Sudan Archives is about to have a moment, I think. A 23 year-old violinist/vocalist who writes, plays, and produces her own music, Sudan Archives released a well-received debut, self-titled EP last year and follow-up single. She’s touring on that EP this year and just recently played at SXSW in Austin (Bob Boilen and Rodney Carmichael of NPR hailed her as their favorite personal discovery of the festival).
She is self-taught on the violin, inspired by Sudanese fiddlers, R&B, West African rhythms, and experimental electronic music. For anyone following along with this blog, you might recognize this as a sweet spot for my personal tastes — music and artists that blend styles and merge cultural influences and references, but anchor all of it with strong rhythms and/or a driving beat. An electronic twist is just the cherry on top.
I listened to Sudan Archives’ EP last year, but, admittedly, lost track of it a bit. So, I was very happy to be reminded of her and her music through press around the SXSW festival. Her music is remarkable enough, but I’ve embedded a YouTube video of her performing her track “Come Meh Way” live because her process of creating that music is so, so cool to witness. It’s just her with a mic, violin, and a sampler. With those three tools and her voice, she creates layer-after-layer of melody and bass and an entire sonic world.
In My Ear 