A voice rising from the ashes of war
Ebo Krdum is a Sudanese-Swedish self-taught singer, guitarist, artist, actor and activist. He creates contemporary political afro-blues & afrobeat music rooted in several musical traditions around the sub-Saharan area. Ebo sings in many different languages and his lyrics mostly contain topics such as justice, peace, freedom, equality, diversity, revolution and liberty. Ebo Krdum is a Sudanese-Swedish self-taught singer, guitarist, artist, actor and activist. He creates contemporary political afro-blues & afrobeat music rooted in several musical traditions around the sub-Saharan area. Ebo sings in many different languages and his lyrics mostly contain topics such as justice, peace, freedom, equality, diversity, revolution and liberty.
When Ebo was only six years old he discovered that he could sing and drum with his bare hands and he started entertaining people in his village, where he'd sometimes get paid with small pennies or sweets. At the age of thirteen he built his own guitar and learned how to play through his father's radio and the only black-white TV in the village, where he got to hear artists such as Ali Farka Toure and Boubacar Traore. Later in life Ebo also learned how to play other instruments such as the gojo, the ngoni, the oud, the tamboor, the drums, the keyboard and the fulani flute.
When the war started in Darfur in 2003, Ebo became an important voice for the peaceful revolution against a corrupt and violent regime. Besides his musical participation for the cause, he was also hugely involved in activism for the opposition with the aim to overthrow the dictatorship in Sudan, the reason for which he was forced to flee the country. Ebo is now based in Stockholm, Sweden, where he has established himself as one of the most prominent world music acts on the Scandinavian music scene.
He started his own band, Ebo and Genuine Mezziga, at the end of 2017, combined of seven musicians. Ebo and Genuine Mezziga released eleven songs in both EP and singles forms adapted from Ebo's project “Memory of War”. In September 2021 Ebo released his debut album Diversity with one of Sweden's most interesting labels, Supertraditional. This album was based on Ebo's project “The Sub-Saharan Jigs”.
These releases were followed by three solo albums: Love & Struggle and Revolt For Change in 2022 and Soga Jamaile in 2023, all released with the record label Epidemic Sound. In 2023, Ebo released the single Warfree World (Epidemic Sound) in response to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Ebo's latest release is the single Umbele in 2024, a collaboration with the electronic music world, the first of its kind in Ebo’s career.
Selling cakes to earn a rehearsal
“For the love of music I'd run home after school so that I could rush back out and sell something of what my mother made at home, in order to get the permission to go to the group rehearsal in the evening. It was so tight that there was no time to get cleaned up or change, so I'd just be happy getting the permission to go there, and looking good wasn't my concern at all.
Ebo Krdum
Ebo started his musical journey as a kid in Ngala/Nyala town in South Darfur, where he joined the primary school. The beginning was singing in the classroom or school events, he then joined an organized group for kids his age that presented children's talents and helped them develop in theatre, dance and music.
It wasn't as easy as Ebo thought it would be to get the opportunity to be discovered and developed, as he was not from the so-called rich class in society as most of the children in that group were. In that time he used to work after school, selling hats, cakes and snacks that his mother made to help the family, but he insisted and kept going to their rehearsals every day for more than half a year, until he got the chance to prove what he can do, and he kept it on ever since.
Always stand with the poor's side, keep creating awareness on issues that need to be lifted up, never underestimate the power of words and music in creating change, always support the oppressed, vulnerable and marginalized people, and always choose nonviolence as a solution for conflicts and problems.
Real revolutionaries don't sleep, don't quit and never give up until they achieve what they started. If not in their time and generation, may it be a seed for new and upcoming generations, where they will be mentioned and remembered, as history will not forget and will never forgive. May justice, change, peace and love cover the whole world one day.
As an artist I have my commitments towards populations and nations, just like any other savior, warner or decision maker in any community. So I'm committed to speak the truth, to represent those who need me to put out their words and to cry out their suffering and pain, because I'm responsible for taking action and fighting with my lyrics, voice and hands against whatever evil I see, hear or feel around the smaller communities and up to the whole world.