One man aims to bring Sudan's nights back to life

Decades after an Islamic revolution, an old-school cat returns to the capital, Khartoum, to start a jazz club.

from the February 13, 2008 edition

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The band "Blue Star" performs at the Papa Costa restaurant in Khartoum, Sudan. It's the first nightclub to reopen in Khartoum after 20 years of sharia law.

Mr. Nimeiry's socialist policies of the 1970s and his Islamist policies of the 1980s aimed at taking away the privilege of Khartoum's elite.

Villagers flocked to Khartoum in Nimeiry's time, bringing with them their own traditions, which were antithetical to everything Old Khartoum stood for. "It is like an invasion from the village coming to Khartoum, with envy and hate of what the city had," says Yahya. "They wanted to destroy this place."

Jailed for playing jazz

Under Nimeiry and subsequent regimes, musicians like Ali Doka soon found themselves out of work, as nightclubs closed down, and as Nimeiry's police broke up private parties with live bands. Khartoum's 20 jazz bands broke up; some went to jail, others went abroad.

After joining the army for a time, Mr. Doka eventually left the country for Egypt, selling honey in the markets of Alexandria, working as a construction laborer or a tailor, and occasionally picking up gigs in Cairo's thriving music scene.

In 2007, Doka received a phone call from Yahya, whom he remembered from his days as a scrawny teen from the 1970s.

The restaurant opened in June, and the band started playing soon after.

Gaining popularity after a slow start

In the early days, few Sudanese would venture inside. Hearing the music out on the street, a few would poke their heads inside the gates, and then rush off, fearing an imminent raid by baton-wielding police.

"On the first night, we were playing for the walls, for the chairs, for the trees," laughs Ali Doka, who also teaches music at a school in Khartoum. "Some people didn't believe that we can do this. People would come to the door and then walk away." But after a month, families starting arriving, meeting with friends.

Now, other restaurants are hiring bands. Success has found its imitators.

On this night, at least, and within the four walls of Omar Yahya's courtyard, Old Khartoum is alive again.

Families gather to eat pizza, pasta, and traditional Mediterranean food such as falafel and hummus, and Ali Doka's band, Blue Star, plays an endless stream of old hits from the 1970s that awaken memories of a Sudan that once was.

"I'm happy that people are starting to do something here," says Omar. "At least the victims of our society won't be so victimized."

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