Norway´s first ever Official Town Musician Abazar Hamid is from Sudan and is ready for his first solo concert in his hometown of Harstad. He is fascinated by Samí art and culture. His concert will consist of freshly composed songs which will have joik as their source of inspiration.
- We are delighted to present Harstad´s Official Town Musician Abazar Hamid who came here in December 2014. Harstad kommune has made a groundbreaking effort to establish this position for persecuted musicians, states Festival Director Tone Winje.
Abazar A. Bagi Hamid has his musical roots in African and Sudanese traditional music, but is also influenced by reggae and latin-american rhythms. Destpite this his first statement to the Norwegian media marked a new direction:
- Joik is a strong mode of expression. The voice is the only instrument and no extra equipment or amplification is required. I plan to learn the Samí language and way of life, and to eventually present a large-scale afrosamí production.
Because he wrote political songs with a message of peace Abazar was forced to flee his homeland of Sudan in 2008 when he and his family entered exile in Egypt. He continued resolutely to work both for his art and for peace. After a few years he moved, just before Christmas 2014, to Harstad. He is already a well established figure in his new hometown.
Future plans include further work on around 80 songs he composed whilst in exile. Only two of them have been released so far. Abazar has a number of CD releases behind him. In 2007 the album "Sabahak Rabah", came out and in 2009 "Peace to Dafur" which was banned in Sudan was included on the collaborative album "Listen to the banned".
During his time in Egypt he collaborated with Dina el Wedidi, one of the singers who participated in last year´s Women’s View concert at Trondenes.