about
Emmanuel Jal has won worldwide acclaim for his unique style of hip hop with its message of peace and reconciliation born out of his experiences as a child soldier in Sudan. Born in war-torn Sudan, sometime in the early 1980s he was taken from his family home in 1987 when he was six or seven years old, and sent to fight with the rebel army in Sudan’s bloody civil war. For nearly five years, he was a “child warrior,” put into battle carrying an AK-47 that was taller than he was.
By the time he was 13, he was a veteran of two civil wars and had seen hundreds of his fellow child soldiers reduced to taking unspeakable measures as they struggled to survive on the killing fields of Southern Sudan. After a series of harrowing events, he was rescued by a British aid worker (Emma McCune) who smuggled him into Nairobi to raise him as her own.
To help ease the pain of what he had experienced, Emmanuel started singing. In 2005, he released his first album, Gua (”peace” in his native Nuer tongue), with the title track broadcast across Africa over the BBC and becoming a number one hit in Kenya. Gua also earned him a spot on Bob Geldof’s “Live 8″ concert in the UK.
Jal performed at Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday celebrations in Hyde Park, London, June 08, he shared a stage with Alicia Keys, Annie Lennox, Damien Marley and Stephen Marley at the Black Ball in London in July 08 and also addressed delegates at the UN in New York in the same month. Jal has also performed with Razorlight, Supergrass, and Faithless in Europe.
Jal has a full-length documentary on his life and times which has been touring the film festival circuit. It premiered at the Berlinale festival, and won the Cadillac audience choice award at the Tribeca film festival.
lyrics
Oh yeah, oh yeah, I'm looking for some people who's looking for peace
Maybe together we could make the war cease
Now we can send mankind to the moon
And we can reach to the bottom of the sea
That's why it's really kind of baffles me
That we can not end wars and bring peace
And we can not change the way people act
And we can not change the way people think
So if we sit back chill out and relax
Civilization will soon be extinct
That's why I am
[Chorus]
I'm calling on, I'm calling on the whole wide world
On the whole wide world
Come on people, would you help me?
help me scream and shout, scream and shout cause we want peace
And we want peace, to say the least
I dedicate this song to the common people
Caught in the middle of this common evil
I wish the world was a little bit fairer
Time is about looking at the man in the mirror
Fear is the devil's policeman
Fear made germans side with hitler so he can
build the war of genocide and havoc was wreaking
silence of the lamb cause nobody was speaking, that's why I am
[Chorus]
I'm calling on, I'm calling on the whole wide world
On the whole wide world
Come on people, would you help me?
help me scream and shout, scream and shout cause we want peace, cause we want peace
Someone said after Rwanda, never again, and after Rwanda, what's happening?
Not far from Rwanda, just next door
Who's gonna shout for the people living in Darfur?
The worlds gone deaf, the worlds gone blind
The worlds busy sittin' down on their behind
Nobody cares about the poor and the needy
To busy sucking up to the rich and the greedy
For every hero there's a villain, I aint kidding
we gonna shout out standing up or sitting
One more time, we got no more time
We gotta figure out a way to make it all combine
Like Jericho the walls came tumbling down
...Voices out of city surround
You know what is worth I'm gonna put our voices to work
We gonna shut down heaven and earth
That's why I am
[Chorus]
I'm calling on, I'm calling on the whole wide world
On the whole wide world
Come on people, would you help me?
help me scream and shout, scream and shout cause we want peace, and we want piece
And we want peace, to say the least
Come on, everybody come on, stand up, stand up, stand up
You want peace and I want peace, stand up
You want peace and I want peace, stand up
Come on, everybody come on, stand up, stand up, stand up
[Chorus]
I'm calling on, I'm calling on the whole wide world
On the whole wide world
Come on people, would you help me?
Let's scream and shout, let's scream and shout cause we want peace, and we want piece
And we won't be, who said at least
I want peace and you want peace, stand up
You want peace and I want peace, stand up
Come on, stand up, stand up, stand up,
...
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