Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Annexe

♬ Fasueid Dawam Bilqak / فسعد دوام بلقاك

In the last couple of years, there’s been a few releases that have brought the music of Sudan to light: Ostinato Records’ Two Niles to Sing a Melody: The Violins & Synths of Sudan, ShellacHead’s The Lost 45s of Sudan and two albums reissued by Habibi Funk – Seif Abu Bakr & The Scorpions and Sharhabil Ahmed. But those records only scratch the surface. There is much, much more out there. And most of it is only available on cassette.

As for Bashir Abdel al-Aal, there is pretty much zero information available. If you google his name in English, you’ll find stuff about the “master of the Arabian flute” – obviously not the guy holding the Les Paul guitar in the picture above. If you google his name in Arabic, you pretty much get bupkis. According to Discogs, Munsphone did release one other cassette by him. If you have any further information about Bashir Abdel al-Aal, please leave it in the comment section below.

Catalog number ٥٠٣ – ٨٤٣٥ on Munsphone of Khartoum, Sudan. No release date listed.