The famous Sudanese singer Muhammad Werdi came for the first time to Germany. On Saturday 7.11.1998 he presented his music in a concert in Frankfurt/Sindlingen to an audience mostly of Sudaneses, Eritreans and Ethiopians.
The instruments of the accompanying group included a trumpet and an accordion which gave the music the typical Sudanese sound. The former strings were replaced by two keyboards and instead of drums congas, bongos and a bass guitar layed the rhythmic fundament for the dominating chant of Muhammad Werdi. From the very beginning it was clear that the singer is someone special for many of his compatriots and for people across the Sudanese border on the Abessinian Highlands.
Almost every song was accompanied by the audience who sang sometimes the refrains of the most well known songs. Although the hall was opened at 8 p.m. the band didn't start before midnight and went on playing until 4 'o clock in the morning. Almost half of the audience were Eritreans or Ethiopians, members of the very big Abessinian community in Frankfurt. The rest were Sudanese from all over Germany, some Germans but almost nobody from other arab countries. The admiration Muhammad Werdi enjoys among Eritreans and Ethiopians is one prove more that Sudanese music belongs to the Music from the Horn of Africa rather than to the Arab Music.