05 March 2009

Hip-Hop Star Emmanuel Jal Sends a Message of Hope

Podcast on Sudanese musician and former child soldier

Emmanuel Jal

The speaker is Sudanese musician and former child soldier Emmanuel Jal. This podcast was produced by America.gov in March 2009.

(begin transcript)

[Music]

Emmanuel Jal: Nobody understands my pain. Nobody understands my struggle. People can only look at me and imagine what I’ve gone through and sympathize with me.

What I always tell people is: When you forgive, you have power, and that’s when the healing begins.

[Singing]

You can never change the world with music. The one thing I want to offer is I want to give hope to people who are struggling down, that everything is possible and I want to make a difference. I want to at least inspire somebody to invest in somebody’s life. Because I would say the best investment is to invest in human beings. Spiritually, give them faith where they can have hope. When things collapse on them, they have God to look up to. Physically, meaning give them something to eat now but show them how to get it so that they don’t come and depend on you.

[Singing]

Music is the only thing that can speak to your mind, your heart, your soul system, your self, and influence you without any hard work. I remember when the SPLA was fighting against the north, and during that time I still had my bitterness. I was hating on Muslims and Arabs. But I couldn’t understand why they brought an Arab musician to come and entertain us. So why is it that we could accept their music but we don’t accept them as a people? So there’s something about music. So with music, to me, when I put my fight into the music, I do it for two things. One, that’s where I cool down my anger and transform that energy into positivity. Two, it’s because I want to pass a message to people. Because I get mad, frustrated every day. Like if I get angry with you, instead of me wanting to give you a punch, I cool down, take that energy level, convert it into music. That’s what I do.

[Singing]

You need to understand and you need to be educated for you to make choices. Through education, learning about Martin Luther King, learning about Gandhi, learning about Nelson Mandela, I was able to know, like, I’m not the only person going through issues. And I was able to use their stories and admire them, and say, ‘Wow, if I let go, then I may be more like them and influence many people.’ And so, it’s a choice that I have to make.

You see, you can only get something when you see or hear. So when you hear their voices, you can hear the pain in their voices. So you have to listen why.

[Music]

What I have is a message of hope, and I’m preaching a message of peace using my experiences and using the existing problems happening in my country. So I’m a spokesperson not only for Sudan but for Africa at large, you know. Because I have experienced almost every incident of what people are talking about: starvation, war and poverty.

It took a simple British aid worker to invest in me and here I am today. So my call is: Invest in somebody. I can never change my past. I’ve lost my childhood. Every day I am in pain, you know, about my past. But I can only use that experience to affect my future.

[Music]

(end transcript)