peace back to Sudan, and we can use our creativity and embrace each other, no matter our faiths, beliefs, or the regions that we hail from,” concludes Adam.
