{{Short description|Sudanese musician (1928-2001)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Sayed Khalifa | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Ali Muhammad Khalifa | birth_date = {{birth year|1928}} | birth_place = Al-Dibeiba, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan | death_date = {{death date and age|2001|7|2|1928}} | death_place = Amman, Jordan | nationality = | other_names = | occupation = Singer, composer | genre = Music of Sudan | years_active = 1958–2001 | known_for = | notable_works = }} '''Sayed Khalifa''' ({{langx|ar|سيد خليفة}}, 1928 – 2001) was a popular Sudanese singer and composer, primarily active from the 1950s to the 1980s. Khalifa was one of the first Sudanese singers trained in formal music theory. Like other Sudanese singers, he performed in both Standard Arabic and Sudanese Arabic, thus appealing both to the educated elite as well as to the common people. Khalifa is best known for his songs ''"Ya Watani" (My Homeland)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Onyebadi|first1=Uche|title=Music as a Platform for Political Communication|date=2017|publisher=IGI Global|page=203}}</ref>'' and ''"Izzayakum Keifinnakum" (How are you?)''.
==Life and artistic career== Khalifa was born in 1928 in Al-Dibeiba, near Khartoum, Sudan. In 1947, he won a scholarship to the Arab Music Institute in Cairo, where he studied music in a formal way. After touring venues in Africa for several years, Khalifa returned to the newly independent Sudan in 1956 and performed the patriotic anthem ''"Ya Watani" (My Homeland)''. He released many other popular songs like ''"Ana Maly wa Malo"'' and ''"Mambo as-Sudani"''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Aidi|first1=Hisham|title=Rebel Music: Race, Empire, and the New Muslim Youth Culture|date=2014|publisher=Knopf Doubleday|isbn=0307279979|page=39}}</ref>
After the rise of Omar al-Bashir's government to power in 1989, censorship made it difficult for Khalifa to continue with his career. Some of his songs, like ''"Lailun Wa Khamrun Wa Shifah" (Night, liquor and lips),'' were deleted from the radio archives. He died on 2 July, 2001 in Amman from heart problems.<ref name="obit">{{cite news|last1=Al Mubarak|first1=Khalid|date=16 July 2001|title=Sayed Khalifa|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/jul/17/guardianobituaries}}</ref>
Recent interest in reissues of popular music from Sudan made his song ''Gameel Basam (Beautiful Smile)'' available on the CD ''"The Lost 45s of Sudan"'', published in 2015 by Habibi Funk Records.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Gameel Basam (Beautiful Smile), by Sayed Khalifa|url=https://shellachead.bandcamp.com/track/gameel-basam-beautiful-smile|access-date=2021-01-31|website=ShellacHead}}</ref> And in 2018, his song ''Igd Allooli'' ''(The Pearl Necklace)'' was reissued on the CD compilation ''Two Niles to Sing a Melody: The Violins and Synths of Sudan'' by Ostinato Records as part of their reissues of popular Sudanese music of the 1960s and 70s.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Various - Two Niles To Sing A Melody: The Violins & Synths Of Sudan|url=https://www.discogs.com/Various-Two-Niles-To-Sing-A-Melody-The-Violins-Synths-Of-Sudan/release/12463465|access-date=2021-01-31|website=Discogs|language=en}}</ref>
'''Discography'''
* [https://musicbrainz.org/artist/0aac167e-f9b9-424d-a3a0-06a4399e9457 Sayed Khalifa at MusicBrainz]
== See also == * Music of Sudan
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2egwHLRKDsQ Sayed Khalifa "Ya Watani - My Motherland" with English translation] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFyOoVb3FNA Sayed Khalifa - Ezzayakom (Sudanese Arabic) Lyrics with English translation] *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86gahv67bo Sayed Khalifa, accompanied on the Oud - I will die...( اموت انا و الزول بريا)] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfmhzF75wys Sayed Khalifa - from CD Habibi funk, on YouTube]
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Khalifa, Sayed}} Category:1928 births Category:2001 deaths Category:20th-century Sudanese male singers