Abdel Gadir Salim (Arabic: عبد القادر سالم‎) is a singer and bandleader of … Read Full Bio ↴Abdel Gadir Salim (Arabic: عبد القادر سالم‎) is a singer and bandleader of popular music from Sudan. He is one of the most well-known Sudanese singers in the West, having performed around the world and recorded in countries such as the United Kingdom and France.

Salim was born in the village of Dilling, Kordofan province, amidst the Nuba Mountains in the West of Sudan in 1946. He trained in both European and Arabic music at the Institute of Music in Khartoum, beginning with Oud at the behest of a friend. By 1971, he changed from composing urban-styled music to country tunes. Seeking out traditional and colloquial songs to perform, he began in his native Kordofan as well as in Darfur. Rarely writing his own lyrics, his songs range from politically aware, educational arguments to love ballads.[1] Salim is noted for maintaining a neutral repertoire that has kept him from irritating the Islamic government of Sudan.

Referring to discrimination of music in Sudan, the music critic Angel Romero wrote: "In 1994, Salim was a victim in a knife attack in Omdurman, which took the life of famed singer Khogali Osman. The assault reflected the fiercely anti-cultural environment that followed the 1989 coup, but Salim, always a figure above politics, dismissed it as the act of a crazy man, and carried right on with his work."