Stepping onto a Khartoum stage and launching into their first song, The Nightingales — Sudan’s best-loved girl band still raise whoops and cheers from adoring fans, 45 years after their debut.
Sisters Amal, Hadia and Hayat Talsam were known in their 1970s heydey as the “Sudanese Supremes” for their stylish bobs, matching dresses and their soulful ballads, changing the image of female artists in Sudan forever.
Their outfits may have changed a little — at the January concert in Khartoum, the sisters appeared in long robes and loose headscarves — but the audience’s adoration has only increased, with fans dancing and singing in front of the stage.
Their vintage brand of Sudanese pop, songs of longing and youth blending elements of folk music with their driving vocals aim to show the world another side to Sudan.
“We want to travel the globe and offer our art to all the peoples of the world,” Amal said after the concert at the family home, sitting beside her sisters.
“We could show a beautiful side of Sudan to the outside world” said Hadia, the oldest of the sisters, grinning.
Although they haven’t got round to planning their tour, they do have some prior experience.