MF GALAXY

THE KOREAN CONNECTION TO HIDING HIS MUSICAL TRAINING FROM PARENTS, THE NUBIAN SPIRIT TO SURVIVE AGAINST THE ODDS LISTEN/DOWNLOAD Today’s show lets me reach back into the archive for a conversation with a remarkable man who died far, far too young. That man was the Sudanese-Canadian musician, singer, lyricist, music producer, and band leader Tarig Abubakar. Abubakar came to Canada in 1988 to build his fame and fortune in North America, and despite a rocky start he’ll tell you about in this episode, he formed his pan-African band the Afro-Nubians, toured the country four times, and delighted hundreds of audiences across Canada. He also released three superb albums: 1994’s Tour to Africa, 1995’s The Great Africans, and 1997’s Hobey Laik. His bandmates included guitarist Adam Solomon , Joe Slant, and Mohammed Hagelamin. Together they were named band of the year at the Toronto African Music Awards. Tragically in 1998 while visiting his home country, Abubakar died in a car acc...

Award-winning hip hop artist, activist, author, and former lost boy Jal Jok, better known as Emmanuel Jal , was born around 1980 into a destiny of pain. When he was seven years old, Sudanese soldiers killed his mother—the first of many of his family to die at government hands. After his father joined the Sudan People’s Liberation Army or SPLA , Jal sought refuge in Ethiopia along with thousands of other children, and ended up enslaved by the SPLA as a child soldier—the so-called “lost boys.” SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE ON iTUNES SUPPORT MF GALAXY ON PATREON LISTEN TO DOWNLOAD FOR FREE, RIGHT-CLICK AND SELECT "SAVE AS" Jal eventually escaped to the town of Waat where he met a British aid worker named Emma McCune who was married to SPLA commander, and future South Sudanese vice president Riek Machar . After adopting Jal, McCune took him to Kenya for education, but she herself died in a vehicle accident only months later, and he soon found himself living in the slums...

If The Alchemists of Kush hits the Kindle Top 100 today, I'll donate $500 to ship university textbooks to South Sudan's Dr. John Garang Memorial University. Please visit ministerfaust.com for the buy link. You can get the entire novel for only $2.99. You can also get other books by me while you're there. Right now there are three books of short stories. By late afternoon, you'll be able to get BOTH of my previous novels at the same place. Two books of short stories and two novels... only $2.99 each!

Imagine starting a country from scratch, a country devastated by war, poverty, PTSD, and crumbling or nonexistent modern infrastructure. Now imagine that your university--the centre for training your country’s leaders--has no library. How do you rate your nation’s chances for stability and prosperity? Buk Arop is facing that conundrum right now, because his countrymen and –women in South Sudan have voted 99% in favour of separating from the North. And Arap knows as well as anybody that without education, his ancient (and also new) homeland has no future. Arop, a tall, 29-year-old Sudanese youth worker with movie-star looks, a baritone voice and a gentle demeanour, is the president of the newly-formed South Sudan Development Foundation. The SSDF’s first major project is to stock—from scratch—the library of the Dr. John Garang Memorial University of Science and Technology , named in honour of the late leader of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army and Sudan’s First Vice ...