As part of an ongoing series of festival development and capacity-building work, the British Council supported two UK artists, Ty and Pen Pastwn, when they visited Sudan to perform and collaborate with local artists in Khartoum and Port Sudan early February. The Port Sudan was the first music event there of its kind for over 30 years.
Ty also hosted workshops with local emerging hip hop artists which resulted in a performance and Pen Pastwn collaborated with the Sudanese musician Sidi Doshka.
Pen Pastwn are a group from Wales, led by Richard James (formerly of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci and Music Director of Laugharne Festival) and including a flexible line-up of Wales’ most talented musicians, including Gareth Bonello, Andy Fung, Edward Mugford and Eugene Capper
 
Richard James of Pen Pastwn, said:
“We haven't been back long enough to fully digest and appreciate the wonderful experience and opportunity we had in Sudan, but long enough to know that it will influence and inform every facet of us as people as well as musicians in a positive way.”
Ty is an internationally-acclaimed rapper and producer from London. He was nominated for the Mercury Prize for his album ‘Upwards’ and has previously worked with many other artists including Estelle, Scratch Perverts, Talib Kweli, Black Twang, Arrested Development, and Soweto Kinch.
The British Council in Sudan has been developing a programme of music events and capacity building workshops for over 2 years. Originally running a successful series of monthly events called Words and Pictures (WaPi) this event provided a platform for young emerging talent for hip hop, underground bands, spoken word and creative arts.
Gareth Bonello of Pen Pastwn said:
“Visiting Sudan with Pen Pastwn was one of those magical experiences that will stay with me forever. It was a real privilege to be part of the work that the British Council is doing in Port Sudan and Khartoum. The warmth of the welcome that we had from the Sudanese people was overwhelming and left us all deeply touched. As a musician it was fantastic to have the opportunity to discover new sounds and instruments and to collaborate with talented Sudanese musicians in front of a new audience. I'm sure that the musical footprints of this journey will be plain to see on our future work and we are planning to build on the friendships that we have made so that we can continue to work with Sudanese music in the future”.
We continued to develop a series of music events, workshops and skills training in partnership with other cultural agencies such as French Cultural Institute, Goethe Institute and the (Sudanese) Ministry of Culture. The first of these music events took place in March 2011 at the National Museum in Khartoum, when two UK groups, Akala and Les Triaboliques, travelled out to Sudan to perform and host workshops.
You can read Gareth's blog and a watch a clip about the trip here: http://thegentlegood.tumblr.com/
Here's a glimpse:
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