Singer-songwriter Mustafa performs at Roy Thomson Hall on Nov. 7.Jag Gundu/Supplied
At Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall on Thursday, the Sudanese-Canadian singer-songwriter Mustafa talked about his previous headlining concert in his hometown. It was Massey Hall, on Dec. 1, 2021. He mentioned his older brother was in the audience that night. He also said that his brother’s killer was present that night as well.
Mohamed Ahmed was shot and killed in the city’s Regent Park neighbourhood on July 25, 2023. Two men are wanted for first-degree murder in the shooting. Mustafa, with his three-piece band, played What About Heaven, from his 2021 debut EP When Smoke Rises, a graceful, haunting meditation on grief. It’s an often-asked question, what about heaven. Some have better answers than others.
Mustafa’s answer, for all intents and purposes, is Dunya, his follow-up full-length album, released earlier this fall. Rolling Stone hailed it as a “gorgeous treatise on rage and faith.” On stage, Mustafa talked about writing the record’s songs. He said he imagined the lyrics on a rope on a lake, and that no matter how much weight he put upon that rope, it remained afloat.
Dunya, which Mustafa has described as an interrogation of his lifelong relationship with Islam, roughly translates from Arabic to “the world in all its flaws.” Questioning songs include What Happened, Mohamed? and What good is a heart?
At Roy Thomson Hall, he spoke at length between selections from both his albums, more than once about vulnerability. And even when he wasn’t talking or singing about vulnerability, he wore a bulletproof vest emblazoned with the word “poet” over a traditional white robe.
Her performed with a percussionist, an acoustic guitarist and a lutist who played the pear-shaped Sudanese oud. The stage was candle lit, with rugs and ferns around. Though Mustafa was a founding member of the Canadian hip-hop collective Halal Gang, his music now is folk with a modern flow and moments of Middle Eastern and East African influences.
The sounds supported his voice – a rich, sandy, breathy instrument that commanded the room. He sang in a hushed murmur. Stay Alive was a delicate, eulogistic plea, with a melody that lingered as long as the words its carried.
A bottle of lean, a gun in your jeans, and a little faith in me
A plane in the sky, the only starlight on this never-ending street
The cameras and cops
We could’ve been stars
On our mother’s new screens
On our mother’s new screens
Mustafa is based in Los Angeles now. In interviews he has spoken about what he feels was mistreatment of his family by the policing and health care systems in Toronto. On stage, he said he had a “disdain” for the city where he born, and that Regent Park was treated as an “island.”
He offered the lilting Leaving Toronto: “If they ever kill me, make sure they bury me next to my brother, make sure my killer has money for a lawyer.”
Though there were more than a few sombre moments, ultimately the concert was about community. For the last few numbers, eight male dancers in white robes accompanied the music with Sudanese folk dance, instigating a celebrative air to it all. The final song was Name of God, which seemed to suggest hope: “I just want to get better.”
Mustafa did not capitalize on the critical acclaim of his debut EP by hitting the road hard in support of it. It is probably why he was in the same-sized venue he played three years ago. He doesn’t seem to care – niche is fine with him, it seems. Which makes him a fairly rare artist. It matters less where Mustafa is going than where he has been.
