Born: March 2 1979, Sudan
Died: NA
Country most active: Sudan
Also known as: Nancy Ajaj, Arabic: نانسي عجاج
Sudanese singer-songwriter and recording artist Nancy Agag combines songs from older Sudanese musicians with her own compositions. Her music is characterised by modern arrangements, and is popular in Sudan and internationally.
Born in Omdurman, Agag grew up in the Netherlands, where she studied social history and music. Her father, the popular musician and composer Badr al-Din Ajaj, was murdered when he returned to Sudan.
Since 2004, Agag and her band have performed many concerts in Sudan, the United States, England, Canada, Qatar and the Netherlands. She’s also produced several albums and music videos featuring popular songs about Sudan.
Agag was one of the few female singers to appear in modern Western outfits, even without the headscarf that was mandatory under the government of Omar al Bashir until 2019. Before the abolishment of Public Order Law, authorities had imposed many restrictions for women’s appearance in public.
During the Sudanese revolution of 2018 and 2019, she published a song called Birth, which The Sounds of Sudan says expresses the “sentiments of Sudan’s December Revolution”.