Novella & The Irish Sudanese American influence

Novella
This past week I released Part 2 of "The People In The Blue Desert" vLog, it took some co-ordination, but I was able to have my good, International artist & Baltimore legend Marc Evans to come into the studio. AND I was able to bring in my good friend & Baltimore's Mid-Eastern percussionist Jonathan Fell. It was a fun night.
Video will be at the end of this post

The Irish Sudanese American Influence

When I sit to think of my songs, and reflect on how & why I write the way I write, I remember 3 disting things that have influenced, inspired, and opened my eyes.
A Lyric, A Song, & An Album.

The Irish Lyric
I was about 16 years old, I was having a conversation with my English Teacher at the end of the school day, as we were discussing songs & poetry. During that conversation he says to me "Listen to this line, I don't know who wrote it but I think you would appreciate its beauty, the singer says 'I see stones sat in your eyes, I see thorns twist in your side, but I wait for you'".
2 years later, I am here in the United States, the radio is on, low and behold those lyrics are sung at me through the radio station. I froze, & just sat there until I hear the announcer say the name of this amazing artist. Little did I know, I would become a U2 fan, still am to this day.
As I strive to write lyrics that one day someone would find iconic enough to encourage another young writer to use as a stepping stone.

The Sudanese Song
I was about 17 years old, I had just started to learn to play simple chords on the guitar by my Sudanese friend, & amazing guitarist Bani Wani at The Sudanese Hut in Alexandria, Egypt. That year a singer by the name of Mohammed Fouad release an album. The last song of that album was "Al-Layel Al-Hady" (The Calm Night) by Sudanese artist Sharhabeel Ahmed, but M. Fouad didn't credit him, he simply said "Nubian Folklore".
That pissed me off greatly, SO with my limited guitar skills I was determined to learn "Al-Layel Al-Hady" & correct this notion. I had set up one of my very first shows in Alexandria's Fencing club, I put together a small band of my friends, and we practiced & hit the stage.
The show was a disaster, to the point that I actually stopped at mid-song & said "that's it, lets go home".
As I got up and was about to walk out of the stage, the small crowd sitting at front started to should at me "Where are you going? we want to hear Al-layel Al-hady!!". Apparently they heard us practicing it that day. I was shocked they even knew. So I went back up on stage with my guitar & sang it to them, to my pleasant surprise, they were all singing along & it was the saver of the show.
I then made sure to correct everyone's notion about the song & told them that its an original song by a Sudanese artist called Sharhabeel Ahmed, to which they were excited to know.
Since then its been my mission to be that "positive" clear image of Sudan.

The American Album
I was still 17, and I recall a day that one of my cousin's friends (who were older than I am) came up to me and said "You listen to Western music, right?", and I enthusiastically said "Yes, Yes I do", he then said "here", he then gave me a cassette tape with a peculiar photo & a band name that I couldn't quit figure out how to pronounce, and then he said "I don't really like this tape, but if you like it you can keep it".
I immediately flipped this tape over to read the names of the songs, and one of the titles was "As my guitar lies bleeding in my arms" and I remember thinking to my self "could you say that? is that allowed in poetry/songs?". Needless to say I loved that album, true at the time I didn't  understand many of the dark references in the songs, & I think by me taking some of the lyric literally made me love it even more. I even went to my English teach with questions about "is this allowed?", and he told me "Everything is allowed, you write what feels right for you, everything doesn't have to rhyme in the A.A. B.B., you write what you WANT to write".
My writing changed DRAMATICALLY since then, even my English teacher noticed and I remember him telling me "When you get famous, you will be more known for your lyrics than anything else". To this day, I try my best to make him proud.
The album was "These Days" by Bonjovi, which I still listen to, to this day.

Shukran, Thank You, & Much Love.
Mosno

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If you missed more than one, visit The Novella vLogs playlist.
Last week's Novella vLog with Marc Evans & Jonathan Fell.
Enjoy:)