| Omer Ihsas | |
| Native Name: | عمر احساس |
| Birth Date: | 1958 |
| Origin: | Nyala, Sudan |
| Occupation: | singer-songwriter, peace activist |
| Genre: | Music of Sudan, African popular music |
| Instrument: | vocals |
| Associated Acts: | Omer Ihsas & the Peace Messengers |
Omer Ihsas (born 1958 as Omar Ahmed Mustafa in Nyala, Sudan) is a Sudanese singer, composer and bandleader from South Darfur. Since 1987, he has become known both in Sudan and internationally for his music, based on different folk music styles from his home region, as well as for his social activism, calling for reconciliation and peace in Darfur, as well as in all of Sudan.
Ihsas was born in 1958 in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur and moved to Khartoum at the age of 23. There, he first became known as a singer while audition
In 1987, he founded his first band, adding an accordion, violins, electric guitars and a rhythm section for his Darfuri beats. Influenced by the music of Bob Marley, he learned to play the bass guitar to strengthen the rhythm section of his music. In an interview with UNAMID, the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur, he talked about his artistic career and intention to support the peace process relating to the war in Darfur through his music. According to this interview, he uses African beats of different ethnic musical traditions of Darfur, with some influences from Arabic music that he learned to know in Khartoum. Ihsas believes that a song can be effective in communicating its message, because it captures popular imagination and easily comes across to the audience.
After the military coup of 1989, Ihsas, like other artists, faced harassment and arrest by the Islamist government of Omar al Bashir.[2] Despite this, Ihsas and his group Peace Messengers have continued to advocate for Sudanese unity, reconciliation and the end of violence. Living in Khartoum, he calls for cultural associations in the capital to strengthen relations between different ethnic groups and to bring about solutions for internal disputes in Darfur.
Omer Ihsas and his band have played both in camps for internally displaced people in Darfur, as well as on international stages. In 2008, they appeared with other Sudanese musicians, both from northern as well as southern parts of Sudan, in Chicago and Detroit as part of the Sudanese Festival of Music and Dance, promoting solidarity and reconciliation.[3]
As a commemoration of the genocide in Darfur, his song
In 2005, Sudanese filmmaker Taghreed Elsanhouri released her documentary film All about Darfur with music by Omer Ihsas. The same year, he recorded an album called