b. c.1980, Tonj, Sudan. This rapper endured a horrific upbringing that puts the petty complaints of most Western artists to shame. Jal was still only a child when civil war broke out in his native Sudan, and was forcibly recruited by the SPLA to fight against the government. He had been fighting as a child solider for five years before he was smuggled out of the country by British aid worker Emma McCune, the wife of SPLA commandant Riek Machar. His life achieved normality for the first time as he settled in Kenya and began his education. He started singing as a means of articulating the confusion of his lost childhood, and before long was performing in public as the frontman for local bands in Nairobi.

Listen to Emmanuel Jal at Finetune.

• (2008)  Warchild
• (2008)  Warchild

• Gua (Africa Calling Mix)
• Many Rivers to Cross
• Warchild
• 50 Cent
• Emma

• Eminem
• Justin Timberlake
• KRS-One
• The Fugees
• Bob Dylan
• Bobby Van Dylan
• Busta Rhymes
• D-Sosa
• Deep Purple
• Elvis vs. JXL
• Eric Clapton
• Led Zeppelin
• Paradime
• Pink Floyd
• The Hollies
• The Who
• The Yardbirds
• White Boy Ric
• Angelique Kidjo
• Ali Farka Toure And Toumani Diabate

• ThetaManMan

• MomAndDad on 2008-05-10 09:53:44.897:
  Emmanuel Jal's new cd, War Child, is excellent, especially the song, Emma McKuen. It made me cry, it was so beautiful.