Port Sudan CNN —I have reported on conflicts around the world for over two decades, but nothing prepares you to cover a war at home. To so many Sudanese, though, they are instantly recognisable as the words of the people’s poet: Mahjoub Sharif. I was warned to never, ever play with any of the tapes in the cassette deck, especially the tapes of Sharif’s songs. Yet, the moment the war broke out earlier this year, home was the only place I wanted to be. Forty years after I watched my parents sing and cry and laugh to the Sudanese songs smuggled out to them, I find myself searching through Spotify for Sudanese playlists.

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Persons: Port Sudan CNN —, –, “, Mahjoub Sharif, ”, We’d, Zohra Bensemra, Reuters Sharif’s, they’d, Omar al, Bashir, it’s, Nima Elbagir, Jake Tapper_00030428, Alex Platt, I’ve, Sharif, Mohammed Mekki Ibrahim, Mohammed Wardi, Abdelgadir Salim – Organizations: Port Sudan CNN, Red Cross, Reuters, Rapid Support Forces, Wagner, UN, CNN Locations: London, Geneina, Sudan's Darfur, Ourang, Adre, Chad, Russia, Khartoum, Cairo, Jeddah, Sudan, Sudan’s, Darfur