Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab
AHMED Abdullahi Gallab is a London-born Sudanese-American musician, composer, producer and performer. He has created the score and the “tasty tunes” for the Leeds Playhouse production of Roald Dahl’s The Enormous Crocodile. Ahmed is also known as Sinkane, the vocalist of Atomic Bomb! Band, whose members include players such as Damon Albarn and David Byrne.
I’m currently reading: Michelle Zauner’s incredible 2021 memoir Crying in H Mart, which was a huge bestseller in the States, spending over a year in the non-fiction top ten lists. It’s her telling her own story, of a multicultural kid (she was born in South Korea) trying to find her own identity as she grew up in the town of Eugene, Oregon. Malcolm Gladwell, who writes a lot for the New Yorker magazine, is another author who I enjoy, along with the late Daniel Quinn, who is probably best-known for his novel Ishmael.
I’ve been listening to: A wonderful British collective called Sault, who have (so far) released 11 albums. They don’t do interviews, they don’t promote themselves at all, and they collaborate with a lot of other musicians. But the music that they produce is amazing, with a lot of African and hip-hop influences. I’m a great fan of vinyl, and I’ve been collecting since I was in my mid-teens – there are so many albums at home that I had to give a few away (the ones I hadn’t listened to for a while) not so long ago, just so that I could make some space. But you know how it is with collectors and collections, as soon as you make a little room, you go out and buy something else and the gap gets filled again. It’s the same with pictures, because during the pandemic I framed 15 or so, and they are still sitting on the floor, waiting to go up on the walls. I listen a lot on my phone when I’m out and about – it’s just convenient that way.
On TV, I’ve been watching: Mostly documentaries. I’m obsessed with any that focus on some sort of music. Squaring the Circle had it all for me – a very enjoyable film about the design outfit Hipgnosis which was co-founded by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey “Po” Powell. They were the guys who virtually invented the idea of an album cover as an art form, and over the years they produced some brilliant work for people like 10cc, Wings, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, to name just a few. The imagery – funny, audacious, surreal, you name it – is still amazing. Anton Corbijn, the filmmaker and photographer, directed the film, and he makes a wonderful job of it.
The live performance I’d recommend is:
The British rock band Spiritualized, who come from Rugby, I believe, but who totally changed my life when I saw them play a gig in Cleveland, Ohio. I was all of 17 years old, and I remember that seamless and totally wonderful evening with absolute clarity. Others I’ve enjoyed over the years have been the Eagles,
Steely Dan and, last summer. Harry Styles. Harry played Madison Square Garden, and it was a brilliant evening, with a packed house, of many, many thousands of people.
My next box set will be (or my last boxed set was…):
Absolutely anything from the Numero Group, who are an archival record label who have been creating compilations of previously released music and re-issuing original albums for about 20 years now. It’s part research, part preservation, and they are based in Minneapolis. To say that their work, and their catalogue, is impressive is a massive understatement.
The app I couldn’t be without is:
It is painful to admit this, but it has to be Instagram, which I would like to leave behind but to which I seem to be addicted. I am constantly doomscrolling, obsessively check everything, minute after minute. It’s a compulsion that I would dearly love to leave behind. My phone is, however, very helpful when it comes to finding decent places to eat when I’m in a new town, and to discover where the best book and record stores are.
What is right at the top of your “to do” bucket list?:
It would be so good to see our planet Earth from outer space, and that may well be achievable at a moderate cost in few decades or so, I hope. I’m currently trying to learn Spanish because it’s almost the second language of the US. And I would dearly love to explore the islands off New Zealand, places like Samoa, because I was brought up in Utah, and there’s a very significant number of Pacific Islanders there – wonderful people, with a very distinct community. To meet? Oprah, definitely, because she has been omnipresent during my life. She is the most wonderful role model for millions across the world. I’d really like to turn the tables, and ask her the questions!
The Enormous Crocodile, Leeds Playhouse, December 2 to January 6. Box office on 0113 2137700.