Ceasefire (2005)

"As a kid, Jal was pressed into service with the Sudan People's Liberation Army. He fought with them for several years before he eventually was adopted by a British aid worker. Jal returned to school, studying in both London and Kenya. A religious conversion led him to take up music as his vocation, and he now serves as the spokesman for the Campaign to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. Here, he is joined by singer/composer/oud player Abdel Gadir Salim, a venerated master of northern Sudanese music and a prominent figure on the other side of the Christian/Muslim divide that has contributed in large part to the civil strife in Sudan. Their collaboration is symbolically moving, but also musically fascinating; Salim's songs are steeped in both the urban and folk music of his region, while Jal is a rapper with roots in American and British hip-hop. They don't blend their styles as much as counterpose them, switching within the same song between Salim's powerful singing and Jal's rap flow." (Rick Anderson, Allmusic)