Salute Yal Bannot’s Debut Album “Bittersweet” is A Rendition of Sudanese Womanhood

Salute Yal Bannot is an all-female Sudanese band, formed in February 2015 during the Yalla Khartoum workshop, which took place in the heart of Goethe-Institut Sudan. The band is a mix of seven vocalists and musicians playing guitar, bass, drums and piano; who represent the diverse nature in background, experience and womanhood as each member boasts from a different region of the nation. Today, Salute Yal Bannot will be releasing their first ever studio album, compiled of original songs and sound, in both English and Sudanese Arabic. Their work addresses the lives and times of the modern Sudanese woman, all while breaking down barriers and musically challenging cultural norms.

The debut album titled Bittersweet is a creative labour of love which was made possible upon their selection as part of the NEW SPACES – Transforming Sudan Production Fund, sponsored by the German Federal Foreign Office and implemented by the Goethe-Institut Sudan. With the impact of the pandemic on the initial timeline of the project completion and release, the band, who decided since the year 2018 that an album was a necessity to cement their base in the Sudanese and African musical scene, is officially ready to unleash their seven track album. Bittersweet was the ideal name for their debut album, as the band wanted to incorporate the true meaning of life from their perspective; a collection of meaningful stories about love, hope, sadness and courage. Each track tells a different tale with a unique sound, truly exhibiting the wide range of talent presented by the seven women. The track list includes:

1. “Intro – Bittersweet”: An emotional spoken word introduction to what the album entails
2. “Trying My Best”: A song on encouragement, it showcases that even when we are trapped in a dark place, there is that glimmer of hope allowing us to find ourselves to let the world hear us loud and clear.
3. “Beat”: A song that talks about the unknown desires making us yearn to be with a special someone, with love leading the way.
4. “Pay Attention”: The song was written as part of a UNICEF Sudan campaign aimed at the stopping of open defecation to eliminate environmental pollution. From the point of view of a girl, she starts to question what is happening to her surroundings and why are people the way they are.
5. “Rising”: This song was written during a time of confusion, reflecting the hardships in Sudan, as the people went to the streets to fight for our collective freedom, while battling with the entities actively leading everyone astray.
6. “Shine”: This track is a representation of the hope that is seen with the birth of new beginnings.
7. “Dowak Jowak”: No matter how bad the current situation is, you will always find the cure within yourself, and so this song literally asks the listener to take a deep look within their soul.

Salute Yal Bannot is highly anticipating the release of their Bittersweet body of work to their local and international audiences, which they have garnered over the past five years of performing across a large variety of venues within Sudan, Ramadan Nights at Goethe Institut Tunisia, The Peace Festival” among other events in Kuwait and Lebanon – with the latter being their introduction to the MENA region after appearing on the widely popular musical talent TV show Arabs Got Talent in 2017.

The album will be released on the band’s Youtube and Anghami pages, with the hopes of expanding to other audio streaming platforms within in the upcoming weeks.

Hadeel Osman is a creative director, stylist and graphic designer. She is the creative director and consultant of Salute Yal Bannot. She is amongst the Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 List for 2020 and is the founder of multidisciplinary creative studio DAVU Studio, which provides an array of services including creative and art direction, concept development, branding, styling, marketing and fashion consultancy as well as training in the form of practical workshops. Osman is an advocate for change and development in Sudan and across Africa and is heavily involved in pursuit of evolving the local contemporary fashion scene into a fully functioning industry. She is currently working on having an official Sudan chapter of the Fashion Revolution organisation.